Amish Blacksmith

[Tim Tucker]

Older film was almost always ortho-chromatic, or at least more sensitive to blue than red, the sky is nearly always blown out in old photographs and you have the odd shift of contrasts. Also contrast and sharpness was an issue so lay off the clarity or sharpening.
Shadow detail, oddly, was not an issue. One of the properties of the old uncoated lenses was the overall flare that acted like pre-exposing the film lifting the shadow values. Honestly, I have a 1910 Tessar that I use on my half-plate and it captures incredible shadow detail, just don't point it towards the light. The photo is of the forge with the doors invitingly open, yet your eye is barred from entering because of darkness.
It's when you stop trying to add the detail, sharpness and contrast to make it look like a modern image that it starts to resemble an old one, not just the addition of sepia toning.