Empty café tables on a quiet stone street, with flowers in the window.

Photos that get a reply

What a useful dating photo shows, what to crop out, and why a gallery of professional shots is a warning sign.
A phone propped by a window, next to a plant and an empty chair.

Use one recent photo of your face, taken in the last year, in ordinary light. Women reply when they can see who they would be meeting. A clear face does more than a filter or a shot where you are too far away to recognise.

Crop out other people. Crop out children completely. Crop out your workplace, a name badge, a street sign outside your house, and a number plate. Add a second photo only if it shows something true: a walk, a kitchen, a table. Two honest pictures are plenty.

Be wary of a profile that is only professional photographs. Studio lighting and the same pose repeated are a common pattern on fake accounts. Spotting a fake profile is the rest of that pattern. You do not owe a more revealing photo to be taken seriously. When someone asks for photos is the request you can refuse.

Stand by a window, look at the camera, and use the photo that looks like you on an ordinary day. That is the one that gets a reply from someone who actually wants to meet.

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