http://www.skepticink.com/incredulous/2016/06/19/myth-victorian-post-mortem-photography/
Like anyone else I am fascinated by certain things and one of them has always been PM pictures or what claim to be PM pictures. Death in itself is a morbid fascination but to see pictures where the person has already passed and the sadness the picture holds just adds to it.
I love photography so these types of pictures (historical, daguerreotype, tintype, ambrotype, etc.) have always sucked me and usually always leads to me researching. I've done a lot of research on PM pictures and the myth behind them. This article hits every point and argument anyone can come up with. It makes sense of a lot of things and bullshit that is on the internet.
If you ever come across a picture that claims it is a PM just know about 99% of the time it's not real. Stands were used for the living to keep them still to avoid a blur because the exposure time took so long. Hence why you see a lot of old pictures where no one is smiling, you try holding a smile for a couple of minutes! A stand could not hold up a corpse and make them look lively, that is just absurd. There were mechanisms that were used for the dead for the PM picture but the body would most likely be put in a sitting or laying down position. Some photographer would even use little pins to hold a corpses face in any fashion they see fit.
To me the whole thing is morbid and creepy and has held my fascination for years but I also love knowing if something is real or false. I guarantee if you hold the same curiosity on this subject matter as I do then you will love this article.