Let's Talk Photographs

Apart from the main do nots talked about below, we are at a point where we are going to be trying to replace the majority of our public photos with more candid scenes.

I've heard this mentioned many times over the years, especially by women, and I believe it can pay dividends if used.

It's not easy, and it's the kind of thing that will require a deliberate, focused effort from Lady and I both.

I believe that many couples experience the same issue that I do where this is concerned. Though cellphones give us all the consistent ability to take endless impromptu shots, I seem to be constantly taking those of Lady while she's taking pics of grandkids.

Hence, I have a thousand pictures of her to chose from, and the only ones I have of me are the pictures that result from me saying, "hey...take a picture."

Posed photos are just not nearly has inviting or as descriptive as are the candidate shots IMV.

One other note on that.

Changing the dimensions the pic in the Word document by grabbing the highlighted handles will change the actual viewable size on that document, but it doesn't seem to change anything in terms of the physical (higth/width) demensions of the uploaded pic to this site.

You can use MS Paint to type in an exact demension you want, i.e. 250 x 250, etc...

I will warn you though that up sizing the dimensions using MS Paint will visually degrade the quality of the photograh quickly.

It may be different on your version, but typical the photo will remain with the highlighted edges you use to resize with.

They will go away if you accidentally click somewhere off of the image. You should be able to get them back by just clicking on the pic again.

From there you should be able to right-click and get the save image as button. I apologize if it's not working that way for you. I saw this type somewhere here in the forums a long time ago and used it since. I found it to be pretty nifty.

Compressing a photo using MS Word:

1) Open a new word document

2) Select the Insert tab and then choose Picture

3) Find the photo you want and double-click it, select it, whatever. It will then appear in your document with highlighted edges

4) On the now active tab (Format) there will be an option to compress. It may be an icon or it may be the actual word "compress", depending on the version you're using.

5) Select Compress and a pop-up box will appear with size choices.

6) Choose the Web option (150 ppi)

7) Right-click the compressed photo and save it to a folder. I usually use the same file name and add COMP to the end to let me know that it is good for uploading.

You'll find that photos compressed like this not only upload really fast, they also display better and with more consistency on the site.

An afterthought here on selfies.

There may be a notable difference between the creative selfie that you see everyday on other social venues and the mugshot pose standing in front of the bathroom sink.

Some will not like either, but I truly believe that the creative selfie, if that's the best you can do at present, won't turn most viewers off.

However, I do encourage folks not to misrepresent themselves. That leads to bad encounters once you meet. I say this because I can put a ball cap on and take an angled selfie that makes me look 15 years younger than I am. I've seen heavy people do the same thing with their weight.

Tempting as it may be, it will serve no good purpose in the end.

I agree.

I only hope that as many who can will drop some of their thoughts in here and the "profile sandpits" thread.

The opinions will vary, but they are all worth considering.

The one thing that I believe many of us will agree on is that your profile and it's photos may well be the only chance of contact you get. We used to have a counter that showed the total number of views but now the only insight to that is the WVM bar. This doesn't capture all of the views from profiles that have that feature turned off though.

In either case, if they viewed you but did not reach out, you may have missed that opportunity for good. Not always, but maybe.

I believe this is far more important for the men to dwell on.

This goes hand-in-hand with Tramp mentioning the myriad of 'lost' threads - for new readers / new swingers remember when one of us gives advice it is from our own perspective and what may or may not have worked for us.

There will be differences to consider: age, geography, time in LS, single vs couple, personal preferences (some like hair, some don't, some like thick men/women some don't, some don't mind selfies some do (again think age - 2018 selfies rule - you can make them look good (Sorillo gives great tips on this topic).

Now about those messy/dirty houses, I must agree they are a NO NO NO

I beg to disagree with ". . . or in costume. Yeah, theme nights at the swing club are fun, but costumes are rarely flattering on anyone. " In my opinion when a SM or couple has one picture in costume it shows a playful side I may not get from their written word and/or other photos. There are some stuffy peeps out there - I look for signs of playfulness and good energy. Truth be told, a rock hard body with good grammar and syntax sometimes do not convey these attributes.

I do want to pass on a small technical peace of info that I picked up a couple of years ago here in another thread.

If you browse profiles often you'll notice that some photos seem to load on the screen quickly while others may not load up at all. One of the reasons for this is the file size of the photo.

MS Word has a nifty little compression tool that works wonders for this, and it's not difficult at all to use once you get accustomed to it.

You can compress your pics down to .01 mbs, and they'll work like a charm with no loss in appearence.

I'LLC come back this evening and give the steps, but I want to be on my laptop so I don't miss a step.

I feel better now.

Just you wait till you see me in my hobo suit...I even turn me on a little in that. 8^O

"...I was really happy with my main pic in the blue suit, jacket over my shoulder."

Me too. Please, don't change a thing. I'm not particularly visual, but this photo works as well on me as BT's martini glasses! Sharp dressed men, you know?

Pepper, I wish I could help with your technical issues, but it's outside my areas of competence.

On a far more serious note...Velma has almost sent me into a cardiac episode here!

I know that my photos aren't the best, but I was really happy with my main pic in the blue suit, jacket over my shoulder.

But damn...

I just noticed that if you look hard you can see the edge of my cellphone. I just can't win! ;^/

I know, right...

We lost a great deal when the site deleted years of forum posts. Although, since there never was a realistic search feature, one could spend months on end looking for specific topics to little or no avail.

Sigh...

Oh couple more things of what shouldn't be included:

• Males with cargo shorts.

• Males with a phone holster

• Males who are wearing a tucked-in polo and khakis next to a wife who is wearing an amazing dress and heels.

** What should be included

You only need 5 pics: Female face and body. Male face and body and a picture of the two of you together. Yeah, you can blur the faces if you are being discrete. That's fine. At least once picture should be of you dressed like you are going to church or a wedding. This is really a job interview and the job is to have sex with my vagina. Make an effort like you are going to a job interview. If the only "couples" picture is of you on a tropical island wearing vacation wear or swimsuits, it's okay. But you really do need that nicely dressed pic.

You can include a few more pictures as "hooks" that show you doing interesting things such as running a race, at a professional sports game or on vacation. These hooks may get someone who is shy to write you because they might have the same hobby or like the same sports team.

Keep your pics to under 10 and rotate them often. Don't leave pics on there if they are over a year old.

**What should be avoided

Close-ups of boobs and butts. Any pics of people shooting a gun or hunting. Pics taken in a dirty / messy house, a bathroom or in costume. Yeah, theme nights at the swing club are fun, but costumes are rarely flattering on anyone. You should also avoid the same exact pics but with different angles or clothes. Avoid pictures that have multiple colors of hair. Ditto beards. If some of your pics have a goatee, some of your pics have a beard, and some are clean-shaven, then I won't know what to think. Keep one style and stick with it. The exception is a scruffy weekend beard, especially in vacation pics.

Don't have pics that are over a year old or don't accurately represent what you look like anymore.

**Ideas on how to better organize the various types of pics in galleries

The first five pics are where you are going to gain or lose interest. The first pic should always be a couples pic or a sexy pic of the woman. If the first pic is of a woman, the second one should be of the couple or the man. Now that it's out of the way that the man and woman are a couple, you can do a random order, but I would put your "doing interesting things" pics at the end."

**How the different galleries work

Public: this is the hook for getting people to write you.

Private: You can show a little more skin here or your faces. This is what you use to "open up" to people that you write if your faces are hidden in the Public section.

Personal: Hardcore sex. Party pics. We use the personal section for pictures of me dyking out as "proof" for people who considered that a main priority.

The first thing that I will say is that no public photos is always seen as a very bad sign for me.

This even applies to the folks who have a few pics but only keep them hidden to be used on a case by case basis.

While I completely understand the need to crop out faces, blur identifying tats, etc..., the total absence of anything in the public gallery spells problems. I can think of three primary reasons for doing this and none of them are good.

As a companion resource to the "Profile Sandpits" thread, I believe it would be helpful to compile a list from different points of view where profile photographs are concerned. There's a lot to talk about here:

** What should be included

**What should be avoided

**Ideas on how to better organize the various types of pics in galleries

**How the different galleries work

**Any tech advice on taking, saving, formatting, or uploading photos, etc...

My hat is certainly off to the precious few who regularly commit their time to help with profile critiques. I just thought that it might relieve their efforts a little if an area like this could be built and referred to as needed.