Worst Profile Photos What Say About You

Online Dating

The Worst Profile Photos & What They Say About You

Rebecca Dakin

Written by: Rebecca Dakin

Rebecca Dakin

For more tips on online dating and personal one-to-one advice via Skype on creating the perfect online dating profile, please go to www.rebeccadakin.com. You can also follow Rebecca on Twitter and Facebook.

Edited by: Lillian Castro

Lillian Castro

Lillian Guevara-Castro brings more than 30 years of journalism experience to ensure DatingAdvice articles have been edited for overall clarity, accuracy, and reader engagement. She has worked at The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, The Gwinnett Daily News, and The Gainesville Sun covering lifestyle topics.

Discuss This! Discuss This!
Advertiser Disclosure

Your main photograph is your shop window on a dating site. If you get it wrong, people won’t even look at your profile.

Here are some to avoid:

1. The cutout

These are photos with your ex when you can see an arm or hand or hair of another person. Or perhaps it’s a recent breakup and this person is on the rebound.

Is the message here “Others find me datable”?

2. The selfie

They never look good. The arm stretch technique is my pet peeve for dating photographs. This could be interpreted that this person has no friends. There is no reason why anyone cannot get another person to take a photograph of them.

I know some people find having their photo taken uncomfortable. However, you just need to get on with it. Maybe make a joke in your profile about it if you don’t feel you are captured at your best in photographs.

3. With children

Personally, I think it’s careless for people to put photographs of children on the World Wide Web.

In my opinion, this should be avoided for the child’s safety, and the same goes for Facebook and any other public websites/accounts that are left open.

4. Nights out

Drunk photos with pints of beer and cocktails on stag/hen nights or boys/girls nights out – one of the lads will probably always put his friends first and for the female counterpart “good time girl.”

5. Professional

They are not realistic photos and are often airbrushed. This person could be taking things a little bit too seriously. Professional photos can also be intimidating.

“People actually want

to see what you look like.”

6. Dated photo not showing true age or weight

Why do people set themselves up for disappointment? Be proud of who you are.

Don’t try and sell yourself as something/someone you are not, as it will only end up with you reinforcing the negative view you have about yourself when you get rejected.

Not everyone wants a stick-thin young model, so be proud of who you are and make sure your photos show people what they will see if you turn up for a date.

However, if you are using inaccurate photos, then this could be because you are not happy with yourself. If so, this highlights that you aren’t in the right place to be dating anyway. Dealing with your personal issues would be a good place to start.

7. Sunglasses or hats

They obscure your face! Hiding behind glasses can be interpreted that this person isn’t trustworthy, as they are trying to hide.

The eyes being the window to the soul, people want to see them.

8. Photos of other people

Make sure they are of you! Shockingly, people do actually post photographs of someone else, once again ending up with consistently never getting a second date.

9. Far away and blurred photos

People actually want to see what you look like, so if you want to put a photograph in there with your favorite place in the background, make sure it isn’t your main photo and there are photos where people can see what you look like up close.

To use a blurred photo would suggest laziness or trying to hide something.

10. Cars and bikes

These can be off-putting, as some people who have a passion for cars and bikes will always have their piece of metal as their first love and you’ll always be second best.

Advertiser Disclosure

DatingAdvice.com is a free online resource that offers valuable content and comparison services to users. To keep this resource 100% free, we receive compensation from many of the offers listed on the site. Along with key review factors, this compensation may impact how and where products appear across the site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). DatingAdvice.com does not include the entire universe of available offers. Editorial opinions expressed on the site are strictly our own and are not provided, endorsed, or approved by advertisers.

Our Editorial Review Policy

Our site is committed to publishing independent, accurate content guided by strict editorial guidelines. Before articles and reviews are published on our site, they undergo a thorough review process performed by a team of independent editors and subject-matter experts to ensure the content’s accuracy, timeliness, and impartiality. Our editorial team is separate and independent of our site’s advertisers, and the opinions they express on our site are their own. To read more about our team members and their editorial backgrounds, please visit our site’s About page.