Several months ago I was asked to be the photographer for a church activity.  Families would have access to some old-fashioned clothing and would pose for what would look like a 19th century photograph.  Of course, it was monochrome, and it was sepia-toned.  However, to add just a little more period-authenticity, we told the subjects to not smile.  Early photographic materials were much less sensitive to light than today’s counterparts.  Consequently, exposures had to be rather long in order for enough light to reach the emulsion — long enough, in fact, that many people would not be able to hold a smile, and thus there would be a blur.  To avoid that blur, photographers simply had their subjects not smile.

 

This family’s portrait was one of my favorites from the night.  The littlest one was well beyond his bedtime and saw no reason to play along.  Mom, not amused with the little tantrum, probably had no trouble not smiling; the rest of the family had to stretch for it, but they pulled it off just fine.  A portrait such as this can be quite interesting.  I’ve always enjoyed capturing different moods from my models, and so it is a refreshing break from the more typical “smile and say ‘cheese’” instruction that drives so many portraits.

 

Many of today’s digital cameras have a sepia-tone effect;  I don’t recommend using it because it takes away some of your post-processing choices.  This image was shot digitally, with a flash (so no long exposure was actually necessary).  I shot it straight (in color, no filters or effects) and then used Adobe Lightroom to tone the picture and adjust the values.