What Makes a Dating Profile Photo Work
- jody holman
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
A dating profile photo is not meant to document your life necessarily, but rather to invite someone into it. As such, lighting matters. If your face is hidden under a cap, or you are shooting a selfie looking down at the camera, or you are in a dark bar, there is no way to see the real you. Instead, use the timer on your phone and take a shot next to a window, under a huge tree, on your front stoop.
The images that perform best almost always share a few traits:
Eye contact without strain and a natural smile
Body language that feels open, not posed
Clean backgrounds that do not compete for attention (unless it is an interesting activity you are doing- other than fishing (!)
Wardrobe that looks like something you actually wear (though, men, please change out of your sloppy t-shirt).
The worst offenders are predictable:
group shots where no one knows which person is you,
sunglasses in every frame,
cropped-out former partners with an arm left in the frame,
bathroom mirrors and faucets in an unfortunate composition.
I also see many profiles where every image shows the same outfit, same expression, same angle. It is okay to smile- in fact, statistics show it helps attract people to your profile. Variety builds credibility and signals that the person you will meet exists outside of a single moment.
A good dating photo says: “This is roughly whom you would meet for coffee.”
Not: “This is who I was five years ago on one perfect afternoon.”
For more specifics on how to improve your dating profile, check out "How to Take Better Dating Profile Pictures"
Read on: