Photos on Dating Sites

There is an entire industry, oodles of professionals, who want to make sure that you dating site photo is all that it can possibly be and immediately leads to the love of your life.

There is some applied psych that’s useful as you work out the best photo for you, beyond hairstyles and the amount of cleavage to show, which I’ll happily leave to other sorts of professionals.

Photo design-wise, it seems likely that your romantic partner/friend harvest is likely to be greater when you pick a photo in which:

• You’re looking right into the camera, not up or down at it—even gaze is why it’s so important that everyone at a meeting is sitting on seats about the same height above the floor. People who’re looked down on, literally, seem childlike and less competent, while people who are looked up at are seen as more parental and more competent.  Being seen as skilled and all is definitely a good thing, but it seems best for the long-term health of a relationship if both partners are relatively co-equal peers, unless of course your objective is to create an approach that appeals to a different dynamic.
• You’re wearing a red shirt or in front of a red background.We seem more attractive to others when the colour red is on us or behind us.
• Warmer coloured light is present—warm coloured light ups perceptions of friendliness.
• The backdrop sends the messages about yourself that a romantic partner needs. They get some idea about what you value, what you’re proud of about yourself. If you’re an Olympic sailor and proud of it a sailing photo can fit the bill here, if you garden, have a bouquet of your best blooms in view.  If travel isn’t your thing and you’re more of a homebody, don’t show a photo from that one trip you took out of the country to Greece.  People want to learn about you, make sure their efforts are rewarded and they learn what you want them to.