Mirror No More: How To Create Interesting Tinder Photo Ideas

You’ve made up your mind—you’re ready to dive into the world of dating, meet new girls, and potentially find that special someone. Excited and full of anticipation, you download the app and start searching pictures of you to use. You are sure there are some great ones.

After searching for an hour, you’re left disappointed. You look like you’ve seen a ghost in this one. You look bored out of your mind in this one. This one is so blurry that you’re barely recognizable. You look like Gollum screaming for his precious in this one. Even your own dear dog disapproves of you in this one. These photos are just terrible.

Now you’re stuck. You know you need better photos, but you’re drawing a total blank on ideas what photos to take. Mirror selfies seem to be the only option that comes to mind, but you know they’re not the ideal choice.

For real, why is coming up with ideas so god damn hard when you need to do it?!

In this post I’ll show you a technique I’ve used to create plenty of photo ideas for an interesting Tinder profile. Then I’ll show how to gather inspiration photos to imitate and use as a feedback loop to help you improve the photos.

Gather All Your Interesting Hobbies And One-off Activities Into A List

First, we want to gather as many options as possible so we can narrow down the best ones later. Our goal here is to avoid having too few ideas or fixating too much on just one idea and missing out on other cool stuff.

Now, let me give you an example. My own hobbies that I do regularly include cooking, hitting the gym, photography, and shibari (rope bondage). Then the cool and interesting one-off ideas involve language learning, archery, bouldering, axe throwing, and camping in the woods. As for my lifestyle, I love to travel, go on leisurely bike rides, explore the city streets on foot, chill out at cozy cafes with a book (even if it’s mostly on my phone!), and trying out fancy bars with my friends. Lastly, although I have allergies and can’t own pets, I have friends who have cats and dogs. That gives me a total of 16 ideas to start with.

Which Of These Ideas Are Feasible?

Now, let’s dig in and refine our ideas. Not all ideas translate well into a photo format. Photos capture a single moment in time thus some ideas just won’t translate well visually.

Let’s take my language learning for example. It’s not something that easily translates (pun intended) into a photo without some context or a caption explaining what’s going on. If I were to take a photo of me studying, it wouldn’t be clear that I’m specifically learning languages. Even a photo of me conversing with native speakers wouldn’t be distinguishable from a regular travel photo. So, it’s better to explore other ideas instead.

For example, while I like learning languages, that does not translate well into a photo that doesn’t have a caption to tell what you are doing. If I’d do a photo of me studying it wouldn’t be clear that it’s specifically languages. If I’d do a photo talking with natives, it wouldn’t be any different from a travel photo. Thus, I’d be better fit on trying other ideas instead.

From Ideas To Copy-able Inspiration

Before we head out for our photoshoot, let’s make sure we have some guidance. We’re not aiming to create art, but we can still learn from others by stealing like an artist. Having examples to mimic for poses, framing, lighting, and even outfits makes the photoshoot much easier, especially if you’re new to it.

For each of your photo ideas, make a Google image search using keywords like “hot man X” and “athletic guy X.” As an example, I searched for “hot man cooking,” “hot guy photographer,” and “hot guy travel”. If the photos you find don’t feel familiar due to e.g. skin color or ethnicity, try searching with more specific words such as “hot black man X” or “athletic indian guy X”. Just remember that the aim is to get ideas to copy, not find the most similar photos to you.

Further, keep in mind that the photos you’ll often find feature men who are ridiculously attractive with godlike physiques. However, you don’t need to look like anywhere near as good as they do to achieve success on Tinder. What you want to do is copy their style of photos, such as their poses, props, stylish clothing, professional-looking shots, and photo editing techniques.

Select the best-looking pictures and create a reference album, like in Google Photos, for easy access. Repeat this process for all the photo ideas you’ve listed.

What If There Are No Photos With Hot Guys?

Sometimes, there simply aren’t any suitable pictures of hot guys posing while doing the activity to use as a reference. And that’s normal. Most guys are average, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take great photos.

However, inspiration photos with an average looking guy can still be incredibly useful. They serve as great starting points for ideating on how to create an interesting photo.

The main question to ask is whether the photo’s style would still work if the guy in it was incredibly attractive and dressed in a way that screams “getting laid.” In other words, if you use same style in pose, angle, and lighting, would the photo be improved if the guy was a lot more attractive and dress stylish?

Inspiration Photos Act As Your Feedback Loop

With the right inspiration photos, you won’t have to question “Are these photos even close to what I want?” Just compare what you’ve captured with your inspiration photos, and assess if you’re on the right track. If you are, fantastic! Those photos will probably perform well on Tinder. If not, take a moment to reflect on how you can improve.

Don’t forget to bring along your inspiration photos and reflect on them during the photoshoot! This way, you can influence the final outcome while you’re out there snapping pictures.

Takeaway

The main takeaway here is that you don’t need to fake anything to come up with interesting photo ideas for your Tinder. While not all hobbies may result in great photos, there are plenty of other good options to build a profile around. After all, 3-5 great photos that showcase what you find interesting in your life are enough to make an impact.

Now that you have tons of ideas gathered for great photos, read on how to ensure that you will look attractive in the photos.