Brick wall
The Plain Wall Headshot: The Cleanest First Photo You Can Take
Clean head-and-shoulders for the first slot.
Strip out the settings, the atmosphere and the props, and the first photo on a dating profile is answering one question, and it isn't where you go at weekends. A plain wall, a clear face and decent light is the highest-converting first photo there is, and has been for as long as these apps have existed.
Brick beats a painted wall because of texture. A flat colour behind a head reads as a passport photo, while brick has enough detail to feel like a place without competing for attention.
What to wear
- A jacket with a defined collar: denim, leather, or a good overshirt
- A colour that contrasts with the brick, since mid-brown on red brick disappears
- Nothing above the neckline. No hat, no sunglasses, nothing covering the jaw
When to shoot it, and the light
Open shade or an overcast day, with the wall's shaded side facing you. Direct sun on brick throws a strong orange bounce onto the face and turns the skin ruddy.
The mistake that ruins this shot
Standing flat against the wall. Step half a metre off it, which is enough to throw the texture slightly out of focus and stop your own shadow landing on the bricks.
Where it goes in your profile
First photo, in almost every set. Everything else is context. This one is the answer.