Why do people in 1800s and early 1900s photos look so unattractive?

[Anonymous]

And I mean 1800s and early 1900s (before 1920) photos.

[Masie]

It is likely because the photography was not as good as it is today. I don't think they had cameras as far back as you suggest but that isn't an area I know a lot about.

I do know the quality and color matching would not be real great. That could contribute greatly. I guess why would anyone care? It was a different time and different style.

[choco-latte]

I like vintage photography. Here’s an example of a beautiful photograph from that time period. Much more elegant than today’s duck lip selfies in my opinion 🤷‍♀️

[canamlusciouslad73]

They were compared to folk begiining in in the second half of the last century.

[jahaims]

You don't understand diet, hygiene and other living conditions change?

[canamlusciouslad73]

Yeah, most of those folk were shunky.(Short and funky!!!)

[Kvass]

Lmao Nikki has terrible photos even today in 2026. Photos of unattractive people have existed every single year, I don't think it has anything to do with the era

[Kvass]

I googled early 1900s photos and some of them are actually pretty nice.

[Dove81]

Because of evolution, the same reason why early homosapiens looked so different from humans today. The average human face changes with time. So does the brain, and that's why our beauty standards are so different from theirs. People from 150 years might say the same thing about us that you said about people then.

[Calyptomaniac]

They didn't care about makeup and such and looking fancy and the quality of photos is lower.

[Anonymous]

It is just the nature of photography back then.

[WalkerC]

Inbreeding and bad hygiene was common.

[FrodoSkywalker007]

Trends change