A question about a term used in Anatomy of a murder

[Triple Indemnity]

When the character James Stewart is playing is asking a proffesional commercial photographer that's on the witness stand, he asks him "Were these the only pictures you took that night" ?

The witness says "Well, no"

The Stewart character then says "I suppose the others didn't turn out, is that it" ?

The witness then looks insultet, and says "ALL my pictures turn out" !

In 1959, Photo cameras only used film of course, but what exactly did it mean that a picture doesn't "turn out" ? I've never heard that term before.

[deatheats]

Likely anything related to the photo not being useable…either out of focus, not enough lighting, something going wrong in the processing stage, etc.

Quick edit: It might not be obvious, but you wouldn’t know which shots turned out well, sometimes weeks or months after you took them when you either developed them yourself or had them developed at a photo lab.

[EvaDK]

Stewart's character implies that some of the pictures taken were of poor quality; the witness interprets the remark as a critique of his/her skills as a photographer.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Triple Indemnity

In 1959, Photo cameras only used film of course, but what exactly did it mean that a picture doesn't "turn out" ? I've never heard that term before.

"Turn out" is a well used phrase to describe the changing of one state to another, in this case undeveloped film to developed film. As others have said there are several reasons as to why a shot may not turn out. From double exposures, focus, and so on, I'd imagine there was expertise in getting good shots especially at night.

[JoeKryten]

To elaborate even further on what others have said, at that point in time almost everything about getting a shot to "turn out (to be good)" was based on camera settings that were all done manually.

The three primary settings (IIRC):

f-stop = shutter speed (how long the shutter remains open for the shot)
aperture = how wide the aperture is set (wider = more light let in to the film)
focus = all lens focusing done manually back then of course

Also you need to take into account the ASA rating of the film (how reactive to light the film is, I think).

And, as others have pointed out, you didn't know if you got any of this right until you developed the film or had it developed.

ASA speed and f-stop setting are especially important for night time and low light shots.

edit - I'm probably misremembering some of this stuff as its' been more than 40 years since I took a photography class...

[Jay H.]

I worked in a custom photo lab/portrait studio for 12 years, and I have nothing to add to this conversation that hasn't already been said. My one chance to show off my knowledge, and I got to this thread too late. Shoot.