What Types of Pictures Should Go on a Dating Profile?

Five types do most of the work. You need a clear photo of your face, a full-body photo, and a photo of you doing something you actually do. Add a photo of a place you have been, and a photo with other people. Together they answer the questions she is asking in the first seconds: what you look like, what your life is like, and whether other people like you.

This is the first photo, and its only job is to show her your face. She should be able to see your eyes, your expression and your whole head in good daylight, with nothing blocking it.

Skip sunglasses, hats pulled low, heavy filters and anything cropped so close that the photo is mostly forehead. A relaxed, real smile beats a posed one. If she cannot tell what you look like from the first photo, she will not look at the second.

A woman wants to know your build and how you carry yourself, and she will assume the worst if you hide it. A photo that shows your whole body, standing naturally, answers the question honestly.

It does not have to be a gym photo or a shirtless one. A walk, a hike, a street or a doorway all work. Fit clothes matter more than muscle, because a shirt that fits at the shoulder photographs better than a costume for the body you wish you had.

a dating coach criticizes profiles that are "boring" in the specific sense that nothing in them gets noticed. A man standing in a normal room in a plain shirt gives her nothing to remember. A photo of you doing something real gives her a reason to ask a question.

Pick the thing you actually do: climbing, cooking, playing guitar, coaching a kid's team, riding a bike. It should be an activity you could talk about for ten minutes. A photo of a hobby you did once for the picture will fall apart on a first date.

One photo of somewhere you have been tells her you leave the house. A trip, a city, a mountain, a beach, a restaurant you love. It also gives her an easy topic to open with.

Keep your face large enough to recognize. A tiny figure in front of a famous building tells her about the building, not you. The best place photos show you comfortably in the setting, not posing for it.

A social photo suggests that you have friends and that you are fun to be around. It works best when it is obvious which person is you, and when the group looks like a normal evening: a dinner, a wedding, a game night.

coach points out the problem with a group photo where nobody knows who he is. If she has to guess which man is you, the photo costs you more than it gives. Put it later in the set and make sure you are easy to spot. Never make it the first photo.

Some types actively hurt.

• Selfies in a bathroom or gym mirror. They suggest you have no one to take a picture of you.
• Photos with an ex or another woman, even cropped. She will see the arm around your shoulder.
• Car photos and photos of your belongings. They say less about you than about the thing.
• Photos of a face mask, a messy room, or a couch in a dim corner. They look unfinished.
• Heavy filters, old photos, or any picture that makes you look different from how you look today.

Fish, guns and other loaded props follow the same rule. If the photo will start an argument before it starts a conversation, keep it late in the set or leave it out.

Use a mix of the types, not five versions of the same one. Different clothes, different days and different settings make the whole set believable, and they give her more than one answer about your life.

A simple order is the face photo first, then the activity, the full-body shot, the place, and the photo with people near the end. Test the set on a friend who does not know you well. If they can guess what you do on a weekend, the pictures are doing their work.

If you do not have enough usable photos, a friend with a phone and an afternoon of daylight can fix most of it. If you would rather not organize that, a photo team can build a full set from selfies already on your phone, in several outfits and settings, and check each one by hand before it reaches you.