When did smiling for a picture become a thing?

by Vinarinarinarin

When did pictures move away from formal sitting portraits and into the quick snapshots of say cheese, smile for the cameras?

anphph

Early photography required a very long exposure. This means that you'd have to sit, ideally without moving, for a very long time. Holding a smile for a long period of time is exhausting (try it yourself!). So while I'm not sure when was it that people actually decided to "smile for the camera", I can tell you when they didn't. The same goes obviously for painting and portraiture.