How to take the ultimate primary profile photo. Everything depends on it.

Your primary profile photo is the most important part of your online dating profile.

Now I will explain how to take the ultimate profile photo.

Chances are, you are not a professional photographer. You merely need to think like one. Lucky for you, I am a professional photographer so I am here to help.

Every photographer knows that most the most essential element to any good photograph is light. The word “photography” literally means “drawing with light”. The word was supposedly first coined by the British scientist Sir John Herschel in 1839 from the Greek words phos, (genitive: phōtós) meaning “light”, and graphê meaning “drawing or writing”.

So we need to get the light right. Fortunately, everyone has convenient access to a good source of light for making a good primary profile photo. Believe or it, it’s in your car.

To illustrate why your car is a good source of light, let me explain why your bathroom mirror is not a good place to take a photo of yourself. Most bathrooms have an artificial, “single point light source,” — either overhead in a ceiling-mounted fixture or straight ahead. Overhead lighting is not very flattering because it causes your brow to cast a shadow over your eyes. And artificial light is rarely flattering.

The best way to light your face is from multiple directions — front, left, right — with natural light. And that’s where your car comes in. If you are sitting in the driver’s seat, there is natural light coming through the windshield from the front, as well as the left and right from the windows. And this light is reflected by the headliner and interior of your car to provide a large area of light from multiple directions resulting in few harsh shadows.

Just wait for a sunny day and let nature provide the lighting. And remember to do the following:

• Make your face the focus. Your face should fill the entire frame.
• Look at your phone and remember to smile.
• Don’t wear sunglasses.
• Don’t wear a hat.
• Avoid direct sunlight. Instead, let the light from the open sky fill your car.