AI headshots or a real photographer?

An AI headshot is fine if you are a student or looking for your first job with no budget. Once you have a career and clients who need to trust you, use a real headshot from a London photographer. AI images tend to look too perfect to be you, and people notice.

What people tell us about their AI headshots

We are regularly shown AI headshots, either ones people made themselves or ones their company tried. The complaints are nearly always the same:

• It doesn't look like them.

• It looks too perfect, so it looks unrealistic.

• It gives them "the ick".

The bigger worry comes later. People with established careers tell us they don't think they'll be taken seriously with an AI headshot. Their clients need to trust them, and a picture that isn't quite them feels untrustworthy.

When an AI headshot is good enough

If you are a student, or between jobs with no income and applying for your first role, an AI headshot is a reasonable stopgap.

Once you have a career, stop using it. A headshot that doesn't look like you can cost you quietly: a client meets you and you don't match your picture, or someone decides not to get in touch and you never find out why.

Why a real headshot builds trust

Your headshot is often the first time a client sees you. It sits on LinkedIn, your company's website, proposals and pitch decks, usually before anyone has met you.

After one team headshot shoot we did, the company put the new photos into a pitch deck. They put real, approachable faces to the business, and the company went on to close a major deal. A real face builds that kind of trust. A generated one doesn't.

What happens in a session that AI can't do

AI can make a picture. It can't make you look confident.

In a studio session we direct you: how to stand, how to angle your face, and how to find a smile that looks like you on a good day. We work it out together, frame by frame. Then we review the photos on screen with you and choose the shot that represents who you are.

Most people arrive unsure how they look in photos. The direction is what gives them the confidence that shows in the final picture.

Retouching that keeps you looking like you

We retouch your chosen headshots, but we don't change who you are. Retouching removes the small things that distract from you:

• blemishes and spots

• stray hairs

• creases in clothes

When someone looks at your headshot, they should be looking at you, not at a mark or a crease that won't be there next week. For more on what to expect, see our headshot FAQs.

Book a real headshot

Our studio is near Leicester Square. See individual sessions, LinkedIn headshots or team headshots, or book online.

Questions

Are AI headshots good enough for LinkedIn?

For a student or a first job search on no budget, yes. Once you have a career and clients, use a real headshot. People notice when a profile picture looks too perfect to be real, and it can make them trust you less.

Why do AI headshots look wrong?

They often make people look too perfect and not quite like themselves. The result looks unrealistic, and the people who know you can tell.

How much is a real headshot in London?

Our Express Headshot Session is £120 + VAT. It takes 25 minutes and includes a choice of backdrop, one outfit change, four retouched images and access to all images taken during the session.

Do you retouch headshots?

Yes. We remove blemishes, spots, stray hairs and creases in clothes so the picture focuses on you. We don't change your face or how you look.