The best photo of you at the wedding is probably a side profile

Ask people to pick their favourite photo of themselves from an event and they rarely pick the posed one. The posed one is fine. Everyone is lined up, everyone is smiling, everyone looks a little like a passport photo.

The one people love is usually candid. Turned towards a friend, laughing at something just out of frame. Watching the couple walk in. Mid-step on the dance floor. Very often, it's a side profile.

Candid frames are the hardest to find

That's also the problem. A side profile is harder to spot when you're scrolling through a thousand thumbnails. Your brain is looking for your face as you see it in the mirror, straight on. A three-quarter view in low reception lighting slips past.

It's also harder for software. Plenty of face detection and matching tools work from a single front-facing selfie, and a single front-facing selfie is a weak reference for a photo where your head is turned 60 degrees.

Why we ask for three selfies

This is why Glimpse asks for a small set of selfies instead of one: front, left and right. It takes a few extra seconds. In return, matching has a much better idea of what you look like from the angles a photographer is actually likely to catch.

The difference shows up in the kinds of photos people get back. Not just the group shots and the stage photos, but the in-between moments that a good event photographer spends most of the evening chasing.

Photographers already know this

Talk to experienced wedding photographers and they'll tell you the candids are where the craft is. Anyone can line up a family for a group photo. Catching a father's face as his daughter walks in, from the side, at the right moment, takes patience and practice.

It seems a waste for that work to end up in a folder the subject never sees. Getting candid frames to the right person is one of the more satisfying parts of what we do.

When matching still misses

No system catches everything. Someone facing completely away from the camera, half-hidden behind a pillar, or under a dupatta during a ritual won't always be matched. For those, photographers can tag the person by hand in a couple of clicks, and the photo lands in their gallery like any other.

So if you're a guest: add the three selfies, not just one. And if you're a photographer: keep chasing those side profiles. They're worth delivering.