I know, I don’t know jack about dating, I haven’t been single since ’04. But I can relay info from my single buddies, right?
A red pill lady friend of mine asked if I would take some headshots for her dating profile. I’m a wee bit of a photographer, so I said sure. We spent a Friday out and about, took some awesome shots of her lookin all hot with her badass muscle car, and had dinner and a good chat.
I got her photos edited and out to her the next day. She told me a day later that in less than 24 hours, she’d gotten 8 emails and 8 winks with the new photos.
NEVER undervalue the price of having a good profile pic, ladies (and guys!). I know a lot of really pretty people who take bad selfies. Cell phone cameras are crap compared to a DSLR, experience photog, and Adobe Lightroom. It’ll run you some cash depending on where you live (unless you happen to have a good photographer friend! 
)… I think around here, the going rate is around $250. But if you’re looking to attract the opposite sex, hop on google and find a photographer.
Some tips for selecting one, for profile portraits or anything else:
~DON’T use Craigslist. It’s full of folks who’ve owned a camera for all of a week, and suddenly want to call themselves pros. Hell, I’ve been into photography for years, and I don’t even really consider myself a pro, and feel squeamish charging anyone for it.
~If they don’t have a full portfolio on their website, move on. If they don’t have a website, really move on. If all their photos look completely different in style, they probably ganked them off another photog’s website because they don’t have their own portfolio, because their work sucks.
~You get what you pay for. You’re not just paying for the time they take to shoot, but also for the editing. Digital photos still have to be color corrected, exposure corrected, sharpened, etc. It takes a while to learn those skills, and significant amount of the work is done behind-the-scenes. An example, courtesy of Photography by Vicki:
~If they have a heavy-handed editing style, you should tell them to tone it down if your goal is to show the Real You. It’s false advertising to have the photog edit out that freckle on your cheek or that scar on your forehead or the face tattoo, or to make you skinnier. They CAN make it all look better than it would in a regular ol’ photo, because badly lit photos accentuate the things that you hate the most, but don’t get them to change everything.
Seriously, go get some pro pics. Your inbox will thank you.
