For years, hiring a dating profile photographer seemed like the gold standard of online dating for struggling guys. Ask any online forum and they’ll tell you to hire an online dating photographer. But why?
It seems intuitive, fancier photos -> more online dating matches.
But you should look closer, and realize it’s all a self perpetuated marketing ploy.
A few different groups keep pushing the lie that professional dating photos will solve your problems:
- People who fail at online dating, and
- Dating profile photographers.
Ask a surgeon if you need surgery, of course!
Ask a realtor if you need another house? Obviously… are you dumb?
Ask a dating profile photographer if their photos will cure all your woes?
No brainer.
All for the low low price of $800 – $2500…
Dating profile photographers are in the business of selling fancy photos, not more matches nor romantic connections.
And these dating photos won’t actually help you! Look at this snippet below, taken directly from an article on a dating profile photographer’s website!
These guys are straight up telling you not to expect to improve your matches! If this isn’t convincing, I don’t know what is.
Online dating photographers know from experience that their dating photos don’t always work. But a man’s gotta eat, and hopefully it’ll be on your dime, so they continue to push the lie.
Why don’t professional dating photos work?
The Authenticity Trade-Off Nobody Talks About
Ask any dating profile photographer what their plan is for you and you’ll hear:
“We’ll take high quality photos that make you look good”
“High quality dating photos will make you look professional and high value”
“We’re going to set you up with specific photoshoots that make you look cool and interesting”
The main priority of online dating photographers is to manufacture situations where they can get really high quality dating photos of your face, while pretending to be authentic. But women are smart, they know when a guy has had professional pictures taken. When a woman sees professional dating photos she immediately but silently asks herself the question:
“Why does this guy have professionally shot photos in his online dating profile?”
There are only 4 viable answers to this question:
- He’s a professional model or actor.
- The dating photos were shot for an event or special occasion.
- Portrait photography is his hobby, passion, or career.
- He can’t get women to like him using regular pictures, so he spent big bucks to try and make himself look good with professional photos.
It’s not hard to discern which one is the case!
Here’s the fatal flaw in the online dating photographer approach: In trying maximize your appearance and certainty about your looks, you lose the authenticity that women actually crave. You’re left with professional headshots that look like LinkedIn profiles. Staged dating photos that scream “I hired someone to make me look good.”
Professional photographers won’t tell an authentic story about who you are. When women see you posed by yourself, they can’t help but wonder “where are his friends?”, and “what is he doing???”
Women can instantly spot professional dating photos. The perfect lighting. The too-good-to-be-true angles. The “this guy definitely hired a photographer” vibe.
Instead of building trust, these photos create suspicion: “What does he really look like?”
Authenticity is the number 1 killer of guys who try to create good dating profiles. Hiring a dating photographer is throwing your authenticity out the window.
What should I do instead?
Go digging through your library for photos that show you doing real things, and authentically sharing your life. You don’t have to be completely visible in all of your photos. Use photos with friends, and get photos that you would be proud to have, even if you weren’t going to use them in your dating profile.
Don’t let the masses and online dating photographers convince you that spending $800 or more will magically cure your online dating difficulties. Instead of hiring a professional photographer, tell your friends that from now on, you will pay them $5 for every good photo they take of you. Your friends can capture all your most authentic moments, and are with you all the time. THOSE photos will get you the results you want.
If you want to know how to build a truly excellent dating profile, check out our Men’s Complete Dating Profile Template, which is leagues ahead of anything else you’ll find online.
Are you interested in having your own personal co-pilot guide you through building a standout online dating profile? Backed by real scientific studies and field-tested research, new tools like Photomaxxer offer expert help 24/7, for 1/20th the cost of a typical professional photographer.
2x to 10x your dating results, without the high price tag.
Good luck, and go live happily ever after. – The Dating Djinn
Leave a Reply