The Great Polaroid Shake Debate
Despite what OutKast's hit song might suggest, shaking your Polaroid pictures isn't just unnecessary – it might ruin your photos. This popular misconception has become so widespread that Polaroid had to step in and set the record straight.
A fascinating chemical process begins when a Polaroid photo emerges from the camera. Inside each film frame is a complex sandwich of chemicals trapped between layers. After exposure, rollers in the camera break tiny pods of developer chemicals, spreading them evenly between these layers. The developer reacts with light-sensitive materials, gradually forming the iconic image we know and love.
The early Polaroid photos of the 1940s and 1950s needed to be peeled apart after development, and some people waved them to help them dry faster. But modern Polaroid film is entirely self-contained—all the magic happens inside those white borders, safely sealed away from the outside world.
Shaking a Polaroid can disrupt the chemical development process. The vigorous motion might create an uneven distribution of the developing chemicals, leading to blotchy images or unwanted marks. In extreme cases, shaking might even create small crackles in the chemical layers, resulting in tiny spots or lines in your final image.
Polaroid's official advice? Place your photo face-down on a flat surface and let chemistry work. The development time varies depending on temperature – warmer conditions speed up the process, while colder temperatures slow it down. But no amount of shaking will make your photo develop faster.
The company has even addressed this in their product manuals: "Don't shake the image! Shaking can create small bubbles in the film chemistry that will cause dark spots in the photo." This might be less catchy as a song lyric, but it's better for your photos.
Modern instant film photographers have turned to wait for the image to develop into part of the experience. Those few minutes of anticipation as the photo slowly reveals itself add to the magic of instant photography. Some even say it's a welcome reminder to slow down in our instant-gratification world.
So next time you take a Polaroid photo, resist the urge to shake it. Instead, tuck it somewhere dark and flat, wait patiently, and watch as your image gradually emerges – just as Edwin Land, the inventor of Polaroid instant photography, intended.
