Cold Profile › answers
Your face clearly visible, decent light, no sunglasses, and nobody else in the frame. Everything after that is refinement. If you can only fix one thing, fix the light.
Fixed the profile and still nothing? Sometimes it is the pool, not the photos - the same profile does different numbers on different apps. See which app suits you
That is an affiliate link: if you sign up I may earn a commission, at no cost to you. It is how the reviews stay free with nothing to buy afterwards.
Want yours checked? Score your profile free, or email help@coldprofile.com for a full review - no signup either way.
Outdoors, in shade, on an overcast day, or an hour before sunset. Overhead indoor light is the single most common thing making otherwise fine photos look bad.
You do not need a camera. A recent phone in good light beats a DSLR in bad light every time. Face toward the light, not away from it, and avoid direct midday sun, which makes people squint and throws hard shadows.
Selfies are constrained to arm's length, which flattens features and eliminates context. A friend standing about ten feet away with your phone solves both.
Take far more than you need. A useful hit rate is one in twenty. Ask them to use the back camera at roughly your eye level and to shoot while you talk or walk, rather than while you hold a pose, and twenty minutes in a park will usually give you a couple of keepers.
The first photo carries the most weight on every app, so it should be the clearest one: just you, face visible, from roughly the chest up, in good light. A genuine smile tends to read as more approachable than a serious stare, but use whichever looks like you on a good day. Save the scenic, wide and group shots for later in the set.
Once you have the clear face photo, the rest should carry information: where you go, what you do, who you are around. Each photo should add something the others do not.
The goal is that someone can imagine an afternoon with you. Six well-lit portraits do not achieve that. Cooking at a friend's place, on a trail, at a market, or playing an instrument each give a match something to ask about.
Pick the photos where you look relaxed and like yourself, not the ones that look most polished. A friend is usually a better judge than you are, because most people are attached to certain photos for reasons a stranger cannot see. Ideally ask someone who would plausibly date someone like you, then lay your final six side by side and drop any two that look like the same day.
Sunglasses in the lead photo. Mirror and car selfies. Group shots first. Heavy filters. Photos with an obvious ex cropped out. Anything more than about two years old. Each of these hides your face, raises a question, or looks like it belongs to a different stage of your life.
Retake rather than reuse when your look has changed - a new haircut, a beard, glasses or a noticeable change in weight. Give a new set a couple of weeks before judging it.