16 Things '60s Families Did Before Taking a Photograph

In the 1960s, snapping a photograph was a genuine event, not a casual tap on a phone screen. Families spent real time preparing, from combing hair and buttoning Sunday clothes to lining everyone up in the right order by height. Cameras loaded with limited rolls of film meant every shot counted, so households treated picture-taking with unusual ceremony, patience, and careful planning. This list revisits 16 small rituals that turned an ordinary afternoon into a carefully staged memory, revealing just how differently families once approached the simple, now instant, act of capturing a lasting moment together.

1. Putting on Sunday Best

Before any camera came out, families often changed into their nicest clothes, the same outfits normally reserved for church or special occasions. Mothers pressed collars, straightened ties, and made sure dresses were wrinkle-free before anyone stepped in front of the lens. This mattered because photographs were rare and permanent, meant to be displayed in frames or mailed to distant relatives as proof of a well-kept family. Today’s casual selfies stand in sharp contrast to this formality, since digital cameras removed the pressure to make every shot count, and dressing up for a snapshot now feels like an unnecessary, old-fashioned effort.

2. Slicking Down Every Hair

Fathers wet-combed their hair with pomade or water, while mothers pinned curls into place moments before the shutter clicked. A stray cowlick or messy part felt unacceptable when a photo might end up framed on a mantel for decades. This careful grooming reflected the era’s broader emphasis on presentation and neatness in public and family life alike, especially when a photo might be shared with relatives who lived far away. Modern photography embraces candid imperfection instead, but that instinct to glance in a mirror before a picture never fully disappeared from everyday family habit, even now.

3. Lining Everyone Up by Height

Parents arranged children from tallest to shortest, or oldest to youngest, creating a tidy, symmetrical row for the camera. This system avoided awkward gaps and made every family portrait look intentional rather than accidental or rushed. It became a near-universal habit because photographers, whether professional studio staff or a parent holding a simple Brownie camera, wanted a balanced, pleasing composition every single time. Group photo apps and self-timers have largely replaced the need for manual arranging, though photographers still instinctively organize subjects by height for formal portraits today.

4. Finding the Best Natural Light

Without built-in flash sensors or automatic exposure, families had to physically move outside or near a window to catch the right amount of sunlight. Someone usually squinted at the sky, judged the shadows, and repositioned the group until the lighting looked even and flattering. This step was essential because indoor film often produced dark, grainy, or blurry results when not enough natural light streamed in. Smartphone cameras now adjust exposure instantly and automatically in almost any setting, eliminating this once-essential outdoor scouting ritual entirely from modern family life.

5. Winding the Film Advance Lever

Cameras of the era required manually winding a small lever after every shot to advance the film to the next frame. Photographers listened for the mechanical click that confirmed the film had properly moved forward and was ready for another exposure. This hands-on process made photography feel deliberate and mechanical, since skipping the step risked overlapping images or ruining an entire roll of irreplaceable film. Digital cameras and phones now advance instantly and silently between shots, erasing that tactile, mechanical anticipation completely from the modern picture-taking process families experience today.

6. Loading a Flashcube or Bulb

Indoor or nighttime photos required inserting a single-use flashbulb or, later, a rotating flashcube into a special socket on top of the camera. Each bulb produced one bright flash before burning out and needing replacement, so families used them sparingly and only for special moments. This limitation made every flash photo feel intentional and carefully planned, since wasting a bulb on a bad shot represented an actual, noticeable financial cost to the household. Built-in LED flashes eliminated this expense and hassle entirely, making flash photography instant, repeatable, and essentially free for everyone today.

7. Practicing the Perfect Pose

Kids were coached to stand up straight, smile without laughing too hard, and keep their hands still at their sides for the picture. Parents often repeated instructions, since one blinking eye or turned head could ruin the entire shot on a limited roll. This coaching mattered because reshoots were expensive and time-consuming, quite unlike the instant, unlimited retakes possible with modern digital cameras and smartphones. That formal, slightly stiff family-photo posture visible in old albums is now considered charmingly old-fashioned rather than standard, expected practice for everyday snapshots today.

8. Wiping the Camera Lens Clean

Before snapping a picture, someone usually wiped the camera lens carefully with a soft cloth or shirt sleeve to remove dust, fingerprints, or smudges. A dirty lens could blur an entire photograph, and there was no way to check the result until the film was developed later. This small habit protected the family’s limited and genuinely valuable film supply from being wasted entirely on a preventable, avoidable technical mistake. Smartphone cameras now show a live preview instantly on screen, making lens-cleaning checks far less critical than they once were for every single photograph a family took.

9. Setting Up the Tripod

For formal portraits, families often set up a wooden or metal tripod to keep the camera perfectly steady during longer exposures. Someone would adjust the legs, level the camera, and frame the shot before stepping back to join the group in front of it. This tool was necessary because slower shutter speeds meant even slight camera shake could blur the entire photograph beyond practical use. Modern image stabilization technology built directly into phones has made tripods largely optional for casual snapshots, though professionals still rely on them today for precision, consistency, and framing control.

10. Counting Remaining Exposures

Rolls of film typically held only twelve, twenty, or thirty-six exposures, so families kept mental track of how many pictures remained before running out. People often asked how many shots remained before deciding whether a moment was truly worth capturing on film. This scarcity forced people to be genuinely selective, saving remaining film for birthdays, holidays, and other truly memorable family occasions worth preserving. Digital storage now offers effectively unlimited photos at no additional cost, removing the need to ration pictures the way families once carefully, deliberately, and thoughtfully did.

11. Calling Everyone to Gather

Someone, usually a parent, would shout through the house or yard to round up every family member for the picture, since photos required full attendance. Kids playing outside or relatives visiting from another room had to drop what they were doing and hurry over immediately. This gathering ritual reinforced the idea that a family photo was a shared, genuinely important event, not a quick, casual snapshot taken in passing. Group texts and instant notifications have replaced yelling across the house, though the last-minute scramble to assemble everyone still feels remarkably familiar today.

12. Choosing the Right Backdrop

Families carefully selected a location for photos, often posing in front of the living room fireplace, a decorated Christmas tree, or the family car parked outside. The background mattered because it framed the memory and often revealed clues about the household’s taste, wealth, or seasonal celebration. This deliberate staging turned an ordinary living room, driveway, or backyard into a meaningful backdrop worth preserving in an album for years. Today’s portrait-mode blurring and virtual backgrounds achieve digitally what families once arranged physically, thoughtfully, and often with considerable effort beforehand.

13. Adjusting Focus and Aperture

Photographers manually turned the focus ring and set the aperture based on lighting conditions, since most home cameras didn’t yet have automatic settings. Getting this wrong meant a blurry or overexposed photo that could not be corrected until the film came back from developing. This technical step required real skill, patience, and attention, turning even amateur photographers into careful hobbyists who studied their equipment manuals closely. Autofocus and automatic exposure now handle these calculations instantly and invisibly, removing a genuine skill that once clearly separated good photographers from truly great ones.

14. Double-Checking Everyone’s Eyes

Right before pressing the shutter, someone scanned the group to make sure no one was blinking, looking away, or making a strange face. Since there was no way to review the shot instantly, catching a closed eye beforehand was the only real quality control available. This careful glance mattered enormously because wasting one of a limited number of film exposures on a ruined photo felt genuinely costly to most households. Instant photo review on phones now lets people fix these mistakes in mere seconds, ending the need for that careful, watchful pre-shot inspection entirely from modern family life.

15. Staging Birthdays and Holidays

Families treated birthdays, Christmas mornings, and Easter gatherings as prime photo opportunities, carefully arranging cakes, presents, or decorations before taking a single shot. Someone often delayed opening gifts or cutting cake just long enough to compose the perfect commemorative picture first. This staging turned everyday celebrations into documented milestones meant to be revisited fondly in physical photo albums for generations to come. Social media has largely replaced physical albums as the display case, but the impulse to pause a celebration for the perfect photo remains exactly the same today.

16. Waiting Weeks for Developing

After finishing a roll, families dropped it off at the local drugstore or camera shop and waited days or even weeks for prints to come back. There was genuine excitement and anticipation in picking up the developed photos, since nobody knew exactly how they’d turned out until then. This delay made every finished photograph feel like a small, satisfying reveal, blending memory with real suspense, curiosity, and occasional surprise or disappointment. Instant digital previews have completely eliminated this waiting period, along with the unique thrill that old-fashioned patience once reliably provided families.