New DSLR -- need Tinder pic feedback

arcade_fireee · Thu Oct 21, 2021 5:12 am

Sup homies,

I bought Andy's recommended DSLR (technically mirrorless) camera. Holy shit, it's so easy to take fire-looking self-portraits with a tripod.

Here are some initial photos I snapped in my first couple sessions of playing around with it. Let me know which ones are Tinder-worthy. I plan on iterating with a lot more variety pics over the coming weeks. Specifically, I still want to get a full-body shot showing off streetwear style next. And also probably one posing on my motorcycle in my leather jacket. And eventually a group photo so I don't look like a loser.

This folder also includes my old/current profile that I'm replacing. They actually got me quite a few lays in the past (with the shirtless pic as my first pic), but I just moved to LA and it's way more competitive, lol.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Are the shirtless ones good? #6 is not getting as many likes as I expected.

Note: these are all shot in RAW, and unedited.

arcade_fireee · Sat Oct 23, 2021 9:35 pm

Shot some new ones today after getting a haircut (this is the shortest my hair has been on the sides -- honestly not sure if it suits my head shape). Let me know what you think.

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They were just taken in my bedroom. I want to find a place outside to do a little full-body fashion photoshoot.

Also I want to recreate a much higher-quality version of the pic below -- holding a motorcycle helmet or something and looking back at the camera outside. I think it looks cool and my hair looks good from that angle.

IMG_0293.jpg

Dewm · Sun Oct 24, 2021 1:04 am

Pics look great! If you get some lights off Amazon I think they're like $75 they dramatically improve the interior shots. Lighting matters a lot. I'm still learning too but I've been having headshots taken for a long time. Outside shots tend to have great light but the rub is that if it's really sunny your eyes can squint hiding those beautiful eyes. So like you were already thinking outside full body shot but inside get a nice welcoming headshot with those eyes and face in full view.

arcade_fireee · Sun Oct 24, 2021 3:42 am

Was playing around with sultry low-light shots and got this. I think it's kinda dope. Gonna try using it as my first pic on Tinder (cropping out the distracting background stuff)

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arcade_fireee · Sun Oct 24, 2021 5:19 am

So I boosted on a Saturday night at 10pm and played around with different pic configurations during it. Only got a few matches, and I'm in the huge city of LA. I have done wayyyy better with boosts in the past. I'm starting to wonder if Tinder is
even showing my profile to many girls? I might sign up for Bumble/Hinge to compare.

chad_chaddington · Sun Oct 24, 2021 9:51 pm

the pics of you hiking and skateboarding are great. also i think your new haircut looks fuckin awesome. dont worry, your profile is probably pretty damn good. if you're being forward like you should be, sometimes girls might report you and tinder might lower your visibility for a little bit. keep taking good pics, but consider adding in some cold approach. i know i need to more. its tough, but you gotta take control of your dating life, and if tinder is hiding you a little, go out and get it somewhere else.

arcade_fireee · Sun Oct 24, 2021 10:49 pm

@chad_chaddington Thanks bro, I was going to phase out the hiking and skateboarding pics since they were taken with a phone (low quality). But I guess I'll keep them in for now since they do show hobbies.

Which of my new ones do you think I should use, and what should be my first? If I keep the hiking one I probably don't want the new shirtless one.

Also got these two today -- I'm def gonna use one of them. Unfortunately in the second one my face is a little blurry but it straight up looks like a Magic Fox pose, lol.

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OLD in LA is a tough beast to crack, but I’m going HAM until I do. I don’t feel “cool” or “hot” unless I’m regularly getting laid from OLD.

arcade_fireee · Mon Oct 25, 2021 4:22 am

@KillYourInnerLoser thanks! Just read those articles -- it inspired me to try out the following pics next:
- Gym pic
- Better pics of me skateboarding, mountain biking, hiking, and beach
- Gonna try to recreate this one since logistically it's so easy (dude's just sitting on his bed):

Would you say I need to work more on the technical (settings on camera, composing a shot, post-processing) or creative side of things (outfit, pose, facial expression, background, activity)?

Aspire2Greatness · Thu Oct 28, 2021 8:22 am

arcade_fireee wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 25, 2021 4:22 am
Would you say I need to work more on the technical (settings on camera, composing a shot, post-processing)

I'd say work on this first. Imo pictures can show you doing whatever, but if the lighting/cropping/composition is bad it doesn't help if you're doing cool stuff. That being said I think there's a crossover section where i.e the technical stuff can be OK and what you're doing can be something interesting. I'd hate it my self to plan a photoshoot with lots of cool activities and have my technical skills net me no usable pictures afterwards.

Took the liberty to do a quick touchup in Adobe Lightroom. Lightened your face, reduced noise and tried making the colors pop more + added a soft vignette. Might have overdone the sharpness a bit but you get the idea, there's a lot of stuff you can improve with basic editing skills.

arcade_fireee · Thu Oct 28, 2021 2:15 pm

@Hard2Focus Dang, thanks bro! I have a tab open in my browser to sign up for the Adobe photographer cloud package -- gonna do that this weekend.

Is Lightroom/Photoshop significantly better than just the built-in iOS Photos app editing features on iPhone? I've been using those before uploading to Tinder. You can adjust exposure, brightness, contract, sharpness, vibrance, etc. and add filters.

Aspire2Greatness · Thu Oct 28, 2021 7:25 pm

arcade_fireee wrote: ↑
Thu Oct 28, 2021 2:15 pm
@Hard2Focus Dang, thanks bro! I have a tab open in my browser to sign up for the Adobe photographer cloud package -- gonna do that this weekend.

Is Lightroom/Photoshop significantly better than just the built-in iOS Photos app editing features on iPhone? I've been using those before uploading to Tinder. You can adjust exposure, brightness, contract, sharpness, vibrance, etc. and add filters.

No problem dude.

You can do a lot of basic editing on your phone, yeah, but like in this case I used a feature within lightroom that allowed me to only lighten your face and not the rest of the image. Simply put you get way more detailed control, which can be a hassle if you don't want to watch a couple of tutorials to understand the basics. Many apps have good features, and I see a lot of chicks using i.e FaceTune to brighten their teeth, smoothen their skin and make their eyes pop. But it's very obvious, to me at least, that they have been using that app.

With more advanced tools you can do that and more and make it look way more natural. If you had very high quality pictures, with lighting and everything in place from the get go, you could definitely get away with using your phone.

I.e the black n white picture I posted of my self all oiled up and stuff would look significantly worse had I chosen to do all my editing on the phone + I find it tedious to have to zoom in on this tiny ass screen to check the details, how the de-noising is working etc.

Rags2Bitches · Thu Oct 28, 2021 9:54 pm

@Hard2Focus how long does it take you on average to edit photos manually in lightroom?

Aspire2Greatness · Fri Oct 29, 2021 7:54 am

Rags2Bitches wrote: ↑
Thu Oct 28, 2021 9:54 pm
@Hard2Focus how long does it take you on average to edit photos manually in lightroom?

For Chads picture I spent 5-10 minutes. Depends on the source image and what kind of look I'm trying to achieve.

For my avatar I spent a bit more: toning out color differences in Photoshop, removing spots and adding extra lighting, finely adjusting sharpness differences between my face and the rest of the torso etc. Probably 30 minutes or so.

arcade_fireee · Sat Oct 30, 2021 6:33 pm

Hard2Focus wrote: ↑
Thu Oct 28, 2021 8:22 am
Lightened your face, reduced noise

Was there a lot of noise in that photo? It used ISO 100 so I thought it shouldn't be noisy (speaking as a photography noob here)

Just had a Tinder date flake today, which only means one thing: I'm gonna go out and do a photoshoot; should have some new pics posted here tonight.

Aspire2Greatness · Sat Oct 30, 2021 6:59 pm

arcade_fireee wrote: ↑
Sat Oct 30, 2021 6:33 pm

Hard2Focus wrote: ↑
Thu Oct 28, 2021 8:22 am
Lightened your face, reduced noise
Was there a lot of noise in that photo? It used ISO 100 so I thought it shouldn't be noisy (speaking as a photography noob here)

Just had a Tinder date flake today, which only means one thing: I'm gonna go out and do a photoshoot; should have some new pics posted here tonight.

It wasn't really noticeably noisy but at first but in order to make the details pop it needed a little boost, which in turn made the rest of the image more noisy. You can however adjust the sharpness to only affect the more important aspects of your photos, like your face. ISO100 = low noise, definitely! I'd go for as low ISO as possible, but that all depends on the lighting conditions you are in for your photo shoot.

And good stuff. I'll add my 2 cents when you've posted some!