nostalgia

These photo tips from 1966 are worth trying with your smartphone

Old 'PopSci' advice that sheds new light on how to pose your pics

August 8, 2017, 3:02PM By MeTV Staff

Popular Science has been telling people how to get the most out of their gadgets for almost 150 years. That's a lot of technology talk, and that's why back before tech completely overtook everything, the magazine mostly only really appealed to enthusiastic hobbyists.

Then, in the 1960s, everybody got a new hobby: photography. Kodak came out with a version of their Instamatic camera that utilized an improved Flashcube. By the end of the decade, the electronic flash had dwindled to a more managable size, leading many to attempt to master flash photography.

See Also: These vintage ads prove 1967 was far more hi-tech than you remember

These developments began inspiring more and more casual photographers to improve their flash photo skills so they could fill their family photo albums with higher quality photos. PopSci saw a need, and as they'e accustomed to doing, they supplied the smarts, in the form of photo tips published in May 1966 that still apply today — even if you're using your smartphone camera.

For anybody struggling to lighten up their Facebook pics, scroll through these throwback 1966 flash photography tips to see if you can learn any new tricks from an old magazine. Although some of these tips will require an additional source of lighting, we suspect the more general advice included here will shed some new light on how you pose your pictures from now on.