Everyday Photography

Online Dating and Photography

21st January, 2010 - Posted by blazingcircle - No Comments

I’m happily married but when I was dating I tried online dating like many people.  Anyone who has tried online dating knows how frustrating it can be to not get responses since the more online conversations you have, the more dates you have and the better the chance of meeting the right person.

We already know having photos in a dating profile helps get more responses.  We’re visually stimulated and it’s no secret that we like people that we categorize under hot, sexy, attractive, cute and similar terms.  The question is, how good do the photos need to be for online dating for the average man or woman?

Okcupid is a free online dating site with a mathematical aspect to it.  It’s a site where the more questions you answer the better your matches are.  The site was created by a group of math geeks.  The site recently started a blog to take their user base and figure out what works for dating in a logical, mathematical, sense.  Stuff like how much does race or religion matter? and How long should a first message be? One of their postings goes into details on profile photos.

A few things stood out to me in the posting about what photos result in more message being received.

1. The “MySpace shot” self-taken photo from above the head is number one for women by a long shot.
2. A guy should be shirtless if they’re 19-25, it doesn’t help as much after that.
3. Cleavage can counter age, moreso the further from their teens a woman is.
4. You don’t necessarily need to show your face if you have a better photo that shows yourself off in a different way.

A second aspect to getting more messages is if you look at the photo or not.  For women photos should be taken looking into the camera while smiling or flirting.  For men the best photos are not smiling and not looking into the camera.

But the end result is what matters.  What photos help result in actual conversations and dates?

The following is the chance a message leads to a meaningful conversation based off what photos you have.  Lists are in order of best option to worst option split into two parts.

Above 27%:

1. Doing something interesting
2. With an animal
3. Traveling

Below 27%

1. In Bed
2. Outdoors (general)
3. Cleavage
4. “Myspace shot”
5. With friends
6. Drinking

So the end result is that you can take a photo of yourself with a camera phone, at a party or out with your friends and get lots of messages but that if you’re serious about meeting the right guy or girl you want a photo taken that tells a story about yourself and shows confidence in who you are.