Use one recent photo of your face, taken in the last year, in ordinary light. People reply when they can see who they would be meeting. A clear face does more than a flattering angle, a filter, or a shot where you are too far away to recognise.
Crop out other people. A group photo makes the other person guess which one you are, and it publishes friends who did not agree to be on a dating site. Crop out children completely. Crop out your workplace, a name badge, a street sign outside your house, and the number plate of your car.
Add a second photo only if it shows something true: you on a walk, you in a kitchen, you at a table. Two honest pictures are plenty. A grid of twenty is not more persuasive. It usually means the person is hiding which image is current.
Be wary of a profile that is only professional photographs. Studio lighting, the same pose repeated, or a face that looks like a campaign still are a common pattern on fake accounts. A real member can take a plain photo by a window. The romance-scam guide explains the rest of that pattern.
Sunglasses, a hat pulled down, and a photo shot from behind all leave the same problem. The other person cannot tell if you are who you say you are. If you need to be that hidden, wait until you trust someone before you send a clearer picture in a message, and even then, do not send a photo you cannot take back.
You do not need a new wardrobe or a photographer. Stand by a window, look at the camera, and use the photo that looks like you on an ordinary day. That is the one people answer.
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