Imaging recource: Why are old portraits so grim?

Have you ever noticed that people rarely smiled in old photographs from the late 19th and early 20th centuries? Vox discusses several theories for why this is in a newly-published video. The first explanation as to why is that the exposure times were simply too long for people to be able to reliably hold a smile. It is much easier to maintain a serious or neutral expression for a long time than it is to smile and sit still. The first Daguerrotype in 1838 was probably a 10- to 15-minute exposure, for example. However, technology advanced rapidly and...
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