Is that the 70-200 L in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me...

Canon offers on-line dating tips
no were not kidding...

One of the more interesting features right now at the Canon Digital Learning Center is a guide called Quick Tips: Better online dating portraits. Apparently just owning the latest Canon Camera does not make you automatically attractive to the opposite sex. In an effort to correct this Canon has laid out a nice little guide to help improve your odds...

The guide is a good overview on portrature and contains some nifty examples that you can hover your mouse over to see both the right way and wrong way to make good portraits. Certinaly full of good basic portrait tips and worth the read whatever your relationshp status.

Quick Tip: Better Online Dating Portraits

In the past several years, the Internet has evolved into a place you can go for anything: Pay bills; find a job; get a degree; learn a new language; go shopping; and, of course, meet new people. In fact, online dating has become an increasingly popular way to start a relationship. Most online dating websites entitle subscribers to a profile page with introductory information about yourself -- complimented by one or more profile portraits. These portraits are the first look you have at a prospective partner, and them of you -- so it's very important that your online dating portrait capture you at your best, and be a technically pleasing image that has impact within the limited space of a dating profile.

Note the soft focus trees, which create a pleasing, but not distracting background.

ROLL OVER IMAGE to see what this shot looks like at f/16 (note the sharp-focus trees).

Many people ignore or waste this great opportunity to show themselves off, and instead opt to use older pictures they have lying around, or pick a snapshot from a recent vacation or party (or worse yet, a picture taken with a cellphone camera or a computer camera). These pictures may be fun shots or have meaningful memories -- but often they are poorly exposed, full of distracting backgrounds/other people, too widely framed to clearly see your face, or simply not a very flattering portrait. If this sounds like what you're using now, don't worry! This tip will give you the techniques you need to take a brand new, flattering, high-impact self-portrait that will help you stand out from the crowd!

And remember...

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