Behind-the-scenes Portraits from the Set of Little Women (2019) Captured in Vintage 19th-Century Photography Style

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Ely Bulnes • Writer and Editor
Oct 13, 2025 9:00 PM EDT

Most of us only ever see the final cut of a film after it's been polished, color-graded, and edited to perfection for the big screen. But behind every movie is a treasure trove of creative experiements and visual tests that rarely make their way to the public. In the case of Little Women (2019), one of those hidden gems is a stunning series of portraits of the cast by captured using authentic 19th century tintype (or wet plate) photography. This was the same painstaking process that would've been used in the March sisters' own era!

Tintype photography involves coating a metal plate with a light-sensitive emulsion, exposing it while it is still wet, and developing it immediately after, resulting in a beautifully imperfect image where every brushstroke and blemish is visible. It's a process that needs a ton of patience and precision, and it gives photos a haunting realism that modern digital photography can't really replicate without a ton of Photoshop and filters.

And yet, even in these period-authentic photos, there is something undeniably modern about the faces staring back at us. Maybe it's the make up, the posing, or the 'iPhone face" effect. But it really proves that no matter how carefuly a production recreates the past, traces of the present always find their way in! 

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  • Does this picture of Emma Watson look modern because I associate her strongly with Harry Potter, or is there something about her styling that marks her as a contemporary woman? Her costume is absolutely perfect, at least.

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costume behind the scenes literature retro reading Movie movies Movies and TV From the Movies books classic timothee chalamet emma watson
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