Sam Cieri sits on a stool in front of a plain white backdrop and fidgets, trying to find the right look.
“Can I do a Jack Nicholson pose?” he asks, grabbing a pair of Ray-Bans off a nearby table and affecting a sly smirk.
But Max Schwartz, the professional photographer who is working out of his East Williamsburg apartment, just wants him to relax.
“Dude, your laughing ones are where it’s at,” he says.
After snapping a few dozen pictures, Schwartz picks a winner: a charming shot that shows off Cieri’s winning smile. Within a few days, Cieri has uploaded it to the front page of his profile on Tinder, the popular dating app where users judge you with a swipe.
The matches started pouring in.
Ditch the selfies, because the era of the professional Tinder headshot is here.
If this sounds like a joke, it was one, at first. Schwartz, 25, put up a Craigslist ad and a one-page website, tinderheadshots.com, over the summer as a goof after seeing how seriously his friends took Tinder. (Unlike dating sites that rely heavily on profile information, Tinder users judge others mostly on the basis of a photo: A swipe right is a “yes,” a swipe left is a “pass.”)
But once real inquiries started pouring in, he realized he had stumbled onto a new market.
He charges $75 for one retouched photo or $150 for three. Though his specialty is lifestyle and men’s fashion photography, he’s been so busy with the Tinder shots that he’s financed a trip to Europe with his earnings.
“We live in a digital age, especially a digital age of dating,” he says.
“Everybody is so quick to be judgmental, unfortunately, on first impressions. I figured people wanted to look the best they can, especially for dating. Why put up a bad photo?”
As these success stories show, a good photo can be the difference between a swipe left and a swipe right.
Camile Sardina, 23, Bushwick, public relations
Before: In her original Tinder profile photo, Sardina sits in front of a slot machine nearly twice her size. Her eyes are open wide and her grin is forced.
“It was kind of hard to tell what she looked like,” Schwartz says. “Her first photo should be very approachable, warm. The slot machine says, ‘I like to gamble a lot.’ Maybe you have a gambling problem?”
Despite these shortcomings, Sardina did get matches. She had been on two or three dates, including one with a guy who took her out multiple times.
After: For her new photo, Sardina trades the tank top for a blue shirt covering her shoulders, with a pendant dangling from her neck. She’s smiling warmly and naturally.
The result? The caliber of matches changed.
Instead of guys who just asked her out for a drink right away, she got matches who wanted to know her better.
“People really did take me more seriously,” she says. “They took the time to ask more questions, which is nice.”
While she’s been trying to find time to schedule a date, she’s optimistic about the kinds of “legit, formal dates” she’s been asked out on since the new headshot.
Sam Cieri, 22, Bushwick, musician
Before: Cieri’s first photo was a grainy selfie, partially cut off on the left side, posed in front of a piano, a slightly sour expression on his face.
“He looked really sad and a lot younger,” Schwartz says of Cieri, whose pic yielded him one or two matches a week. He had gone on a handful of dates, but nothing remarkable.
After: With a broad smile and a few strands of flyaway hair, he’s looking straight at the camera, his flannel shirt slightly unbuttoned. (He also has a more serious shot that he swaps in.)
The results were instant: He’s been getting eight matches a week.
“The one where I’m smiling got more relationship-y people,” says Cieri. “People who are writing things you could actually talk to.”
As for the more serious picture Schwartz took? “That has been getting, ‘Hey, what’s up, sexy?’ hookup messages.”
So far, he’s had four dates, including one where he took a girl on a motorcycle ride to Coney Island for some ice cream. None has clicked yet, but the increased action is encouraging.
Elana Vail, 21, Williamsburg, culinary student
Before: Vail’s original black-and-white shot gave her bulging eyes — the result of a fisheye photo effect.
“It seems fun, but it’s not what she looks like at all,” Schwartz says. “It looks like a Tim Burton character.”
Vail had been on the service for about two months and had a couple of matches per week, but no dates. “It wasn’t working out so good,” she says.
After: Her blond hair is lightly curled, she’s smiling widely, showing off her white teeth, and her eyes are not distorted.
“When I got the new photo, it made a huge difference,” she says.
Now she gets matches “a couple times a day.”
She had her first date a few weeks ago. The pair went to Hudson River Park to see an indie rock band, and then walked around the West Village. “I’m more appreciative of my good photo now that I’ve seen other people’s bad ones, too,” she says.
Julia Lauren Bullock, 20, Bushwick, musician
Before: “She doesn’t look terrible in it, but it’s definitely not showing who she is or what she looks like,” says Schwartz of Bullock’s original black-and-white side profile shot, taken on a city street. “It seems a little too posed and planned.”
That photo led to a few “flaky” matches who didn’t follow through.
After: In her new straight-on shot, Bullock’s long blond hair is draped over her left shoulder. Her nose ring and a slight but cute smile are on view.
“As soon as I got that Tinder headshot, it was like, ‘Oh, people are finally responding,’ ” she says. She’s had three dates in just a few weeks since the new photo was taken. “It shows that you have this professional look to you, that you kind of care.”
Tinder photo tips from a pro
1. Be smiling and confident
“You want to look as approachable as you can because you’re making that first impression,” says Tinder photographer Max Schwartz.
2. Don’t wear a hat
“You’re looking like you’re trying to hide something.”
3. No selfies
“It makes you look like you don’t have any friends.”
4. Don’t over-Photoshop
“You think people don’t notice, but they do. You can see when a girl clearly smooths out her face.”
5. Avoid group photos
“If there’s a ton of people in the photos, no one’s going to be able to pick you out.”
6. For straight people: no pictures with the opposite sex
“Don’t have another girl in the photo if you’re a guy. That is just not going to look that good.”