If you are single, be careful which picture you post on your Facebook profile or online dating site- which camera you use, when the picture was taken, and other factors determine the quality of just how hot you will look in your picture. The data that I read was collected from the dating site OKCupid.com and can be found HERE. Remember that these are opinions only, so DON’T PANIC if your profile picture does not match the criteria below- you have time to fix your profile page to match the true-life hottie that you really are.

OK Cupid collected the data by putting over 500,000 pictures side by side and asked people to choose which picture they liked better based on a number of factors.

The Cameras:

The Panasonic Micro 4/3s was ranked highest for photo attractiveness and was followed by the Leica PointnShoot. Don’t expect a great-looking picture from the Motorola Phone- it scored dead last in the survey.

As you might expect, photos from cameras with interchangeable lenses came in higher overall than either point and shoot cameras or camera phones in terms of photo attractiveness. If you know someone with a nicer camera than yours, it might be a good idea to have them snap a photo of you or two to put on your profile.


The Flash:

Don’t post pictures of yourself with a flash- according to the experts at OK Cupid, the flash adds a grand total of seven years to your appearance (not your life). The OK Cupid writer speculates that bouncing the flash off of the ceiling may help things out a little, but I’m not so sure that would do the trick.

The Focus:

The picture you post should be focused on you- not the surroundings. In camera-talk, this is called “Depth of Field” and means that the picture is focused on the person in the photograph and that everything in the background is blurry. The basic idea is that a lower F-Stop makes for a more attractive photograph. (The original post gives a very detailed description of how to accomplish this kind of photograph if you need more information.)

Time of Day:

Strangely, late night and late day came up as the best times to take a photo of someone. The reason I find this odd is because most late night photos require the use of a flash.