You’ve chosen a photo of yourself to use as your profile picture on Facebook, LinkedIn and/or some other social-networking Web site.
Now the question is, what sort of impression is that profile photo giving to people who see it?
Some folks want their photo to make them seem creative, energetic and irreverent. So they choose an image with deep shadows, unusual camera angles, a funny facial expression or even the head cut out of the frame—as if the person were so busy that he didn’t have time to get his face into the picture. Those shots can be fun.
But a lot of us are looking for something more solid from the profile photo we use on a professional site or job-search site. We want to appear not only attractive and confident, but also competent and trustworthy—like a person who can handle responsibility with a smile and complete honesty.
So take a look at your current profile photo. Does it exude those desirable qualities?
Or is it more like a Lindsay Lohan or Mel Gibson mug shot in which you inadvertently come off looking shifty and dishonest? Unfortunately, this could be the case—depending on a photographic factor that you probably never gave a moment’s thought to.
This factor has nothing to do with what you’re wearing, how your hair looks or whether your eyes are bloodshot. Rather, it has to do with a problem in the way the photo was taken, a recent study reveals.
But don’t worry. The problem can easily be fixed—once you realize that it exists.
Are you ready for your close-up? If so, you may want to back off! It turns out that faces photographed from close in often look warped and distorted, compared with photos taken at a slightly greater distance, explained study coauthor Ralph Adolphs, PhD. For instance, a close-up can make the forehead and eyes appear to bulge slightly and/or make the nose, teeth and chin look larger than they actually are. “Even though viewers tend not to register such subtle variations consciously, we found that subconsciously these variations do influence opinion in a negative way,” Dr. Adolphs said.
The study included a series of experiments in which photos were taken of a total of 40 different men. In one experiment, with each subject, photos were taken simultaneously from a distance of about one and a half feet (the “close” shot)…and from a distance of about four and a half feet (the “far” shot). A special photographic technique involving mirrors ensured that the photos were taken at the exact same moment and captured the exact same facial expression at the same angle. (In another part of the experiment, researchers manipulated photos to simulate the visual attributes of a close-up.)
Then the photos were cropped so that the subjects’ faces were the same size in the close shots as in the far shots. Thus the two shots of each subject looked very much alike—but not identical, because each close-up (and simulated close-up) had those subtle distortions we mentioned earlier.
Next, Dr. Adolphs and his team asked volunteers to play a game in which they were given money to “invest.” Each volunteer was briefly shown both the close-up and distant image of the various subjects’ faces in random order on a computer screen and had to choose how much to invest with each person. In addition, volunteers rated subjects on attractiveness, competence and trustworthiness.
Results: Viewers invested less money when they were shown subjects’ close-up shots than when viewing photos taken from farther away…and they rated the close-up subjects as less attractive, less competent and less trustworthy.
What explains the study results? Some of it has to do with our “personal space.” This term describes a zone of about one and a half feet to four feet that encircles our bodies. If someone else enters that space, we usually feel uncomfortable unless that person is a family member or close friend. When it comes to looking at photos, our subconscious minds may perceive the facial distortions that occur in close ups as subtle warning signs of inappropriate encroachment or even possible danger.
How did the researchers know that the negative reactions to the close-up photos weren’t due simply to the comparative unattractiveness of distorted facial proportions? Dr. Adolphs explained that the researchers also asked participants to rate how attractive the subjects’ photos looked, then checked whether the ratings on trustworthiness were simply the same as those for attractiveness. They found that even when controlling for attractiveness in this way, there was still a significant effect of distance on the trustworthiness rating—which means that it’s not just that close-up faces look weird.
Dr. Adolphs and his colleagues conducted additional experiments to confirm that it was the distance from the camera that was significant and not camera angles, lighting, photo resolution, the subjects’ age, weight or other factors.
Granted, looking trustworthy may not be your main goal on a more intimate social-networking site, such as Facebook. So if you want to go for a close-up that you think makes you look mysterious, artistic, funny or whatever, go ahead.
But when it comes to sites such as LinkedIn or Monster.com, where you undoubtedly do want to look trustworthy and competent, it’s best to use a profile picture that was taken from at least four and a half feet away. You can crop the photo as needed to focus on your face—resizing it won’t alter the positive attributes inherent in the original farther-away perspective.
You might also want to make sure that your camera lens isn’t set to “wide angle”—because wide-angle lenses tend to make faces look more distorted.
Of course, this means that you can’t take the photo yourself unless you have a timer on your camera and a tripod. We’ve all seen those self-portraits taken by sitting right in front of a computer’s camera, as well as those “I’m holding the camera at arm’s length while I lean backwards” photos online—and that shifty-eyed, fish-eyed look is definitely not what you want potential employers, dates or even friends to judge you by.
