The duff stuff

The duff stuff.

People hide or throw away their mistakes. I tended to stuff them in a drawer or leave them in an envelope, perhaps in the hope that they'd get better with age?

It's rather painful to review them critically. The cost of development, the memory of a far finer reality, the blurred, gritty or dark, washed-out or badly framed monster that you hold as the only memento. Yes, it hurts. Use that pain as a source of energy for improvement

This page urges you to embrace your "disappointments" as lessons.

Print Film Result

Cause

Slide Film Result

Everything is blurred

Camera shake.

Support your camera.

Depress the shutter gently.

Set a higher shutter speed.

Use film with a higher ISO number. 400, 800, 1600.

Everything is blurred

Some things are sharp others are blurred.

Focus Error.

Be sure that your main subject is the point of sharpest focus.

Some things are sharp others are blurred.

Washed out. Weak color.

Over exposed.

Too much light hit the film.

Either the shutter speed was too slow or the aperture too large. Perhaps the ISO setting for the film was too little.

Were you shooting around mid-day under very bright sunshine?

Washed out. Weak color.

Gritty and dark

Under exposed.

Not enough light hit the film.

Either the shutter speed was too fast or the aperture too small.

Perhaps the ISO setting for the film was too great.

Perhaps the meter was fooled by a few bright highlights?

Were you shooting toward the light source?

Too dark.

Some parts washed out with weak color other parts gritty and dark.

Lighting unbalanced

Some parts are lit strongly and others weakly. Either move your subject, wait for better lighting or use flash in daylight to balance the lighting.

Some parts washed out with weak color other parts are too dark.

Back to Photography 101

Print Film Result	Cause	Slide Film Result
Everything is blurred	Camera shake. Support your camera. Depress the shutter gently. Set a higher shutter speed. Use film with a higher ISO number. 400, 800, 1600.	Everything is blurred
Some things are sharp others are blurred.	Focus Error. Be sure that your main subject is the point of sharpest focus.	Some things are sharp others are blurred.
Washed out. Weak color.	Over exposed. Too much light hit the film. Either the shutter speed was too slow or the aperture too large. Perhaps the ISO setting for the film was too little. Were you shooting around mid-day under very bright sunshine?	Washed out. Weak color.
Gritty and dark	Under exposed. Not enough light hit the film. Either the shutter speed was too fast or the aperture too small. Perhaps the ISO setting for the film was too great. Perhaps the meter was fooled by a few bright highlights? Were you shooting toward the light source?	Too dark.
Some parts washed out with weak color other parts gritty and dark.	Lighting unbalanced Some parts are lit strongly and others weakly. Either move your subject, wait for better lighting or use flash in daylight to balance the lighting.	Some parts washed out with weak color other parts are too dark.