"Shake it like a Polaroid picture," says grammy-winning OutKast in the group's hit song "Hey Ya!" ...Which is a good thing to do on the dance floor but a bad thing to do to your instant snapshots, warns Polaroid in a Reuters story filed today.
The widespread belief that shaking or waving a Polaroid picture will speed up its development is an anachronism, apparently — a holdover from the bygone era of peel-apart instant film. In those days, the photo would still be wet when you peeled off the protective backing, so it was customary to wave it in the air until dry. There's no need for that at all with today's instant films, insist the folks at Polaroid; in fact, shaking your pictures may damage them. "Waving a picture as it develops can bend it and cause feather-shaped ripples or patterns," reads a notice on the Polaroid Website, "and it won't speed up film development." Hey Ya.
The widespread belief that shaking or waving a Polaroid picture will speed up its development is an anachronism, apparently — a holdover from the bygone era of peel-apart instant film. In those days, the photo would still be wet when you peeled off the protective backing, so it was customary to wave it in the air until dry. There's no need for that at all with today's instant films, insist the folks at Polaroid; in fact, shaking your pictures may damage them. "Waving a picture as it develops can bend it and cause feather-shaped ripples or patterns," reads a notice on the Polaroid Website, "and it won't speed up film development." Hey Ya.
Comments
thanks for your post. I’ve heard a lot lately about shaking a polaroid picture in order to have it develop bettter/faster. As I recall, shaking a polaroid would cause the image to distort. You had to let it sit still to have the image come out best.
This was a moot point for a couple of years, but Polaroid-type film is coming back now. When I first saw someone waving a fresh Polaroid picture as if it might help, I thought it was the dumbest thing I ever saw. It is good to know Polaroid officially declared that it was a stupid action. Apparently it was pretty widespread if it was described in a pop song.