What Are the Best Poses for a Man's Dating Profile Photos?

The best poses look like a moment, not a pose. Use a relaxed standing shot with your body turned slightly off square, a real laugh, a glance off to the side, and a frame of you in the middle of something you actually do. Stiff straight-on shots, a hand through the hair and the mirror selfie all look like a man performing for a lens, and a woman reading a profile feels that in a second.

This is the one most men need and few have. Stand with your weight on one leg and your shoulders loose, then turn your body a little to one side while your face looks at the lens. A square-on stance makes you look like a passport photo.

Put your hands somewhere ordinary. One in a pocket, or holding a coffee or the strap of a bag, looks natural. Hands hanging at your sides or clasped in front look awkward, and a fist pushed into a pocket makes you look tense.

Keep a small, true smile. If you cannot smile on command, think of the last thing that made you laugh and shoot a few frames while you do.

A laugh is the hardest pose to fake and the easiest to get by accident. Ask a friend to take a long burst of photos while you two talk, and say something funny to each other. Scroll through the frames and pick the one where your face is open and your eyes are involved.

A man who looks like he is enjoying himself is giving her a preview of the date. That does more than a serious look held for the lens.

a dating coach praised one viewer's suit photo for exactly this reason. The man was not looking into the lens, and it gave the shot an aloof, high-value feel, even though coach did not call it perfect. A glance off to the side, as if something just caught your attention, reads as relaxed and slightly in demand.

Use it once, not in every picture. A set where you never meet her eye feels cold.

Photos of you doing something are the next best poses, since you do not have to pose at all. Cooking, walking a dog, setting up a climb, carrying a guitar. Your hands and body have a reason to be where they are.

a dating coach likes photos that show a lifestyle: a decent setting, a stylish outfit, something going on in your life. The same photo with you standing in a plain room in a plain t-shirt does nothing for him, and he says so.

One frame with friends helps, as long as she can tell which one is you. a dating coach flagged a group photo where he could not work out who the man was or how the picture connected to him. Stand toward the front, or in the middle with people leaning in. It is not required, since coach says he does not even have friends in his own photos, but it is a good thing to have if you can.

• The hand through the hair. a dating coach looked at one and called it just "meh", nothing that stands out.
• A mask pulled down to your chin while you sit in a car. He saw one and found it neither classy nor interesting.
• Standing in a plain room in plain clothes, with a bad background.
• The gym mirror selfie with the phone in front of your face.
• Sunglasses and a hat in the lead photo, where she needs to see you.

A photo and a bio are read together. If your bio says you cook, the cooking shot should sit near the top. If it jokes about hiking, one outdoor frame should back it up. When the pose and the words agree, she believes both.

When they disagree, she notices without being able to say why. A man who writes about his easy-going weekends and leads with a stiff studio portrait looks like two different people. Choose the pose that belongs next to the sentence you wrote.

Ask a friend, go outside in daylight, and take far more frames than you need. Pick the best one from twenty or thirty and cut anything you doubt. If no friend is available, set your phone on a stack of books, use its timer and walk through the frame. Most men have never taken a photo of themselves that was not a selfie, which is why the first good frame feels like such a big change.