Upfront disclaimer! If your wife catches you looking at online dating sites… I do not have your back! It’s on you. :-)

Popular dating site okcupid has done some amazing data mining which can benefit you as a photographer. They cataloged some 7,000 odd profile photos from their members while looking for three things.

  • Facial Attitude. Is the person smiling? Staring straight ahead? Doing that flirty lip-pursing thing?
  • Photo Context. Is there alcohol? Is there a pet? Is the photo outdoors? Is it in a bedroom?
  • Skin. How much skin is the person showing? How much face? How much breasts? How much ripped abs?

Ok you’re saying, why do I care? I’m a photographer and I’m certainly not hanging out on the dating websites. I’m not suggesting that you start emulating the official pose of the myspace tween either but I will argue that you can learn something from all of okcupid’s hard work. These photos afterall, are the “best foot forward” for their members and have been choosen because A) the member thinks they look good in them and B) they think that other people will find them attractive based upon the photo.  So what you, as a photographer, really want to pay attention to here is how people see themselves an in return how others see them.

The article is absolutely geared towards taking a better dating profile picture but I believe as a photographer it’s a little glimpse into the mind. So when you read there article “The 4 Big Myths of the Profile Picture” look for these takeaways.

  • The differences between Men and Women. I specifically found it interesting the gender disparity when it comes to eye contact. This is something to consider when shooting and posing men. It appears the ladies like a man who peers off axis a bit. Who knew!
  • Apparently women can work the sexy/flirty angles better as they age where the men can’t. Some food for thought as you pose your next young and older woman client.
  • As women age, body pictures become less popular and by their mid twenties they get better response when there is more of their surroundings (outdoors) in their photos. So include some surroundings/environment in that next portrait session if your client is pushing 30 or older.

As photographers if our end goal is to make people look good / feel good then this is an interesting insight into what others find attractive that is actually backed up by some hard data.  What do you think?

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