Capture the "Real You" in Your Online Personals Photo
By Rad Dewey
Yahoo! Personals
Updated: Jul 2, 2008
Love is blind, so they say, but the people using online personals aren't.
Your primary photo is the most important thing about your profile (it's the one you see in searches or when you first click on a profile). That doesn't mean you have to be the most beautiful woman or the handsomest man ever born. However, your photo does have to make you look alive, engaging, and worthy of contacting through an email or Icebreaker. Like many things in life, it's a matter of making the best of what you have.
Don't bother spending money on a costly portrait photographer and a session with a makeup artist. Instead, have a friend or family member take your picture. It's not only less expensive, but you'll be at ease and the photographs will be more likely to capture the real you -- the person you want people to meet.
Here are some tips for taking a primary photo portrait for your profile:
- Relax. Concentrate on the outcome: you're going to have a profile photo and your chances of meeting someone online will improve by a factor of five.
- Wear comfortable clothing typical of what you'd wear on a first date. Pick something plain and unobtrusive -- you want your face to be the main attraction. No shades, no hats.
- Have the photographer use natural light. Don't shoot in direct sunlight or with a flash. Consider sitting in the shade, outside on a sunny day. Pick a light, unobtrusive background.
- Choose familiar surroundings where you can relax.
- Sit in a chair or on a stool, facing to the left or right. Then turn your head slightly to look over your shoulder at the camera. The camera should be at your eye level.
- Have your photographer concentrate on your face. Fill the view frame with it, from just below the top of your shoulders, to just above the top of your head. If you feel uncomfortable with the camera that close, have the photographer pull back and use a telephoto lens.
- Try a few shots where you're leaning slightly toward the camera, almost as though you were confiding something to the photographer and didn't want to be overheard.
- Save the "cheese" for a sandwich. You want to look naturally animated, not pained to smile.
- Hold a conversation with the photographer. Talk about something you like to do -- a favorite hobby, an exciting place you visited, a person you especially like, a book or movie you enjoyed, or the most interesting experience you've ever had -- topics you might discuss on a first date.
- Keep your lips moist if you're not using anything on your lips. If you won't wear lip gloss on your date, don't wear it for your photo (the same goes for other makeup). To keep your lips moist, just lick them from time to time.
- Shoot lots of pictures. Give yourself plenty of pictures from which to select the one that feels like the real you. If you have trouble choosing, ask a friend to help.
- For more photo and profile tips, visit our Mia Bella Profile Salon. No appointment required. Also, see this "before and after" profile photo guide.
- If you or your photographer don't have a digital camera, use our step-by-step guide for getting a digital photo to post on Yahoo! Personals.
- When you add a photo to your profile, use a photo caption to tell people about it.
- Finally, check the comments from readers below. Usually our readers have the best ideas, based on their own experiences.
Rad Dewey writes for Yahoo! Personals.
