You've historically had trouble on Tinder. You only get likes from fatties and weirdos. Good quality matches come once or twice per month, and often don't even respond.
You lift, have some game, and are competent at dating. When you pick up a girl through non-app avenues you can take her out on a solid date or two and get laid. People casually complement you on your muscularity and your attractiveness. You know that your failures on Tinder don't reflect your SMV in reality.
You're failing on Tinder because your photos suck. You can try to fix this in one of two ways:
- Hire a professional photographer
- Become an amateur photographer yourself
Don't do option #1. It costs hundreds of dollars per shoot, and if the photos don't come out right you're screwed. Also, most good photographers will have their own artistic vision in mind when shooting you. Their vision probably won't be in line with the badass masculine vibe that you're going for (unless they're an equally badass photographer, in which case you probably can't afford them).
Go with option #2. Become an amateur photographer yourself.
This is just like lifting. You can pay $1000 for some shitty trainer to teach you a weak workout with light weights and cardio, or you can go online and find an intro guide to powerlifting and just do it yourself. Likewise, you can pay $600 to some girl or blue pilled photographer dude to take blue pilled photos for you. It'll work to some degree. You'll get photos showing off what a nice guy you are, and you'll get matches from passible 28 year old 7's who want you to settle down right away. But you want to bang the hot 20 year old 9's, so learn some basic photography skills and do it yourself.
Just like with lifting this takes research, real equipment, and more than a casual amount of effort. It pays off in proportion to the effort you put in.
Start by buying some gear:
The remote is key. Set up your camera on your tripod, walk over to where you're going to pose, and use the remote to trigger the shutter. Spend a few hours shooting and take literally 400 shots. You'll get maybe 1 or 2 good ones. When you're shooting yourself with a remote you can't know if your facial expression is retarded or if your pose looks goofy. Take a lot of scattershot photos and sift through them later.
You need the telephoto lens to get portrait photos with bokeh:
Bokeh is where the background in a portrait is blurred. This helps highlight the subject. You can't help but focus your attention on the subject because the background is blurred to shit. Good self portraits often have some degree of bokeh.
On the flip side, you'll need a wide angle lens to get photos where the background is actually a feature. Here's a photo where the background was left relatively sharp because the scenery adds to the vibe:
You need a book on photography to learn about the basic camera settings on a DSLR, and how they effect the quality of your photos. There are three fundamental settings. Don't skip learning about these or your photos will come out looking like shit:
- ISO (sensor sensitivity)
- Aperture (how open the lens is)
- Shutter speed (how long the photo is exposed for)
Shoot in RAW mode on your camera and post-process your photos in Photoshop. Read your photography book and learn how to adjust the following things in Photoshop. Don't skip learning about these or your photos will come out looking like shit:
- Exposure correction
- White point correction
- Contrast correction
- Color correction with curves
- Sharpness correction with the "unsharp mask" tool
- Blemish removal with the "spot healing" tool
Every photo is an art piece and should take you an entire day to shoot. It will take you five or six weeks to get enough photos for a full online dating profile. Like lifting, this takes effort and consistency.
Think of the photo of the dude on the bike. If you want to shoot this photo yourself you have to:
- Shop for an outfit that matches that vibe you're going for.
- Find a location.
- Show up when the light is good.
- Set up your tripod, camera, and bike.
- Mess with the settings and lens choices.
- Take a few hundred photos, move shit around, take a few hundred more.
- Eat something, you're hungry.
- Go home and upload your RAW shots to a computer.
- Sift through 400 photos to find 1 good one.
- Adjust the exposure, color, etc... Remove blemishes.
- Start over and adjust everything again from scratch, because you don't really know what you're doing and you fucked up the first time.
- Crop and post to Tinder.
It's an all-day project.
Women do so well on Tinder partly because they're doing this shit passively 24/7. Everywhere they go they're constantly taking selfies or having their friends shoot photos of them. They're addicted to it for the social media validation. They don't get stellar shots every time, but over the course of a few years they accrue a few exceptionally good shots for an attractive Tinder profile.
Men aren't as narcissistic. We're not constantly photographing ourselves and showing off online. If you want to do this right and have girl levels of attention on Tinder then you have to either start taking selfies 24/7 and bugging your dude friends to photograph you when you're out, or alternatively put in a condensed effort over a few weekends and just be done with it (I'd recommend the latter, since you're trying to be a Red Pill man and not a narcissistic 20 year old girl).
Remember to take photos that are congruent with who you are. Don't rent a bike just to take photos looking like a biker. If you're not a biker don't take photos with a bike. If you don't actually have a dog don't take photos with a dog. You might get some attention faking it, but when your date asks to see your bike or your dog and you can't produce the goods your chances of getting her into bed will go down to negative thirty thousand. Unless you can lie like a motherfucker, be congruent.
It doesn't matter what your hobbies are so long as you can show them off in an attractive way. If you’re wearing a muscle shirt and flexing then pretty much anything will come out looking OK (I take that back, no photos at a bronie convention).
At all costs, make sure your photos look bassass and masculine. Put some effort into planning them. Google around for inspiration, or look for inspiration as you go about your day. Don't take nice guy photos, they won't work.
The Tinder trifecta is Looks, Money, Status. Take artful high quality photos that convey one of each and you’re good to go.
Don't cheap out and try to take photos with your phone. You can't swap lenses on a phone for different effects like bokeh (actually, the new iPhone does have two lenses, but they’re not as flexible). Your phone also won't shoot in RAW mode, you'll only get JPEGs. You can't post-processes JPEGs effectively because they're already compressed to shit and don't have enough data left in them to properly correct exposure, color, white balance, and blemishes after the fact.
If you're on the broke side buy an old used camera, and old used lenses. A six year old DSLR camera you get for $120 is fine. You don't have to spend $800 on a new model with $1000 lenses. You're not shooting for Playboy, and you're not going to be able to tell the difference when viewing your photos from a phone anyway. Even a shitty old DSLR camera will give you infinitely more creative freedom than an iPhone.
Right swipes await.
RIP_Betty_White 5y ago
‘Just spend all your money on photography equipment bro.’
No, fuck you and your terrible advice. I’d rather not have sex with random tinder girls than waste my money.
Quaternionz 5y ago
You must be pretty broke if any of these dollar amounts mean anything significant to you.
RIP_Betty_White 5y ago
Brilliant shaming tactic. Wasting money is wasting money no matter how much you already have. Long term financial growth is a lot more important to me than tinder girls.
Quaternionz 5y ago
Alright. Like you said, enjoy not having sex with random Tinder girls. I’ll be having sex with 2-3 of them between now and Sunday.
RIP_Betty_White 5y ago
theredpill is not a dick swinging contest about banging tinder thots.
it's about reaching your maximum potential as a man.
I'm a young man who wants financial independence and I'm not willing to sacrifice my long term goals for short term pleasure.
Quaternionz 5y ago
Yes it. It’s a male sexual strategy. The self help stuff is nice for its own sake too, but it’s geared toward the sort of self help that helps make yourself into a man that women find attractive.
That’s fine if you want to stabilize your finances first. Sounds like the right thing to do.
[deleted]
MatthewGalloway 5y ago
Some tips here with more specific details from a professional filmmaker: go for Nikon if you wish to exclusively focus on the photography side of things (although in recent years Nikon's video capabilities have got a lot better!), but get a Panasonic if you want a camera which can do both filming *and* photography well. (or get two cameras, one for each: a Nikon DSLR for stills plus a Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema 4K for filmming with)
Go for something like a Nikon D5200 (or any D5x00 newer than a D5200, or a D7100 or newer) together with a kit lens (cheap way to get a wide angle shot) plus the Nikon 50mm f1.8G (or the bit cheaper Nikon 50mm f1.8D ***if*** you get a D7x00 or higher camera with the autofocus lens motor in the body).
Or in the hybrid side for both filming and photos go for the Panasonic options: Panasonic G6 / G7 / G85 are the sweet spots for value for money. (pick whichever one of these three meets your budget the best). Plus the kit lens again (kit lenses are never the greatest, but are a good cheap way to get wide angle shots) and a Panasonic 25mm f1.7 or even the Panasonic 42.5mm f1.7 (or even the Sigma 60mm f2.8)
However... often the camera you have with you right here and *now* is going to be the best camera for you! Which means the premium point and shoots like a Sony RX100 or Panasonic LX100 are a smart idea instead as they've very compact.
Also for the same reasons, don't underrate your smartphone by too much! As it is a camera you can always always have with you, meaning you get a lot of practice in and sometimes get lucky with those amazing shots because you're just there at the right moment in the right light. After all with the girls, most of their Tinder pics would be from their smartphones too! But like the OP said, they've got years and years of practice and thousands of pics to choose from out of their smartphone, to find the few pics that show them off in the best possible light imaginable.
Andrew54321 5y ago
What are your hard number results for pro photographers vs your stuff?
Quaternionz 5y ago
What numbers are you asking about?
Andrew54321 5y ago
Like actual real world numbers. How were your matches with pro photos vs your own.
Quaternionz 5y ago
I meant which “numbers” exactly? Quantity of matches? Attractiveness of matches?
I took pro photos about a year ago. The photographer had an artistic vision for the shoot which made them come out with a “Blue Pill Nice Guy” vibe. I got matches from a lot of fatties. I had a few matches on CMB which lead to two real dates, but the girls were very up tight and serious. Both were around 25. No sex, no second dates. During that time I picked up two plates with night game instead.
The pro photos were not cheap. I could have gotten solid camera equipment instead.
I’ve had better luck with my amateur photos so far. They’ve been up there for a month. The two best successes were an 8 and a 9 off of Tinder, 20 and 22. First and second date lays. The 20 year old is a stable plate now. On average I’ll get 2-3 high quality matches after doing a swiping session. 5-6 high quality matches trickle in on CMB over the course of the week. On the extreme end I match with hot 18 or 19 year olds, but it’s rare. I’m 30. I’ve had 5 solid dates in total. I’ve had at least 20 openers go very well in chats, but I end up dropping most of them because I only have so much energy to actually see people.
Two dates have flaked. One vanished without a word. Another said she was sick and a didn’t suggest and alternative time.
I’m sure pro photos would be better with the right photographer, but in practice you have a lot more time and creative freedom to create a masculine Red Pill vibe in your photos if you do it yourself.
I still have room for improvement, and I’m working on new photo ideas. My date pipeline is full as it as, so the goal now is to get even more high quality matches so I can be more selective. I’m not in starvation mode like I was with the pro photos.
I’m not even calling my dates back or hitting up my new plates anymore. Somehow it’s more fun to work on the photos instead, and try to do better. I feel like I’ve beaten the entry level difficulty on Tinder, and now I’m going for intermediate.
Having the steady stream of matches that lead to actual dates has also helped my night game. I don’t care at all when I got night gaming now, because I always already have dates lined up. It makes it easier to be outcome independent. You get a lot less nervous when starting kino or asking for numbers when your Tinder is already doing well.
EDIT: Feels worth mentioning that I’m in NYC, where the competition is brutal. I’d describe my success rate so far as low to moderate. There are a lot of dudes here who make $500,000/yr or more, and I’m sure it shows in their photos. More women than normal are probably trapped up in Alpha male harams as compared to smaller cities or towns.
BackgroundRepublic 5y ago
Only Chad can get laid through Tinder. If you're an average man don't even waste your time.
f0ster91 5y ago
My advice: fuck tinder and don't even waste your time, energy, and especially don't fucking put your money into equipment specifically for it.
All tinder is is a bunch of attention and validation whores, low value, low IQ goons, and catfishes. The only guys who are going to see success with the small <10% of girls on Tinder that are actually hot and/or have a brain are going to be model types and let's face it, most of you aren't.
Get out into the real world where you'll find normal, attractive girls with functioning consciousnesses.
11-Eleven-11 5y ago
If you're getting girls outside of tinder then why do you care?
[deleted] 5y ago
I keep seeing all these post but I'm still so skeptical about tinder and online dating in general. A friend showed me her tinder and she had 100+ matches and says she doesn't even use it for dating but validation and stuff... she was 4/10.
I can't even imagine all the other girls, it just seems like such a silly waste of time, and seeking dates based off of girls pictures, building some fake idea of you in their head, instead of how you see them look in real life and impressing them with your actual frame? Its just personally not for me.
​
Quaternionz 5y ago
Alright, well I have two hot dates this weekend from apps. I hope you do well with whatever your strategy is. I mean, I honestly do. If whatever you’re doing is working then props, that’s solid.
Personally I do OK with night game, but I can’t get a steady stream of two or more dates per week just by doing live stuff.
If you ever feel like you need a boost in your dating life and are willing to venture into a new and unfamiliar approach then maybe come back to this post later. It’s really easy mode with good photos, and photography is fun in its own right anyway.
SirKolbath 5y ago
Jesus fucking Christ. Anyone who puts this much effort into something as simple as a five picture spread on Tinder is working about 20 times harder than they need to to get laid. I had two bathroom selfies and three pics with my dog and I pulled so much ass off of Tinder that I finally had to delete the app because I was getting distracted and pulled off of mission. The most effort I put into any one of those pictures was cleaning the fucking mirror and putting the cap back on the toothpaste before I took the selfies.
None of this is bad advice, per se. What it is is a colossal waste of time. In the time you’re spending to learn how to be a fucking photographer you could be out talking to people— not girls mind you, but people. This will improve your ability to communicate and your overall game.
There’s also a massive flaw in your argument. You say that hiring a professional photographer can cost hundreds of dollars per shoot. A low end Canon EOS rebel T6 digital SLR camera kit is $549 on Amazon right now. That comes with all of the things you recommend buying including the tripod and remote. It does not come with the 40 to 80 hours of practice and study to be able to take really good photos. Even last year’s Canon EOS rebel T5 camera kit is $329. A standard 10 photo shoot takes about two hours and runs about 90 bucks from most photographers. Get a Groupon and you can probably knock another 40 off of that. There are three Groupons right now in my area for portrait photography, one is a 12 portrait spread, one is a couples seven pic spread, and the other is a nine portrait spread and all are $55-$75. The nine portrait spread is an on-location shoot, which means the photographer comes to wherever you are and takes pictures of you doing whatever it is you do. If that’s rock climbing or horseback riding or whale wrestling or whatever the fuck you do, it’s not in the studio and it’s a professional action shot for literally 1/10 the price of what you are recommending people spend on a fucking camera that most of them won’t even know how to use.
If you want to spend 300 bucks or more on a decent quality SLR camera kit and spend the time to learn photography as a hobby that’s one thing. But if you’re doing all this just to get laid then you got issues. Nothing a man does should ever be done with express intention of getting ass.
oytrp 5y ago
Look at how much work you're putting into Tinder.
It's not worth it. Wasting hours of time on fakes, flakes, and validation seekers. Yes you can get laid, but if you actually approach in real life, you'll find it's much more efficient.
Stop being a bitch and drop the buffers.
dr_warlock 5y ago
I like his discipline and drive, just needs to be channeled somewhere else.
CoupDeGrace22 5y ago
This. Tinder is not inherently bad imo so long as you just use it supplementary, just throw in whatever decent pics you have and swipe whenever you're taking a shit or waiting in line somewhere.
Going into all these lengths just to end up in a girl's 3 or even 4-digit matchpool is a waste of time.
neoda1 5y ago
i knew i wasn't the only 1 who thought this when i read past the first paragraph, so much work for a app. Sounds like a job.
clon3man 5y ago
Having a bunch of photos of yourself will probably also get you a better job, so there's that. it's not just for tinder...
Quaternionz 5y ago
Same could be said about lifting.
Quaternionz 5y ago
I haven't found the dates to be fakes, flakes, or validation seekers. I'm not looking for LTR material here, I'm looking for plates for casual fun. This is supplemental to going out and approaching in person.
oytrp 5y ago
If you actually break it down it isn't a benefit, especially for you considering how much effort you put into tinder.
You aren't getting equal return for your time and effort. Put in the same effort with real life game and the returns are much greater.
Think about the hours swiping... how many are matches
Think about the hours messaging... how many lead to dates
Think about the hours dating... how many are much fatter? How many flake? How many lead no where?
and ontop of all of that, tinder does absolutely NOTHING for your game. No practice or self improvement at all.
Quaternionz 5y ago
You must really suck at Tinder.
You: "That's too bad that you're Russian. I'm German and I don't really date Russian girls, historically we haven't gotten along."
Her: "Hahaha. Maybe not the countries. I think we'd get along just fine ;)"
You: "We should hang sometime then. Should we meet for coffee in Russia or Germany?"
Her: "Lol, how about down the street instead?"
You: "Sure, tomorrow at 7?"
Her: "That works. Here's my number 123-456-7890"
She swiped you, so no hours of swiping. She actually likes you, so she won't flake. You're not a beta, so you don't spend 17 days texting with her first. Assuming you have the game and the underlying SMV in the first place then the only thing blocking you is not having good photos and not getting that initial swipe from her.
oytrp 5y ago
I've had my time with tinder. Got laid... but it wasn't worth it.
Going out and picking up women was a far far far better investment of time.
As for your example, it's very simplified. Yeah that can happen but it's not the norm. Girls will literally message you begging you to come over and fuck them. Then you ask for their address and they are gone.
Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on camera equipment, premium accounts, boosts (LOL), and hours upon hours using Tinder and writing about it, you should read the sidebar and work on your frame.
Quaternionz 5y ago
It's not simplified. That is the norm (for me anyway). If that's not the norm for you it's because your photos suck, your text game sucks, or you don't have the underlying SMV.
When you have a badass looking profile and women want you they just walk right into it.
Essentially 100% of girls who respond to an opener will eventually go on a date with me. When I don't get a reply to an opener I assume it's because she just has too many matches to respond to. I don't follow up on most of my matches either.
I've had two experiences where they just wanted sex on the spot and didn't flake. One had me come to her and another came to a hotel I was staying in at the time.
The boots and the premium accounts are worth it. They reduce the amount of time you have to spend swiping, and they alert you when you get a random swipe from her first so that you can pounce on it right away. It doesn't cost that much. You should be able to piss away the cost of the premium version and a weekly boost and not even care. If not then you should go figure out how to make more money before you start dating.
The whole reason I made this post is because I know how much men struggle on dating apps. I had success fixing that for myself, so it seemed sensible to share. The flood of pessimism and ambivalent responses is surprising.
troutmask96 5y ago
I've also been convinced by what I've read (and also personally experienced) that at least on Tinder, when you purchase Gold you get an ELO boost as well. When I went Gold, it was astounding how many more matches I was suddenly getting. A boost or two a week (I buy 10 for $25 packages, easy money), great pictures, Red Pill text game, and you'll have to do like I did and start a spreadsheet to keep up with all the girls you're matching, texting, and arranging logistics with.
oytrp 5y ago
It shouldn't be.
Online dating is a crutch, doesn't actually improve your smv or your game. You're just fooling yourself if you don't think this is anything more than a buffer for rejection.
This sub should be steering men away from dating from a women's frame, which is exactly what Tinder and the other apps are.
Fuck off with your anecdotes. If you need professional looking pics to get matches then you're not a high value man, period. No one is saying that you can't get laid using tinder... what I said is that it's not worth the effort you put into it. You'll get laid more often with higher quality women while applying less effort and time by gaming women in real life.
That's not the point. You should be able to buy a woman a drink and not care about the money... you still don't do it anyway because you'd be operating in her frame.
Quaternionz 5y ago
You're so full of shit.
It's dating, of course it improves your game. Anything that gives you an opportunity to practice kino and sexually escalate improves your game. What the fuck are you even talking about.
Fuck you, I night game successfully most weekends. I just can't go out more than once or twice per week. Sometimes I'd rather spend the weekend with friends, or on myself. With so little free time the apps are essential to keeping a girl pipeline full.
I'd like to see you try to keep a girl pipeline full week in and week out while also keeping up a high demand job, lifting, taking care of your personal shit, shopping and cooking, keeping up a non-girl social life, and still have leisure time to read and whatnot. Good luck.
If you have good photos and high SMV you get more matches than you even know what to do with. You filter them, they don't filter you. They open you a lot of the time, with some heart face emoji or some shitty line like "hi." You can flake or bail on dates because there are just so many. How is that dating in the girl's frame? If you're in the female frame on apps then it's because you're unattractive and don't command any attention. That's fixable. The solution isn't to give up.
Yeah, but what you're suggesting is never paying cover to get into a club that women get into for free, because "that's the girl's frame" somehow.
oytrp 5y ago
Nope. Say it with me BUFFER. No approaching, the most important part of game.
Then why are you spending hundreds of dollars and hours on tinder?
Oh? We're dick measuring now. Thanks for proving my point. No frame at all.
Covered extensively by others already. "Gee I need better pictures so they like me". You're jumping through hoops and spending your valuable time for them.
Now you're just being retarded.
Quaternionz 5y ago
I'm not even going to respond to these points. You're just spewing mindless drivel. Bye.
[deleted] 5y ago
I love how we're expected to do all this whereas almost every woman I see on Tinder has bathroom selfies and maybe one pic outside if I'm lucky. ????
Tinder really is a zero-sum game for men, in that 90% of the time all you'll be doing is stroking the egos of subpar women by joining the flock of Billy Betas going wild over them.
Don't get me wrong, use it, but it's pointless putting effort into it. Cold approaching and having a quality social network will get you far more results. Have six decent photos and swipe whenever you're taking a shit and you'll be fine.
For the love of God don't buy Tinder Gold and don't go out of your way to use it. Think of it as the biggest sausage-fest party you can imagine. The moment any woman shows up (even if she's a six), guys will be throwing themselves at her.
It's basic supply and demand, so you want to make sure you target environments where men are the ones in demand.
eyewant 5y ago
This cannot be overstated. Tinder's supply demand curve fucks men over.
Quaternionz 5y ago
This is exactly why you have to take outrageous measures like described here to make yourself stand out.
I had literally zero matches with average random photos taken by friends and during social occasions, despite being in shape. With these stylized high-effort artistic ones I have more conversation threads going than I can even respond to.
eyewant 5y ago
I agree. Idk why so many people in this thread don't want to put their best foot forward. All those guys saying use a phone camera would triple their matches with good photography.
troutmask96 5y ago
OP gets it right here. Studies show that women swipe right at approximately one-fifth the rate that men do, so we have to take extra measures to stand out. You have less than three seconds to persuade that hottie to swipe you right: why wouldn't you take reasonable measures to increase your chances?
And for those pounding their tribal skins about how online dating is a waste of time and that RL gaming is the way to go: there's no more efficient way to meet women than dating apps. But wait, there's more: you can actually do both.
Quaternionz 5y ago
I was surprised by how many people responded by complaining that you should be out gaming in person instead, and that this advice is all useless. You obviously do both, and apps are indeed way more efficient.
I decided to get on the apps after months of doing night game. I'd pick up girls at bars and noticed that I could get the lay on either the first or second date. I figured that the limiting factor in my sex life was just the number of girls I could meet in a given week. Apps seemed good like a way to fix that, but I had never had luck on apps in the past. I decided to approach apps the same way I approach lifting. Seriously, that is. It worked like a charm.
sqerl 5y ago
GoldmundUnleash on Twitter has a book about Photography Game.
Check it out.
SilkTouchm 5y ago
You definitely can get raw pictures with a phone.
atticusfinch1973 5y ago
All you have to do is take one look at the photos that any woman has on Tinder. Vast majority take general selfies or have blurry vacation photos and barely put any effort into it at all.
The only reason you need to go to this type of effort as a guy is if you have terrible looks and crappy game.
AlphaALT001 5y ago
Okay im just going to go ahead and say as an actual photographer this is not at all smart. Photography takes a shit ton of time to learn and even more time to get good at.
Especially if you are not relying on expensive gear. If you want to get good pictures, find an amature with good pics on instagram and ask him to do it for you. Amateurs need experience and more pictures on their portfolio, they most likely won't turn you down.
A lot of this info is down right bullshit too, Phones in modern times take great pictures, much better then what a DSLR with a kit lens for 120 dollars would get you. JPG can still be edited, no idea where you got the idea that they are compressed as shit. You don't have to shoot raw to be a good photographer, hell I have a friend who uses a shitty soviet era film camera and he is a hell of a ton better then even me.
This reads like something someone who is completely new to photography would write after watching a few Peter Mckinnon (why do so many amatures watch him?) and now thinks he knows everything.
Anyhow, If any one you actually want to learn photography the photography subreddit on reddit is pretty dam good, as well as a shit load of other subreddits who are dedicated to teaching photography.
MatthewGalloway 5y ago
​
I agree, I have no idea what kind of $120 DSLR with a lens (and only six years old?? If it is $120 it is going to be much older! Or half broken) is going to be a great choice???
​
$800 for a camera body is dirt cheap.
But $250 for a Nikon D5200 on eBay would offer you a *LOT* of value for money! That is a dirt cheap price to pay for any camera. And it was one of the better APS-C sensors in that camera.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Nikon-D5200-Digital-SLR-Camera-Body-Black-24-1-M-P/123399056580?
Pair it with a kit lens for your wide angle on the dirt cheap, plus a Nikon 50mm f1.8G for a dirt cheap portrait lens then you're set!
Except... it would suck to self shoot?! :-/ You'd want to buy a newer camera which has WiFi or similar built in.
You could get a Panasonic G6 for dirt cheap as well, which you can use with an app.
Olipyr 5y ago
Eh, it doesn't take that long to get pretty decent with a Costco Nikon DSLR and Snapseed. It's not rocket science but you do need an eye for it. Some people just don't have the eye for taking a good photo.
If you're not doing it professionally, all you need is something better than a selfie with a smartphone.
[deleted]
ElegantCyclist 5y ago
But you don't have to be professional-quality. You just have to be better than the other guy. And learning to take "better" photos is not that hard.
Quaternionz 5y ago
I spent a single weekend taking photos of random stuff around the house to get competent enough to learn what all the terms meant, and what all the settings do to the final result. I'm sure I'm still a laughable novice compared to a professional, but the photos I have now are orders of magnitude better than anything I could have taken before that one weekend of studying. It's not that hard. Going from zero knowledge to hobby-level knowledge in any field is pretty easy.
BurnoutRS 5y ago
for real though. I was baked everyday of highschool and took photography cause it was an excuse to go smoke on the trails behind the school and take pictures. The point being that its been about 7 years and the few simple concepts Ive actually retained like the rule of thirds are all Ive needed to take good photos.
AlphaALT001 5y ago
Just wait till you get into learning posing, lighting, locations, the physics and maths behind it. I have been doing this for 2 years now and I still feel like I know jackshit.
Still im glad I got into it, its fun as hell.
EyonTheGod 5y ago
The Dunning-Kruger effect
AlphaALT001 5y ago
From that link:
I hate whoever wrote this already, Anything can be summed up like this, Rocket engineering is "just" a bunch of physics and math but that doesn't make it easy. (Yea I know bad example)
If you just need tinder pictures, get someone else who is already experianced to do it for you. It will cost a hell of a lot less then a Camera with kit lens. Or your can use your phone, that thing takes good pictures, trust me. Get a friend to hold it, google some poses and get to work.
Quaternionz 5y ago
That advice is fine. That's all you need to know to set up a tripod and shoot something that doesn't obviously belong in the trash bin.
And again, the idea is that you want to be able to do this solo without help from anybody. You want to be able to take the energy you have for improving your SMV and do something with it on a whim without having to rely on other people.
Is nobody around? Do it solo with a tripod. Is your shot going to be very complicated and take many hours to set up? Do it solo with a tripod. Is your shot going to involve meandering around your city at night looking for the right lighting conditions? Do it solo with a tripod.
AlphaALT001 5y ago
Why? Why is that necessary at all? Do you do your haircuts yourself? Do you grow your own food? Make everything you have yourself? I can answer all those for you: No. So why is photography any different?
Quaternionz 5y ago
Basic freedom to develop your SMV without having to rely on other people.
You’re able to go day game alone, or night game alone. You’re able to lift alone. You’re able to start a business alone in your free time to up your income. You should also be able to improve your dating profile alone.
It makes it easier to act at the whims of your ideas and motivations without having the extra logistic hurdle of interacting with someone else.
How is none of this patently obvious?
AlphaALT001 5y ago
without having the extra logistic hurdle of interacting with someone else.
Are we on r\incels right now? Is it that hard for you to ask someone else for help?
Not everything can be done alone, sometimes its smarter to just get help with something.
Quaternionz 5y ago
You get up at 11am on a Saturday. Yawn “What am I gonna do with the day? Oh, maybe I’ll go take some photos.” You step outside and go.
I don’t want to hear “Oh, sure man. But how about tomorrow or next week? I’m busy today.” I certainly don’t want to hear “Oh, I’m booked until the 19th. Also, it’ll be $200.” I also don’t want to hear “Seriously? We did this 4 times already. Aren’t you done?”
I don’t want to subject my friends to walking around with me as I experiment aimlessly with different ideas.
I want to just go on a whim when I have the time and motivation. I want to have no barriers. It’s a creative endeavor. What the fuck is wrong with you? Go die in a fire.
AlphaALT001 5y ago
Girls usually are always up for this stuff, try asking one of them out for a trade shoot. As long as they get good pics back they are always up for it. For example, you know that guy who started the whole bokeh trend on insta? Guy literally has girls begging to hang out with him for pics.
Yea its a good point, but as I said before, you are a photographer who wants to be creative, these guys just want a good pic of themselves.
Hurtful, and here I thought we where such good pals.
Quaternionz 5y ago
That’s a good point about girls. I should do that.
Don’t underestimate people here. This is a community where men are encouraged to strive for six figure incomes, do complicated weight lifting workouts, keep healthy and consistent high calorie diets against the grain of their natural hunger cues, and get their game sharp enough to sleep with dozens of new women every year.
Look at the information overload on the strong lifts page for squats alone:
https://stronglifts.com/squat/
Anyone who does TRP even partly well will be smart and motivated enough to learn to use something more complicated than a point-and-shoot.
We’re not catering to little boys who just want a simple script they can parrot to pick up girls. You have to own the TRP principles and make the process your own. They’re not prefab like a point and shoot camera. My advice here about doing photo work for yourself is meant to be in that spirit spirit. Do it yourself, and do it legit. Don’t coddle yourself, and don’t let other coddle you.
Quaternionz 5y ago
Unsharp mask and finer spot corrections don’t like JPEG compression artifacts. RAW stores more than just 8 bits per pixel per color channel, so exposure and color correction tools have real continuous luminance data to work with.
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AlphaALT001 5y ago
The sooner you realise you cannot simply rely on photoshop and lightroom for your own photography the sooner you will become better.
Just look at daddy terry, the guy literally uses a point and shoot and he is one of the best photographers in the world. Used to be the best payed too but apparently trying to fuck every model you take a picture of doesn't sit right with most companies.
Anyway just because you are not shooting raw doesn't make a picture bad, sure using raw and editing can make it better, but don't rely on post-production. Everything you can do in post you can do in real life. Instead of using sharpening try a different lens, instead of finer spot corrections get yourself a makeup artist.
Don't get me wrong, i'm not saying you should forever abandon editing you pictures, but don't over rely on it And don't tell others that JPEG is shit, its not and you are misinforming people.
Quaternionz 5y ago
I know my target audience here. As a complete novice it helped me that I could heavily edit the RAWs after the fact to make up for shitty decisions while shooting. It's advice I got from novice photography articles.
I know how much better 12 or 14 bits per channel is compared to 8 when doing image processing, from other run-is I've had with the image processing world. Once you select a gamma curve and bake your luminance data down to 8 bits this can't be undone. It's way easier to salvage shitty pictures in RAW. On the other hand, if you're a novice you're wondering why your iPhone shots taken in shitty lighting conditions are coming out unsalvageable you'll just be a loss and might give up. If the JPEG encoder on your phone decided to focus on the wrong thing when choosing the gamma correction then you're done.
iPhone photos might be fine if you're just taking pictures at random while out and about, on a weekly basis. "Oh, that one looks like shit. Whatever, toss it." If you're going to put a concentrated effort into spending a day taking a good photo then loosing one is less fun.
AlphaALT001 5y ago
You clearly don't.
And its great advice, for people who are interested in photography. You are preaching to people who want a nice picture of themselves.
Basic lighting is very simple: "Lamp towards person". You expect people to learn how to use lightroom but don't believe they can learn that?
You know that phones don't use film right? If you are going to be using a tripod and posing for a selfie you might as well idk, try and take the picture again? Now that's an idea aint it.
Quaternionz 5y ago
There are locations and businesses/institutions where I’ve taken self portraits of myself. You can sneak a simple tripod in, but bringing in a lamp or complicated lighting set up would cause a disruption and not generally be kosher. Even using a flash over an extended period of time is not kosher. Also, if you’re using natural light then sometimes it just gets late and the lighting quality degrades, but you want to keep going anyway because making a second trip isn’t worth it.
Like I said, shooting in RAW let’s you salvage more photos from shitty conditions.
No, I wasn’t aware phones don’t use film. Thanks for the lesson.
I’m not sure what you mean about suggesting to retake the photo. The situation I’m talking about where RAW helps is when the conditions are inherently shitty, or things come out shitty just because you’re new and suck at configuring the camera. I wish I could look at a photo after taking it and say, on that tiny little screen, and say “OK, this is wrong because X, Y, Z. So let’s fix X, Y, Z and then taken another.” It’s hard to identify the problems on the fly. You might not even know how to fix them if you did spot them, and even then it might be out of your power to control if the conditions are just shitty.
You’re a huge douche by the way, and not in the cool attractive sort of way. Not helpful or productive or insightful at all.
I get that you’re more the pro here. Stop trying to prove it. You win. Now go away.
AlphaALT001 5y ago
I don't think you understood me, I agree that raw is the way to go completely, for any photographer I would recommend it wholeheartedly, but these are not photographers. That's the important part. You are trying teach how to do a photoshoot to people who don't know anything about it. My argument is basically that they would be better off saving time and money by just using a phone if they are doing this, because in the end they don't know anything about photography, nothing about editing. Zero, null.
If they where to pick up photography it would take them at least a few days and a couple hundred in gear to do it, and this is all for one set of pictures, keep that in mind.
Now a phone they already have, they will still probably have to do an hour or two of learning how to pose, basics of composition etc, but in the end it will take much less time and the pictures will come out just as well as they would have out of that camera.
As the old saying goes, its not the camera its the person using it.
Idk Id say its a bit cool and attractive
But honestly I'm tired as fuck because I had to hike to a bloody mountain for a photoshoot, and also a little tipsy, oh and my old account got doxxed. That's probably why I come off like such an asshole right now, But mainly its because I really dislike people streading misinfo around. I know you had no malicious intent behind it, hell you where trying to help and I commend you for that. But you went about it in the wrong way.
Wouldn't really call my self a pro. But look, im honestly just trying to give advice, I know I probably acted like a jackass to you, sorry about that. But I am honestly trying to help.
And if you ever need photography tips or help PM me, seriously inbox is always open.
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tempolaca 5y ago
You forget the most important thing:
To take a badass picture like the guy with the bike, you have to have a bike like that, and learn how to ride it and fix it. And be stupid to ride without a helmet.
The exact same photo settings used on you, but sitting at your home playing fornite won't make it.
By the time you are the badass biker that rides old-school motorcycles looking like that, you won't need tinder anymore.
BTW I can give advice about how to take pro-like pictures in two lines:
1) Buy a DSLR, throw away the kit lens and buy an el-cheapo 50mm no-zoom F1.8 lens 2) Force the aperture to F1.8, put everything else in auto, and then take pictures like this. Voila.
Quaternionz 5y ago
Yep, true facts. Get hobbies and life first. Then photograph your actual life, or staged shots that could legitimately be from your actual life.
circlingldn 5y ago
Learn to photoshop your pics
Increase your shoulder width and make yourself taller compared to your friends
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Auxfite 5y ago
All this to fuck low quality thots? I’ll pass. Day game is less effort
Quaternionz 5y ago
Yeah, these girls I’m dating off Tinder are the worst thottiest thots that ever did thot. They’re not capable of holding a good conversation. They’re on their phones the whole time. They suck in bed. They’re annoying and needy. Why do I even do it? Why do I even bother writing out these guides? You clearly have it down, my eyes have been opened. Everyone listen to Auxfite now. I’ll go cry in a corner.
Auxfite 5y ago
I’m willing to bet you’re broke. You invest your time in women not money. Not tryna judge ya but just found this to be a waste of time just like social media
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Warped_Mindless 5y ago
My only suggestion: Unless someone wants to actually learn photography they save a lot of time learning about their DSLR by just using Apature Priority mode instead of manual. As long as your pose, outfit, look, vibe etc are good then your pic will be 95% as good with much less effort.
And to anyone wondering... Yes you must take LOTS of photos and then sort through them to find the few that really stand out.
MatthewGalloway 5y ago
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110% agreed! Aperture Priority all the way.
And even if the camera is misjudging what the camera "thinks" is the "correct exposure" while in A Mode, that doesn't matter. As you can *stay in Aperture Mode* but just then adjust the exposure compensation quickly up or down as needed.
This is a very quick and easy process (once you get the hang of it from experience) so that photos can come out good enough that even JPEGs will be sufficient quality (as you're not going to be that far off from the "perfectly exposed picture", because you're already there! No need to massively muck around with "saving the image from RAWs").
Quaternionz 5y ago
Indeed, yeah. I think even professional photographers don’t necessarily shy away from Av and Tv mode. Paparazzi use straight up Auto.
You can definitely get good results without going manual.
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Quaternionz 5y ago
Shutter Priority. It's probably "S" for you.
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gaspaonrocks 5y ago
This.
Some 'pros' I know don't even know what Aperture Priority mode is, when I tell them or talk about on-the-field reporters using it they have that blank void stare like I just spoke in cryptic numbers...
nombre1 5y ago
So... what is Aperture Priority mode?
gaspaonrocks 5y ago
Well if I recall correctly, It is when you let your camera decide the length of exposure given a certain amount of light, amount dependent of the opening of the aperture.
So let's say you have a fixed lens, you open it to f/16 (which gives you great depth and close to no bokeh). It is a very small opening so you have not a lot of incoming light, your camera will increase the exposure time.
Now you want to take a great portrait with lots of bokeh and you open it to f/1.4, you have lots of light, the exposure will drop automagically.
Of course all of this is on one given ISO config (sensitivity to light). If you increase the ISO, you're more sensitive to light, thus require less light, thus less exposure.
Hope it makes sense.
nombre1 5y ago
It does, thanks!
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If there are general rules to photography (or anything else), they can be converted to a computer program.
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A described her camera as "smarter than she was" when she was first starting out. After a while, she got a bit more comfortable in making decisions for the camera. Nothing wrong with setting a more expensive camera to "I'll give you some parameters, you figure out how to do this" mode. :)
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MatthewGalloway 5y ago
Exactly. And especially in fast moving and fast changing conditions (such as sports matches, or club photography) then the camera can keep up with those changes on the fly faster than I ever could!
So I give the general parameters of what I'm needing (using Aperture Priority) and the rest of the stuff which matters less I let the camera take care of! I'll keep half an eye on the resulting pics of course, and if I don't like something about it then of course I might then tweak the parameters I'm letting the camera operate within what it may choose.
Final_Pantasy 5y ago
Lol jesus. Just ask your friends for an hour of their time to take some cool pictures. Buy them a fucking beer. No need to spend 6 months learning how to use a dslr just to take Tinder thot quality pictures.
Its not worth the time or effort, especially since Tinder compresses the fuck out of every image you upload anyways
The only good thing about this is that learning photography gets girls and is a decent date idea thats cheap once you have the gear.
Quaternionz 5y ago
One weekend, not six months.
You sound like that blue bill guy yelling at me for spending 2 hours at the gym every other day. “Jesus fucking Christ, just be confident and be yourself. It’s not that hard. Who cares about looks, don’t be vain.”
Final_Pantasy 5y ago
No - I just think its stupid you would do all this for a Tinder picture when it's overkill. I set up a tripod in my room, took my shirt off, picked up my housemate's cat and have crushed it since. Take your friend to the beach, hiking, a dog park, a nice looking bar and you wont have to know anything about photography other than some simple macro settings on your phone.
Photography is a great skill to have and will get you laid if you're good at it (as a skill/hobby/freelance job they fuck so many chicks), but all that money for a better Tinder picture when your phone will be 90% as good (Especially if you can get your hands on/borrow a friends iPhone X/XS) is enough.
I'm in the gym 2 hours a day, as well, pal. But I don't do it for the tindies - I do it for me.
The premise of this post is learn photography for Tinder pics to get subpar cock carousel women.
If the premise was learn photography because models always bang their photogs, it might be a better post.
Quaternionz 5y ago
Obviously there should be intrinsic motivation just like with lifting. I wrote the post to focus on the extrinsic motivations because this is a sexual strategy forum, and not an art forum.
Personally I had my interest in photography piqued I’ve done 3D modeling artwork, which follows a lot of the same principles. Tinder photos were just the first practical thing that made sense to tackle after I picked up a camera for the first time.
As with lifting, it’s fine to suggest getting into it for girl reasons. The intrinsic motivation will probably develop simultaneously, it’s a worthwhile hobby.
S-Blaze 5y ago
I did just that couple hours ago. Took surely close to an hundred of pictures just to get a nice up to date selfie with the shitty camera of my phone mind you, but better than nothing. It's well worth the effort for online attraction and to maintain it.
[deleted] 5y ago
This is gay as hell. Instead of spending $120 on a camera you could just go out and meet women for fucking free.
classicverdant 5y ago
No offence, but this is seriously WAYYY too much effort just to get some girl to match with you. Photos are important, in that you don't upload grainy images of yourself passed out at 3 am. If you have a collection of decent photographs of yourself doing interesting things (giving a presentation, rock climbing, sailing, what have you) and a bio to go with it, it should be good enough.
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Viramont 5y ago
Imagine doing all of this for some matches on Tinder lmao
What happened to this sub
Psychological_Radish 5y ago
This is all solid advice, but the order of priority for Tinder pics is 1) underlying SMV, 2) pose/location, 3) the actual quality of the picture.
A high-definition picture of a turd is still a picture of a turd.
I mean, think about it: most girls that you match with don't use professional cameras. They use iPhones. I look for decent facial aesthetics and a fit body, which are pretty evident even from phone quality pics.
First, get your body/style on point. Then find a cool location and strike an attractive pose (Google "confident body language"). For most guys, their problems boil down to low SMV and poor location/pose. Picture quality comes in third.
OP himself alludes to this when he says that it's hard to mess up a pic if you have bulging biceps. A guy with a hard body is going to look hawt in a $5 tee shirt off the bargain rack at TJ Maxx. He doesn't need to look like he's about to walk the red carpet.
Photo diversity is also underrated. A portfolio of Calvin Klein underwear model shots won't garner as many matches as a guy that shows that he is attractive, fit, active, social, intelligent, and generally well-rounded. You don’t need to fit some hyper-masculine stereotype; that's just retarded. Have both smiling and unsmiling pics, looking at the camera and not looking at the camera. Most girls on Tinder aren't going to feel comfortable meeting up with a guy who looks like a brooding maniac.
I largely agree with this assessment, although I don't think that hiring a pro should be ruled out entirely if one has the means. What guys should do first is look through the photographer's portfolio (usually available online) and decide if that is a good representation of what they want to achieve.
Quaternionz 5y ago
Yeah, agreed on a lot of points. You have to have the underlying SMV or it won’t work. Taking good photos is a matter of conveying your actual SMV through photography.
If you’re ripped and have a cool hobby then posing doing your hobby says “I’m ripped and I’m good at things.”
If you have money then taking a picture in a nice suit at a fancy bar will convey that subconsciously to the viewer. It works orders of magnitude better than trying to verbally humblebrag about your job status in your profile alongside a photo of you dressed in random summer clothes.
All of your good qualities would be evident to the girl on your date if she hung out with your for an hour. You’d pay and not care because you have so much money. You’d talk about your hobbies and she’d see your a cool motivated dude. She’d see your biceps because you’re right there in ultra-HD live reality. It’s just that you can’t get the date in the first place without conveying all that through your photos first. A lot of guys fail on dating apps just due to this simple Catch-22.
kamatres 5y ago
Or you can learn day game and save yourself fuckloads of money trying to impress some 9 on Tinder.
Don’t get me wrong, photography is an amazing hobby but you should be doing it for yourself and not to impress girls on dating apps.
circlingldn 5y ago
Yeah trolling girls on the street is the reason why all these pua types have to go to eastern europe
Being non autistic and learning to represent youself on tinder in the best light will bring you far more value
Do you take shitty photos for your linkedin or have a shitty instagram
Or are you one of the delete facebook types
oytrp 5y ago
Yup. All those hours of swiping, texting, going on dates.
That all could have been spent bettering yourself.
Quaternionz 5y ago
Get good photos and get on the paid versions of the dating apps. Girls will swipe on you instead and you'll have a passive stream of easy dates and easy sex.
QE-Infinity 5y ago
Lol wtf, just get the fuck off tinder and improve your game.
redditaccountiuse 5y ago
Lifting >>>>>>>> photography. I’m a professional photographer but being attractive in the first place will go way further for girls than photography.
Quaternionz 5y ago
Yeah, of course. This is for once you’ve gotten your lifting down and already have enough game to escalate successfully on dates. If you already have those then this post will help you get a steady stream of dates every weekend. Supplement with day/night game regularly.
redditaccountiuse 5y ago
I love photography but imo it’s pretty irrelevant to the subject of this forum. Learning photography to get better tinder pics makes no sense to me. All for promoting the hobby though.
Quaternionz 5y ago
You get more dates and more matches than if you don't put the effort in. This is not debatable.
This is a forum for male sexual strategy. We share stories about text message back-and-forths on Tinder all the time. This is just as relevant.
redditaccountiuse 5y ago
Eh I don’t even agree with the photography advice. You don’t need to spend a whole day to get one tinder photo. A good photographer doesn’t take that much work unless you’re actually shooting model shots for a magazine. I also wouldn’t recommend buying cheap cameras. Spend like 5-6 full working days over the course of weeks to get enough pics for a tinder profile? Unless you’re a male model that’s crazy try hard, and I think the try-hardness of it would ooze out of your profile.
I guess I’d say for dating profile pics, your attractiveness is 99.99999% of it. The quality of the photo might be the other .00001%.
Again tho, photography is cool and I’m down with promoting it.
Quaternionz 5y ago
This is true. This is advice is targeted at novices, who can expect to take longer to get a decent result. Don't you remember how long your gym sessions took when you were first starting and barely knew how to squat or deadlift?
redditaccountiuse 5y ago
If we’re talking straight up photography as a hobby, I’m with you. Takes long to learn like any skill (but I spend longer in the gym now than when I started).
Quaternionz 5y ago
Lol, fine. You know what I meant to say though. Your time was spent less efficiently when you first started, even if you now technically stay for longer. If you had tried to do your current long routine when you first started you probably would have been there for 10 full hours.
redditaccountiuse 5y ago
Well I know what you mean for sure but the time analogy just isn’t the right one lol - I wouldn’t be able to lift what I do now no matter how long I spent. Anyway, learning photography is cool and we agree on that.
Quaternionz 5y ago
Yeah, high five bro. Photography.
panzaghor 5y ago
How i went from none to 12ish matches daily:
Went out
Asked some friends to take pics of me
Profit
Quaternionz 5y ago
You’d get more if you put effort it to. Attractive girls with good quality photos get literally 1,000 matches per week, or more. Men can achieve the same.
panzaghor 5y ago
I know but you can get far if with iPhone pics, you gotta know what to take pics of
HumptyDumptyFellHard 5y ago
In my opinion, I think this is simply doing too much just for tinder. Plus chicks want to see you in your natural state, out with guys at a bar, playing a sport, etc. Displaying your SMV. If you simply become a amateur photographer, you’ll only be taking staged photos of yourself. Fuck that, why not just go out with your friends to a bar and ask one of your buds to take a photo of you all holding a drink or something around those lines. Taking photos of yourself should come nature and shouldn’t be something you plan out.
[deleted] 5y ago
I have no doubt this will help.
However, isn't this somewhere against the idea of least effort.
Take 6 weeks and full days to take pictures of yourself just to get more women.
I'm not doubting you'll have more success. But this seems ridiculous to me and it seems like you are putting women and sex on a pedestal.
Quaternionz 5y ago
Yeah, don’t bother spending hundreds of hours in the gym to improve your SMV either. What a waste of time.
QuirkyDoctor 5y ago
Hey man, your analogy doesn't really work well here. Both of you guys have valid points. Getting the best results in the minimal amount of time is:
1) Not lazy, in fact, it's called working smart (think Pareto Principle). I understand some people use this as an excuse to be lazy, but us guys here at TRP will most probably apply it properly.
2) This type of mindset/plan can be applied to anything. Your job, school, exercise, and even photography.
We need to remember that time is EVERYTHING; it's something we cannot ever get back. So we should do our best to utilize it to the best of our ability.
Although there are some disagreements on your post, it's still has some valuable advice. In fact, it's made me think about the type of pictures I want to display on my dating profile. My friend, thanks for a great post, as well as a great discussion!
[deleted] 5y ago
If you're lifting just to improve your SMV then I would say the same thing.
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Doing things just to look better to women is ridiculous. I.e. if you suddenly lost your penis and then could not make any sense of what you're doing, then you're obviously just doing it to get a woman - i.e. putting them on a pedestal.
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You know it's true.
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Basically, there is a big difference between taking an hour or two to get some pictures and taking 5-6 weeks and learning a craft just to put pictures on a retarded dating app.
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Again, I'm not against lifting or photography. Just, hey - if you like those things and they make you better then do them. A guy who hates lifting and wouldn't power lift if women were out of the picture - is trying to manipulate to get women. This isn't to say that you can't do things to increase your SMV - but if your #1 goal is that then you're in for an empty set of years pursuing that. Tell us how it goes.
Tek_Analyst 5y ago
Wtf is this? Learning photography and getting good at taking pictures to impress women on Tinder? FFS
You don’t need professional photography to get laid on tinder. I had a pic of me and my fucking dog, with a cell phone in the dark and was turning down women I didn’t want.
Just post shit that’s cool about yourself. Your dog, going to the beach, going hiking, family. Shit that makes you seem like a normal fucking person. While you’re at it, make sure you actually are normal, and it’s not just a facade.
Spend less time worrying about Tinder and hooking up, and more time worrying about bettering yourself, for yourself. Once you care less about pussy and more about yourself women will fall on your lap. But that can’t be faked.
SalesOverEverything 5y ago
Good value add post, haven’t seen this topic been covered yet.
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eyewant 5y ago
As someone who is interested in photography, I appreciate this post. However I see why some people don't resonate with this advice. Putting in thismuch effort requires a love for the art.
Quaternionz 5y ago
Yeah, exactly. I thought it would come across that a lot of the motivation here comes from just wanting to find a new legit hobby (that would also happen to help you in your dating life).
This is exactly the same thing as lifting. Some red pulled guy friend hears that you’re having girl troubles. He suggests you lift. You get into it for the dating reasons but then it takes on a life of its own. If it fails to take on a life of its own then you’ll never have the motivation to do it seriously enough to really see results anyway.
Somehow a lot of people interpreted this post as “Put in exorbitant amounts of effort just to be a poser and impress women.”
Extrinsic and intrinsic motivations are mutually reinforcing. The intrinsic motivation for art and photography has to be there also. I just focused the post’s content on the extrinsic motivations because this is a forum about sexual strategy and not art.
nombre1 5y ago
I agree 100%.
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Avoiding complacency, developing hobbies, cultivating interests, and developing new skills is how we improve as people.
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The fact that this particular skill can help us improve our outcomes on the most popular online dating platform is helpful in making it more relevant to the guys on this sub who are looking to improve their sex lives. It's definitely not pandering, or excessive thing to do to improve your SMV. It just helps you be a better you.
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Hell, to focus on a non-dating aspect, most of use email, and have profile pictures tied to those accounts. Why not have stand-out photos to personalize your non-face-to-face conversations in the business world?
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Quaternionz 5y ago
Thank you, exactly.
It baffles me how people don't see the parallel to lifting here. Lots of Red Pill guys get into lifting because they realize, deep down, that they'll never get laid if they don't get muscular. But then lifting ends up turning into this life-absorbing art form once you really get into it. And then people forget their original motivations and turn into shrill critics who yell at newbies saying "Nah bro, fuck them chicks, lift for YOU." These people should know full well that a huge part of the motivation for most guys come from the SMV aspect, and that there's nothing really wrong with this. They just like feeling zen and superior, and yelling at people.
Come on guys, seriously. We all know that if women suddenly refused to fuck muscular guys we would put down the weights and go be skinny marathon runners instead. And then we'd be extolling the virtues of the runner's high and saying shit like "Nah bro, fuck them chicks, run for YOU."
It's the same thing with photography. It's perfectly kosher to get into it because you want to nail girls on Tinder. If you do it well then it'll turn into its own hobby to boot, and it's a great hobby to have "just for you" as well.
MatthewGalloway 5y ago
Well yeah, I *do* run for **me**!
Is just a bonus that chicks also dig my lean toned body ;-)
eyewant 5y ago
Well said. Saved. I especially enjoyed your last paragraph.
davvya 5y ago
sounds like what all women do...
Quaternionz 5y ago
Yep, exactly. Online dating is primarily a game of constructing an attractive image of yourself through your photos. Women do this already by default, it’s a compulsion for them. Men don’t, and that’s why the complain that they get zero matches. Men have to be told to do it.
It’s the opposite of lifting. Men naturally enjoy lifting because it’s an extreme physical struggle. Women don’t enjoy it as much by default, and have to be told to do it.
JustLurkingIgnore 5y ago
TL; DR: daygame instead
I used to spend a lot of time online dating and put an extraordinary amount of time into it. Got a few plates and an LTR that didn’t suck. (All gone now, years ago...)
I did photo and profile A/B testing with actual women. I learned photography out of it, have all the equipment and know how to use it. Lighting, composition, you name it. It’s a great skill and hobby now.
Yes you can get better/more matches with photos and profiles that women like, but in the end it’s all a waste of time.
Even if you are swole, lift, earn and have social status, there’s always someone better than you within reach on Tinder and women will gravitate toward those guys if they even take it seriously at all.
There is no room for mistakes. It’s hard mode all the time, one picture slightly off, the wrong word in your profile, game over. If you win, your prize is a single mother land whale.
Quaternionz 5y ago
<Shrug>. I put one weekend into learning it and another few days into taking the photos. I'm swimming in it now. Matches just passively come throughout he week. One initial investment of time and money and then it's a free ride into the indefinite future.
wubbzywylin 5y ago
While I think learning photography is a great hobby and valuable skill, if you're putting this much time, effort, and money into it for the purpose of getting Tinder hoes, you're much better off just buying a hooker or two.
Quaternionz 5y ago
Same could be said of lifting.
wubbzywylin 5y ago
In a sense, but lifting has waaay more practicality in the real world than photography.
Lifting also has a more guaranteed result than just being able to take a good photo because a poorly taken picture of a guy with a nice physique will still beat a professionally taken photo of a fat, out of shape dude.
Quaternionz 5y ago
This post was intended for people who are already lifting, are past their newbie gains, and need something new to put their energy into.
Putting some initial energy into taking good photos is just like getting your newbie gains lifting. You put in a little bit of serious effort and see huge results almost immediately. Once you've gotten your newbie gains on Tinder with some solid photos you can try to go intermediate and advanced. Try to be this guy, for example.
XT3M3 5y ago
while without a doubt helpful. this is way too much work for tinder.
if you look good enough your front facing cam is all you need. worse case senario , i just call up my friends with iphone to take snaps.
if you want to look better in your pictures on tinder, why not just go up the next level and just skip the middle man. game in person. go to a bar. if you fail in real game you only have you to blame.
Quaternionz 5y ago
This is an artistic pursuit in its own right. Taking cool photos is a fun project even just for its own sake. It’s a bonus that having ones that are creative, high quality, and unique will show off the artistic side of your personality, and will make attractive and interesting.
You’ll get a lot of “OMG, did you do take those yourself?”
But, sure, yeah, you can do OK half assing it to. Feel free to keep your deadlifts at just 225 too. Why bother putting in the effort if doing less will give you passible results anyway, right?
acithetic 5y ago
As a photographer I can confidently say that the only way a camera will help you get pussy is if you pose with one in your hands.
A half-decent phone picture (assuming the person taking it knows what they're doing) will suffice.
Quaternionz 5y ago
I haven’t found this to be true. If extra time and energy invested in a given photo doesn’t correlate to more attention on dating apps then you’re doing it wrong.
acithetic 5y ago
The secret is in:
A) The composition of the photo
​
B) How you present yourself / How you dress.
​
The camera itself doesn't matter as long as you have a decent phone camera (i.e. iPhone 6s - present) and experience (the most important part).
A really good photo executed with a quality camera and a nice lens w/ a shallow depth of field (i.e. f2, f1.8, f1.4, f1.2) can certainly help but its not a paramount to your tinder success. As someone who has been shooting for around 3 years, that is next to impossible for a beginner to take successfully lol.
Quaternionz 5y ago
I did fine with shallow depth of field after a weekend spent photographing random shit around the house for practice.
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redvelvet_oreo 5y ago
short solution just pay a photographer to take pictures of you. Why waste this much time and effort.
snowdenlaydying 5y ago
A quick cost benefit analysis highlights that it's more economical, both financially and timewise (which as the saying goes, is money) to hire an up and coming photographer than to spend all day taking photographs, sorting through them afterwards and investing in equipment.
Quaternionz 5y ago
That's great, so never do anything interesting or creative. Just pay people do it for you for the end result. A quick cost benefit analysis also highlight's that's it cheaper and faster to stay home and jerk to porn than it is to go on actual dates.
snowdenlaydying 5y ago
If you're investing in photography as a creative pursuit then yes of course it's worth while. This is not what your post is suggesting. A cost benefit analysis would highlight that the costs of staying at home and jerking off to porn far outweigh the benefits.. "cheaper and faster" is where the benefits begin and end. You know this.
Quaternionz 5y ago
Yeah, real sex is more satisfying. So is taking good quality creative photos and learning a new skill.
My post was written with a focus on the dating benefits because this is a sexual strategy forum and not an art forum. I thought that would be uncontroversial, but apparently not.
ArdAtak 5y ago
Excellent advice. True. Practical. Uncommon. Right on the money. Thanks.
[deleted] 5y ago
Solid post. There is no excuse to have crappy photos. The effort is ridiculously tiny compared to what cold approach (the alternative) is, and they go a long way.
coldcanyon 5y ago
Also, once you learn photography, you can list it as one of your hobbies. Women love having their picture taken. The possibilities are endless...
Quaternionz 5y ago
Yeah. I think the main reason, if not excuse, is that people just don’t know how.
You don’t want to ask a friend to spend hours with you taking photos because that’s weird. You don’t know about the tripod+remote trick so you don’t do it yourself. You can’t afford a photographer. You end up taking some shitty mirror selfies or using a grainy photo a friend took when you were out wasted at 3am.
It’s just like trying to go to the gym but not knowing what a squat or deadlift is. You might have the motivation, but if someone doesn’t teach you the mechanics of it you’re going to fail.
troutmask96 5y ago
You might be surprised how inexpensively you can find a good, starving professional photographer for on Craigslist. I had shitty photos and was getting low quality matches, and found a guy on Craigslist that met me at a local park for a two-hour photo session. Less than a week later, I had 187 high-quality photos shot in a variety of poses and settings conveniently stored in a Dropbox folder at my disposal. Total cost? One hundred bucks.
And yeah, out of those 187 photos, I found only four that were sufficiently badass for my dating app profiles. Be sure to take a lot of pictures.
Within a week, I was up to 104 matches on Tinder and had to resort to creating a spreadsheet to keep track of all the girls' numbers and was having to calendar out all my dates. Good photos are the ultimate maxim of success on dating apps, and worth every penny you pay.
Quaternionz 5y ago
That's a reasonable strategy.
I like taking them myself because I'm always having ideas for new ones and I don't like coordinating with a photographer every time. Once you invest a tiny bit of money in the equipment, and time learning, it's free and low-effort for the rest of your life. Plus, your friends will benefit from your new hobby as well.
KarmicPrism 5y ago
Lmao I laughed about that spread sheet. That's some massive net you get to cast too, if you're using high quality photos. I feel like the naysayers here don't wanna put forth a little effort to learn a new (and possibly useful for the future) skill, to get the creme the la creme of pleasures, one of the reasons why this forum was made. Everyone likes good pictures of whatever they're taking a picture of. A good picture shouldn't take more than a few minutes to edit once you've already passed the initial boot camp.
snowdenlaydying 5y ago
"had to resort to creating a spreadsheet"... I don't know why I laughed so hard at that. More power to you sir!
troutmask96 5y ago
I have three dates tomorrow alone: noon, 2:00, 6:30. Spreadsheet.
Walker501_S 5y ago
Dude how much of a simp and an actual CUCK are you? Spending thousands of dollars on gear and shit ton of your time to what? Impress some fucking hoes on tinder? Really? This ain't redpill. This is advanced bluepill.
Quaternionz 5y ago
I suggested a $120 used one. I got mine for free when someone was tossing an old one. Where did you see me suggesting spending thousands? Feel free to quote the line.
Walker501_S 5y ago
Dude i don't care. What i meant was that buying proffesional gear to take photos to impress thots is a fucking cuckery and that's undebatable no matter the exact cost. Further, if the best ROI you can get from your time is when you use it to learn photography just to attract thots, you're a goddamn simp and that's again, undebatable. Have a good one.
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dontbethatguynow 5y ago
When using remote, be sure to set a 2-3 sec delay. You don't want a picture of you holding the remote
Quaternionz 5y ago
For sure. The auto focus usually takes a moment to adjust too, so that gives you a tiny bit more extra time.
It’s also not hard to hide the remote in your palm, they’re usually tiny.