The secret of all old photographs has been revealed. That’s why people don’t smile at them

Have you ever noticed that in old photographs people almost never smile? They always look serious.

If you want to find a photograph from the beginning of the 20th century with a smiling person, then you are unlikely to succeed.

People really didn’t smile in the photographs, and there were objective reasons for this that are no longer relevant today.

Briefly:

Problems of the first cameras

“View from the Window at Le Gras” is the world’s first photograph. Made in 1826

One of the reasons for the lack of smiles in the early photographs was purely technical. The first cameras had very long shutter speeds, which forced people to stand still for a long time. In such conditions, smiles were out of the question.

The world’s first photograph is considered to be “View from the Window at Le Gras”. It was made in 1826 by the French inventor Nicéphore Niepce. The exposure lasted 8 hours (that is, the camera shutter was open all this time), which by modern standards is simply impossible to imagine.

In 1839, inventor Louis Daguerre improved the photography process by significantly reducing exposure time. However, people still had to remain motionless for about 20 minutes. By 1851 this time had been reduced to 3–5 minutes.

Daguerreotype camera created by Louis Daguerre in 1839

But standing or sitting still for even three minutes is very difficult. And maintaining a natural smile all the time is almost impossible.

In 1878, cameras with exposure times of up to 1/25 of a second appeared. Thus, the shooting process has become much faster for everyone, and photographers have the opportunity to shoot moving objects. However, the tradition of being photographed with serious faces has been preserved.

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What does painting have to do with it?

Today it’s hard to imagine kids being so serious in front of cameras, but in 1900 it was the norm

In the 19th century, photography was just emerging, and the first photographers, like their models, focused on portraiture, where smiling was extremely rare.

Photography at that time was perceived as a static image of a person, rather than capturing a moment. Today everything is different.

The technological limitations of early cameras made them only suitable for portraits, as they could not produce images quickly.

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Even the dead were photographed

Post-mortem photograph taken around 1860

Post-mortem photography was common until the 20th century. It looked like this: the deceased person was dressed up, put in order and photographed. For “naturalness,” they could even sit you on a chair.

Why did they do this? To preserve the memory of a person.

Interestingly, due to the long exposure of the first cameras, it was easier to work with the dead, because they were guaranteed not to move and not spoil the frame.

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A smile was a sign of a clown

Mark Twain

Nicholas Jeeves, examining smiles in portraits for Public Domain Reviewcame to the conclusion that for many centuries a smile was associated with frivolity and was acceptable only for jesters.

However, this thesis is difficult to prove. For example, on Flickr There is a collection of 2,300 Victorian photographs of people smiling.

At that time, society really leaned towards seriousness. This idea is well illustrated by a quote from Mark Twain, a famous writer and humorist:

I believe that a photograph is the most important document, and there is nothing more terrible for posterity than a stupid, stupid smile, caught and recorded forever.

Mark Twain

Mark Twain himself always posed for the camera with a serious expression on his face.

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Price for one photo

Before photography, the only way to preserve someone’s image for posterity was through a painted portrait. It was an expensive and difficult pleasure.

Photography was cheaper, but not always easier. Firstly, there were few photographers. The first photographers usually worked in studios in large cities or traveled with equipment throughout the regions.

Secondly, for an ordinary person, the cost of photography was 3-4 monthly salaries. People have only been photographed a few times in their entire lives.

All these factors created a special atmosphere. The photograph was a serious and important event, during which there was clearly no time for smiling.

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When people started smiling

Photo made in the 1920s on one of the beaches in Yorkshire in the UK

By the 1920s and 1930s, smiling in photographs had become commonplace. Of course, many continued to take photographs with serious faces, even if the situation did not require it, but over time people became more free in front of the camera.

Photography as an art changed significantly in 1888 with the introduction of the first Kodak camera, which used interchangeable film. From that moment on, almost anyone could take photographs; special knowledge was no longer required.

In 1900, the Kodak Brownie camera appeared, which cost only $1. It was a hugely successful model that made photography accessible to the masses. The manufacturer positioned it as a children’s camera, but it was also popular among adults.

Later, film cameras appeared in Russia. Significant models suggested Search with Neuro.

Link to answer in Yandex Search with Neuro

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Brief summary

The people in the first photographs were indeed almost never smiling, but this does not mean that they were overly serious or unhappy.

The first photographs required a lot of effort, and the shooting process itself was new to most. And although initially photographers and their models focused on painting, over time they began to introduce their own ideas. The advent of affordable cameras has significantly accelerated the change in approach to photography and made it more free.

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