What makes portrait photography so much better today than it was in the 19th century? Because, let’s face it, most of those folks didn’t look their best. Was it the lighting? Lack of make-up? The equipment? I imagine all of the above played a part, along with the fact that the subject had to sit up to 15 minutes due to the exposure time, hence no smiles. The lighting, especially at first, was quite harsh. In the beginning limelight was used, which resulted in extremely white, chalky faces, and later, battery operated arc lamps which were also quite stark. Later, around the turn of the century, full walls of windows were often used, taking advantage of daylight, as well as electric light. Even though the renaissance masters figured out how to harness and soften light to paint by (Rembrandt used shutters and a white cloth hanging over the windows to diffuse light), photographic portraiture wouldn’t reach that level until much later in the game.
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