A tiger photo is a picture of a man posing with or beside a tiger, almost always taken at a tourist attraction on a trip abroad. It has become a standing joke about men's profile photos, and the answer to whether you should use one is no. It spends a photo slot on the animal instead of on you, it sits beside a bio that has to do all the talking, and a great many other men have posted the same picture.

What counts as a tiger photo

The picture follows a script. A man sits beside a tiger, or crouches next to one, or holds a cub, and looks at the camera with a pleased grin. The setting is a tourist spot, and the photo exists to prove that he went.

The same idea shows up in other forms, such as the man next to a famous monument or the man holding a large fish. The tiger became the symbol because it is the most extreme version: the animal takes over the whole frame.

Why it became a joke

A photo works when it is unusual. Once the same picture appears on a great many profiles, it stops telling a woman anything about the man in it. She sees the tiger first and you second, and she has seen the tiger before.

It also looks staged. Tourists pay for the pose, and everybody knows it. The photo says "I bought an experience" far louder than it says "this is how I live".

Some women also dislike photos with captive wild animals, and you cannot know in advance which ones. A photo that makes a portion of your audience wince for reasons that have nothing to do with you is a bad use of space.

What a woman reads from it

Women look through a set of photos to guess what a normal week with you looks like and who you spend it with. A tiger photo answers neither question. It tells her you travel, which you could have shown with a better frame, and it hides your face behind a large cat.

a dating coach's idea of a good unusual photo is what he calls a curiosity photo. It gives a woman something easy to comment on, and it has a true story behind it. His own shows him with a bed covered in foreign banknotes, captioned "caught in the act", and it draws more comments than anything else he posts. A tiger photo has a story too, but the story is "I paid for the pose", and women know it before they ask.

Does it ever work?

Nobody publishes a figure for how tiger photos perform, and this article will not invent one. A woman who loves big cats might comment, and the occasional photo might start a chat.

The chat it starts is usually about the tiger, though. "Is that real?" and "where was that?" are questions about the cat, and the conversation drifts away from you. a dating coach's test for any unusual photo is simple: if real women are not asking about it, swap it out. Ask whether women are asking about you or about the animal.

The same trap with other animals and landmarks

The tiger is the famous case, but the same problem shows up with an elephant ride, a monkey on the shoulder, or the standard pose in front of a famous landmark. Each says "I was here" and nothing about who you are. If the setting could be swapped for any other man's, the photo is not yours.

What to put in that slot instead

Travel photos are fine. The version that works shows you in a place, doing something, with your face visible and the light on your side. You on a trail, you at a market stall, you laughing at a table with people you obviously like.

Make the photo a conversation starter, but one that points at you. A true story is worth more than a famous animal: the odd job you did on the trip, the dish you cooked for the whole hostel, the wrong turn that became the best day. Then a short caption, if you use one, or just be ready with the story when she asks.

Daylight and a plain background will do more for any photo than a spectacular setting. Your lead photo should show your face, close enough to see, and nothing is in the frame competing for her attention.

Let your bio and prompt answers do the talking

Once the photos show a real man in a real place, the words finish the job. A bio that explains the tiger ("it was a long story") wastes its space. A line about what you actually do on a Saturday gives her something to ask about.

The same goes for any prompt answers on the app. One true, specific detail beats a joke about your travels, because she can picture it and reply to it. The photos get her to stop, and the words give her a reason to write back.

A quick test

Show your set to three people who do not know you and ask what they would ask about each photo. Write down the questions.

If most of the questions are about the animal, the monument or the view, that photo is working for the scenery. Replace it with one where the questions are about you. When you are the answer, the photo is doing its job.