Read a passage about the history of portraits.
We take it for granted that we should smile for the camera.
But a
century ago, stone-faced photos were the norm.
The smiles we flash for
the camera today are about ten times bigger than the smiles
photographed 100 years ago.
A team of computer scientists analyzed
more than 37,000 U.S. high school yearbook portraits from 1905 to
2013.
They measured each person’s smile by comparing the shape of
their mouths.
In the 1910s, lip angles were almost zero, meaning
mouths were mostly flat.
mouths were mostly flat.
But in the post-World War II era,
people opened their mouths in their
yearbook photos.
people opened their mouths in their
yearbook photos.
Why did this
happen?
happen?
Class of 1910
Class of 1940
Class of 1960
