DateableHow to take a good dating photo indoors at night
Turn off the overhead light and sit near a warm lamp at face height. Use your phone's back camera with the flash off, hold still, and tidy the background.
Turn off the overhead light, sit near a warm lamp at face height, and use your phone's back camera with the flash off. Prop the phone so it stays still, and tidy what is behind you before you start.
Why overhead light makes you look tired
A ceiling light points straight down. It lights the top of your head and the bridge of your nose, and drops shadows under your eyes, cheekbones and chin. You look more tired than you are. Many ceiling lights are also cool white, which turns skin grey.
Even a warm ceiling light is in the wrong place. Turn it off for the photo, so the lamp is the only light on your face.
Sit next to a lamp
Use a table lamp, floor lamp or bedside light with a shade. Put it on a table beside you, level with your face or slightly higher, and turn so it lights you from the front or a little to one side. You want the light on your face, not your forehead.
A warm bulb (labelled "warm white" on the box) flatters skin more than a cool one. If all your lamps are cool, still use one: a single lamp from the side beats a ceiling light every time. If the lamp is bare and harsh, drape a white pillowcase near it (not on it) or bounce it off a white wall.
Use the back camera, not the selfie camera
On most phones the back camera is sharper than the selfie camera and copes better in dim light. Using it means propping the phone up, which is worth the trouble.
Lean the phone against a stack of books at eye level, or use a small tripod, a metre or so from you. Sit in a chair rather than on the bed; an unmade bed says more than you mean it to. Keep the lamp close enough to light your face but not so close that one side glows white.
In dim light the phone keeps the shutter open longer, so any movement blurs. Set a three or ten second timer, settle, and hold still until it fires. Night mode helps if your phone has it, but only if both you and the phone stay still.
Turn off the flash
A phone flash is small and pointed straight at you. It flattens your face, shines on skin, and throws a hard shadow on the wall behind. The lamp is already lighting you. If the photo is a little dark, brighten it slightly in the phone's editor afterwards; a flash-burnt face cannot be fixed.
Tidy the background and mind the clutter
A dim room hides mess less than you think. The lamp lights whatever is near you, and the phone brightens the shadows, so a pile of washing becomes a clear grey shape behind your shoulder. People look at backgrounds more closely than you expect.
Keep it simple: a plain wall, a bookshelf or a painting. A second small lamp behind you adds warmth and depth. Move everything else out of frame, and check nothing in shot gives away your address: mail on a table, a view from the window, a framed photo of family.
How to sit
Turn your body a little away from the camera and your face back toward the lamp, so the light falls across your face rather than flat onto it. Push your chin slightly forward and down; it sharpens the jaw line that lamp shadows can soften. Drop your shoulders, and rest your hands on something: a book, a glass, the arm of the chair.
Look at the lens, not the screen. If you find it hard to smile at a phone, say something out loud just before the timer fires. It sounds silly and works:
Right, one more, and this is the good one.
A photo at home in the evening, relaxed, reading or with a drink in hand, also shows a side of you that a daytime profile photo does not.
The quick checklist before you shoot
- Overhead light off.
- One warm lamp next to you at face height or slightly above.
- Phone propped at eye level, about a metre away.
- Back camera, flash off.
- Three seconds still or a timer set.
- Background clear behind you.
- Sit up straight so your face catches the light.
Expect ten or twenty frames before one works. Move the lamp a little between tries and note where it looks best; next time you will go straight there.
Check the result the next morning in daylight, with your screen at normal brightness. A photo that looked fine on a bright screen in a dark room often turns out too dark or too orange. Nudge the brightness and warmth in the phone's editor, and stop there: no filters. Then choose your photos with a daytime shot or two beside it, and keep the rest of your background private as the guide to protecting your privacy explains. More ideas are in the photos posts.
