Photos speak a thousand words. Select your photos based on quality. You don’t have to be a professional photographer, but blurry shots just won’t cut it. Sometimes your profile is the only way the birthmother will ever “meet” you, so you need to ‘wow’ her from the onset. Smartphone images will work too, so don’t forget to browse through them – just don’t compress them into a smaller file size. What won’t work is self images on an iPhone – where you flip the camera lens – the shot is always grainy. So avoid those.
While there is a place in every profile for a “staged” picture, don’t forget the action shots – the more the merrier. Remember – you don’t always have to be looking at the lens. Pictures of you laughing work great, as well as running, hiking, camping, playing sports, baking/cooking <— great idea, by the way. As a designer, I will choose the action shots over a staged photo 99 out of 100 times – they just look more natural.
Take photos of your home on a bright, sunny day – take several from different angles and choose the best one later.
Playgrounds – especially swing sets/jungle gyms surrounded by grass – work extremely well on your “Our Home” page, whether they be in your backyard or in the neighborhood. Concrete looks cold, so avoid pictures of a basketball or tennis court.
If you have a nursery set up for your adopted child, take several photos of it as well – again, on a bright, sunny day with the curtains drawn.
The only photos without a person visible that should be used in your profile are pictures of your home, your neighborhood, and the nursery. Other “scenic” shots are just a waste of space. So while you may think your photo of the beach sunset is the most beautiful picture in the world – and it may be – it just won’t work in a profile. Keep in mind – the birth mom has probably seen a beach before – what she hasn’t seen is you and your family. So use a close up shot of you *at* the beach instead – maybe playing beach volleyball or building a sand castle.
Keep the colors on your profile gender-neutral – unless, of course, you are specifically asking for a certain gender. Otherwise, too much pink or blue may send the wrong impression to the birth mom.
The more words on a page, the less photos. So, if you have lots to say, you might want to consider adding a few extra pages instead of cramming all your text into a standard 10-page profile. Cuz while the text is important, so are the pictures. And, in this case, more is more – more pictures, that is.
