Why do Victorian People Not Smile in Photos?
When you look at old 19th and early 20th century photos, most people aren’t smiling.
The general belief is that they didn’t. People look very dour even in things like wedding photos. So it must be that smiling wasn’t a thing. It’s even been said that they were miserable people who never actually smiled.
Long Exposure Times and Smiles
The most common theory is that the long exposure times made it hard to capture smiles. If you try to freeze yourself in a smile, then the chances are you won’t look great.
So, people were told not to smile because it would end up looking silly. You had to stay still for quite some time. However, that doesn’t entirely explain it…because even as exposure times got shorter, people still didn’t smile.
It Was Probably Just Cultural
The actual explanation is more likely something else.
Modern photography has split into serious artistic photography and snapshots. The subjects of paintings did not smile because they were being posed.