Make your dating profile photo better
Your best dating photo is often one you already have, minus a blink or a stiff smile. Fix the moment, keep the person, and put your best real photo first.
Before
AfterOn Hinge, Tinder or Bumble, your first photo is read in about a second. It doesn't need to be professional. It needs to show your face clearly, with an expression that makes someone want to keep looking.
Most people already have that photo. It's the one from the café, the trip or the friend's party, where the light and the outfit were right and the face wasn't quite: a blink, a held smile, a look at the phone.
Pick the photo first
Go through the last year of your camera roll and choose photos where:
- Your face is clear, not tiny, not in shadow, no sunglasses in the first one.
- You're the only person, or obviously the main one.
- The setting says something: a hobby, a place you love, people you like.
- It's recent and looks like you today.
Our guide to the best dating profile photos covers the full set, from the first photo to the last, and what to wear helps if you're taking new ones.
Then fix only the moment
Open the photo in the web editor or Glowly on iPhone. Auto finds what the photo needs, such as open eyes, a relaxed smile or a look at the camera. Each touch has its own dial, so you choose how far it goes.
What Glowly won't do: change your face shape, skin, body, age or anything else about who you are. The person someone meets should be the person in the photos. That's the line between fixing a moment and misleading someone, and why editing dating photos is fine when it stays on the right side of it.
A quick check before you upload
- Would a friend recognize you instantly from this photo?
- Is it from the last year or two?
- Does the face match the mood of the place?
If all three are yes, it belongs on your profile.
Is it OK to retouch a dating profile photo?
Fixing a blink, a stiff smile or a glance away is fine: it shows what you actually look like. Changing your face, body or age is not, because it misleads the people you'll meet.
How many photos should a dating profile have?
Most apps allow six. Four to six good photos work best: one clear face photo first, then a full-length photo, a hobby, and one with friends.
Can I use the web editor on a computer?
Yes. The web editor at app.glow.ly works in any modern browser, on a computer or a phone, with drag and drop on desktop.
Does Glowly rate my photos?
The iPhone app includes a free dating profile score. It looks at photo quality, photo variety, your bio and your prompts.
Read more
- The best dating profile photos, and how to get themWhich photos to use on Hinge, Tinder and Bumble, which to leave out, and how to get good ones from your camera roll without a photographer.
- Is it OK to edit your dating profile photos?Where the line is between fixing a photo and misleading people, with simple rules for what's fair to retouch on a dating profile and what isn't.
- What to wear in dating profile photosColors, fits and outfits that work in dating profile photos, what to avoid, and how to choose clothes that look like you rather than a costume.
Fix something else
- Fix closed eyes in a photoBlinked in the one good photo? Open your eyes in the photo you already have. Only your eyes change; the light, the room and your expression stay as they were.
- Fix a forced smile in a photoA stiff, held-too-long smile can make a good photo look awkward. Soften it into a natural one in the photo you already have, and keep everything else.
- Add a smile to a photoLooked serious in a photo you otherwise love? Add a natural, closed or open smile to your own face, and leave the rest of the photo untouched.