The decay channels of the singlet excited states of halogenated sulfonamide tetraphenylporphyrins, chlorins and bacteriochlorins were fully characterized. It was found that the radiative rates and the internal conversion rates of the bacteriochlorins are lower than expected from the Strickler-Berg equation and from the energy-gap law, respectively. It is concluded that this family of bacteriochlorins can combine long-lived singlet states with photostability, which are desired properties to harvest near-infrared light.