I’m genuinely terrible in photos, and it really gets me down.

I don’t choose women based on their faces. Honestly. I’m only interested in how slim their waists are—their curves. And their age, I suppose. If someone photographs well, I can think, “Wow, she’s a beautiful work of art,” and I can tell whether someone is conventionally beautiful, plain-looking, more elegant, or more cute—but I’m not particularly interested in any of that. Sometimes even people answering questions here brag about how beautiful their partners are, but if that woman were introduced to me, I probably wouldn’t care about her face at all. I’d only be looking at her waist. One of my friends is extremely particular about a woman’s face, while he apparently doesn’t care at all whether she’s slim or heavy. But to me, it just seems like he likes round faces—the rounder, the better. What I’m trying to say is that beauty isn’t absolute. A woman who’s beautiful to one man may not be beautiful to another at all. So there’s no point obsessing over how you look in photos. I acknowledge that society tends to categorize people as beautiful, average, or unattractive, and I won’t deny that conventionally beautiful women tend to be treated better. But I don’t think individual men at dating clubs make offers based solely on that.

I think it may be an issue with how the staff take the photos. That said, because we don’t edit them, men sometimes actually respond positively to that. When someone looks better in person than in her photos, it can help earn men’s trust. From a woman’s perspective, though, I imagine that’s frustrating. So we’ve been working on improving our photography skills and instructing staff to use a monitor, showing the images to the women as they take them. That way, they can redo their expression or make slight adjustments to the angle on the spot. However, the staff all seem to think their own way is best, so the approach hasn’t really caught on. When you had your photos retaken, did they show the images on a monitor? I’m sorry that things haven’t improved, even though so many women are unhappy with their photos.

> I don’t think individual men on dating agencies make offers based on that. True—now that I think about it, that might be the case… For me, I simply choose based on the looks of women I find attractive and feel I’d have good chemistry with. I’ve realized something. I always thought I was particular about appearance… lol > Some people proudly write about how beautiful their partner is. I’m one of them, after all… If anything, I wanted to brag about my good eye for picking women… I suppose what I was really looking for was a beautiful, dominant woman who’d freely enjoy teasing and tormenting me. If I got close to an average-looking woman, I’d become self-conscious and lose my nerve, so I could never make a choice…

I looked into how people perceive photographs versus reality. For example, bears are actually nothing more than ferocious predators, but they’re often turned into cute cartoon characters in illustrations. I sometimes wonder whether the gap between that image and the reality people face in mountain villages is what leads to both calls for bear culls and complaints against them. There are major differences between photographs and real-life objects due to the way the brain processes information and to physical limitations. The main differences involve depth, texture, field of view, and the perception of light. The key points are as follows: ・Lack of three-dimensionality and depth Real objects feel three-dimensional because we see them with both eyes. A photograph, on the other hand, is two-dimensional, so the brain has to reconstruct depth from clues such as shading and perspective. ・How well texture is reproduced Textures such as wetness, gloss, or transparency depend heavily on the lighting in a photograph. The photographer’s intentions, skill, and equipment can all create an impression that differs from the real thing. ・Field of view and depth of field Because the human eye and a camera lens differ in angle of view and focal length, distant objects may appear smaller in a photo than they do in reality, or they may look distorted. ・Perception of light and color constancy The human brain recognizes colors relatively consistently regardless of the surrounding light. A photograph, however, is produced by a machine and depends on factors such as the white balance and amount of light at the time of shooting, so colors may appear different. A photograph is, by its nature, not a direct reflection of reality. It resembles reality, but it is not the same thing. Each person uses their perceptual abilities to bridge the gap between a photograph and reality. In that process, some people may feel that the real thing is better, while others may feel the opposite. I can also understand the desire to edit a photograph that is, in the first place, similar to but different from reality. That said, I’m registered with the club because I don’t use edited photos or “photo magic.”

I think one of the best things about this club is that the photos aren’t overly edited—there’s no “panel magic,” as they say in the adult entertainment industry. I’d rather they didn’t use professional photographers or heavy retouching. Fuu also makes sure to watch the videos, so editing only the photos won’t help anyway. If you’re getting favorited and receiving offers, I think you’re doing fine. Rather than focusing on how you look in photos, you’ll probably get more offers after re-registering if you prepare your hairstyle, outfit, and figure in a way that appeals to the papa generation.