You only get one chance to make a first impression, right? And when it comes to meeting people online, your photo is your first impression, so you want to make sure it’s a great one. To help you snap a flattering online photo, we talked to some professional photographers. These pro tricks will help you take a photo that causes potential dates to stop scrolling and take notice! So grab a pal with a great camera and take some great shots!

Get In the Most Flattering Light

Take pictures open shade - a broadly shaded area, like under a tall building in early afternoon, or inside a room and next to a window where the sunlight comes in. Open shade gives you soft light, which is the most flattering to your face. If you’re concerned about wrinkles, lines or blemishes on your skin, place a white sheet beneath you to bounce the light up to your face, this fills in the lines and wrinkles and naturally smoothes out the surface of your skin. And for another soft touch, put your camera on the “cloud/cloudy” or “snow” setting. It’ll tone down the harsh bright white light, add yellow and red to the image, and warm your face up.

Get An Open Doe-eyed Look

A very common trick that a photographer uses when shooting a female subject is to have her close her eyes while he’s setting up the shot. Then on the count of three, she opens her eyes just as the photographer snaps the photo. This captured the moment when her eyes were wide and bright, creating an open, doe-eyed look. Try it! If it works for the pros, it’ll absolutely work for you!

Create A Spontaneous True Smile

A picture with a big spontaneous smile or laugh attracts people’s attention. Why? Because you look genuinely happy and fun. To create a spontaneous smile, try this: Make funny faces, then turn toward the camera and smile. This will create a “true smile”, instead of the smile we have when we wait, wait, wait for a photo to be snapped, and the smile becomes stiff and fake.

Finally, try this trick that women’s magazine models use all the time: Instead of looking into the camera, look off to the side. It’s always cute and flirty and adds a very mysterious vibe.