How To Take a Professional Headshot for LinkedIn?

How To Take a Professional Headshot for LinkedIn? In your recruitment process, your LinkedIn profile plays an important role. One of the most critical elements that will set your LinkedIn profile apart from others is your LinkedIn profile picture or headshot.

In addition to receiving 36x more messages from LinkedIn, users who include a profile picture tend to get 36x more messages from LinkedIn, according to LinkedIn statistics. However, it won’t be enough to just add a random image of you to your LinkedIn profile.

Professional LinkedIn Profile Picture Tips?

As much as you may think how your LinkedIn profile picture looks will not matter for you in terms of winning business, the fact of the matter is that it does matter a lot more than you may think.

The number of LinkedIn users in Great Britain is over 29 million, so it is very likely that you will have to compete with a lot of people in your sector, even if your specialty is very specific. As a result of statistics, LinkedIn profiles with pictures receive up to 21 times more views and 9 times more connection requests than those without pictures. 

A person buys from someone they trust, regardless of whether this interaction is conducted in person or online. With so many businesses moving online, it is more important than ever before to make sure you don’t lose business due to faulty LinkedIn profile pictures, even if they are not quite the right size.  

Put a Recent Photo and Update It With the Time

There will be some changes in our faces over the course of our lives. As a result, you might look different from your LinkedIn profile picture as you may look different in real life. This is why keeping your professional headshot up to date is very important.

The most recent picture you upload should be uploaded after a specific interval of time. Perhaps, if your face has undergone any changes, such as the growth of your hair, you should update your headshot as soon as possible.

Pick the Right, Blending Background

It is very important that the background of your professional headshot for LinkedIn is not distracting for the recruiter. Therefore, keep the background as clear as possible from any type of interruptions. Some of the points that you need to keep in mind here are as follows:

1. Photo backgrounds with people should be avoided.
2. It is not a good idea to use a cropped group photo.
3. Make sure your backdrop is industry-specific.

Almost every industry has its own requirements, so you need to keep your backdrop according to the field you are in. For example, if you are in the construction industry, a backdrop that is outside of a building would be ideal. There are specific backdrop requirements for each industry, so you need to take that into account.

Dress According to the Job You Want

It is imperative to wear the same outfit for your LinkedIn profile pictures as you would wear to your actual job if you are an employee. For example, if you are a doctor, wearing a lab coat for your LinkedIn profile picture would be the ideal choice.

The only motive is to look professional, so if you wear a t-shirt on your profile picture, the recruiters will not take your profile seriously. You can consider it an example if you are looking for a job as a lawyer. You will normally wear black coat with a white shirt. The sole motive is to look professional, so please do not wear a t-shirt.

By dressing professionally, you will be able to prove to the viewer that you took the time to take a good headshot of yourself. # How To Take a Professional Headshot for LinkedIn?

Don’t Rely on Selfies

You shouldn’t use self-portraits as part of your LinkedIn profile. A selfie is not a professional way to take a picture, thus you shouldn’t use it as part of your profile. If you use a self-portrait when you are preparing your LinkedIn profile, it will not make you look professional.

Alternatively, you could hire a professional photographer that can take a picture of you and make it look like a professional piece of work. You might even want to hire a photographer to photograph your LinkedIn profile headshot so that it looks professional.

Headshot to Your Face

You might not be able to succeed if you put your Facebook or Instagram picture on your LinkedIn profile. People won’t be able to see your face if you are standing on the top of a mountain far away, right?

In order to create a professional headshot for LinkedIn, you need to cover around 60% of the picture with your face. It is best to keep your face between the top of your shoulders and just above your head in the image, so that it covers your face and gives a sense of your attire.

Smile in the Picture!

In most of the pictures found on LinkedIn, most people are smiling while others are posing a serious expression. It is not wrong that some people pose a serious expression.

After all, if your brand represents seriousness, then there is nothing wrong with that. Otherwise, it is best to offer a positive expression when you are taking pictures.

You will be more likely to be hired if you smile in your professional headshot on LinkedIn. You will also be perceived as a competent and influential person if you smile in your LinkedIn picture.

Look them in the eye

Your profile picture should show off your dedication to your business by being the only one in it, demonstrating to your prospects that you are the center of your business. It is important not only that you don’t include your children, friends or even your dog in your picture, but where you are looking is also very important. 

If we talk to someone and they don’t look us in the eye, we tend to think that they are a bit ‘shifty’ are we not? That’s why we do not trust them. We do the same with photographs. Looking into the camera, as if you were having a conversation with a friend, makes the person feel as if you are interested in them.

That’s why it’s important to have eye contact with them on your LinkedIn profile. # How To Take a Professional Headshot for LinkedIn?

Use the rule of thirds

In order to create impact in your image, you can divide it by thirds horizontally and vertically by the rule of thirds. It is a compositional suggestion that creates a sense of balance.

A study has shown that there are several key points in a frame that we are attracted to, which makes it seem more appealing and interesting to us.

There is no denying that our eyes are our most powerful tool, so if they are positioned in the photograph in such a way that they are more likely to captivate the viewers’ attention, then we have succeeded in capturing their attention.

There is so much to admire in this picture. It is the eyes that you immediately pay attention to. It is because her eyes are in the top third of the picture. She is beautifully framed and the photo proportions are perfect.

The question is, what do you do to accomplish that on your own? When you edit a photo on your phone, a grid appears over the image. When you press crop, the grid chops your photo up into 9 pieces (similar to a grid of 9 on an Instagram page). The grid divides the image into three distinct sections, both vertically and horizontally. 

Where To take professional Headshots For LinkedIn?

When it comes to updating headshots for LinkedIn, searching for a new job, or just updating your company website, finding the right photographer can be challenging at times. When you are getting professional headshots done, it is important to find someone you feel comfortable with.

Try to find someone who can help you create LinkedIn headshots that demonstrate both your professionalism and your experience at a glance. # How To Take a Professional Headshot for LinkedIn?

If you are thinking of getting a LinkedIn headshot, you need to remember that it is an investment in your career and a chance to show the world exactly who you are. You get what you pay for when it comes to a LinkedIn headshot. By hiring a professional photographer to take your LinkedIn profile picture, you will stand out from the sea of bathroom selfies.

Search social media

Also, you can find recommendations for local photographers on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Google, among others. If you research LinkedIn headshot photographers on their web sites and on their social media profiles, you will be able to see their work and see if you think their photography style is a good match for what you want in your own headshots.

Explore headshots for LinkedIn online

Searching Google for professional photographers in your area is likely to bring up hundreds of results. To speed up your search, you should use relevant keywords like; “Linkedin photographer”, “Linkedin portraits”, “Linkedin headshots”, and “Business portrait photographer.”

In this way, family photographers who are not proficient in creating LinkedIn profile pictures will be filtered out by using these search words.

As soon as you have narrowed down your list of LinkedIn headshot photographers, you should look at their websites to get a better understanding of their work and you should read up on reviews on Google My Business and Yelp to find out if other customers were satisfied with their work.

It is likely that you will be delighted with your portraits if previous clients were delighted with their headshots. # How To Take a Professional Headshot for LinkedIn?

Talk to colleagues and friends

Getting personal recommendations is one of the best ways to find a top-quality headshot photographer. In the event that your co-workers or friends had a great experience working with a LinkedIn photographer, you will likely have a great experience working with them as well.

Let your friends know you’re looking for headshot photographer and ask them for recommendations. Then, you research professional headshot photographers on your own based on everyone’s recommendations.

How to take LinkedIn Photo at Home?

You may think, “I’m not a professional photographer. How can this possibly work?” The reason it works has to do with context. A decent amateur photo that does not require an art director to review can be used as a LinkedIn photo, even if you are an actor or model and the photo is going to be reviewed by the art director. In LinkedIn, it doesn’t have to be perfect.

You don’t have to look like a model. Your audience is recruiters and hiring managers, not art directors, so they do not look for runway-worthy headshots. There are two things recruiters are looking for when it comes to recruiting: first, they want a picture, which completes your online footprint.

Secondly, they want good judgement to distinguish between an appropriate photo and a professional image. Presence, as well as good judgement: that is what your photo needs to communicate, and you may be able to accomplish both of those things without having to hire a professional photographer. 

How to set up for LinkedIn profile photo?

It is important to find a blank wall in your home that has diffused natural light in it. Avoid direct sunlight, which will make you look washed out, and also avoid overhead lights, which can make your face appear shadowy.

A well-distributed light can always be added with photo editing software, so it is best to go for a diffused light. My photo was taken in a room that was well lit starting around 2pm, however I closed the shade directly in front of the blank wall because the shadows were becoming uneven.

There are many factors that determine a good background. It can be a white wall, blue wall, brick wall, or even ivy wall. It is important to keep the background consistent, so the focus is on your face in the picture, and a distracting background will draw attention away from the picture.

Using my dining room table as a backdrop, I put a step ladder on top of the table, and propped up my phone on top of the ladder with a couple of books. (If you have a real camera, go crazy, but most people will use a phone.)

Turn on the rear facing camera and then choose a timer setting that suits you well. I found a timer of 3 seconds to be perfect, while a timer of ten seconds gave me that frozen look of is it over yet? Take a couple of test shots, so you can make sure that the phone is positioned correctly.

1. Make sure that your face is level with the camera. If it is not, you could look subservient to the phone. Be careful not to have the phone shoot up your nose or look down at you from above. 

2. There should be a distance between the phone and your body, so that you can see your shoulders and upper torso in the picture. You do not want your face to fill all of the picture. 

3. You need to be able to grab the phone at a convenient distance from your body, so that you can easily reach out to take another shot, with enough time to get into camera-ready position before taking another shot. You will capture at least 50 pictures in total. 

Final thoughts

The use of a professional LinkedIn headshot will help you stand out from the crowd for potential employers. It is crucial that you keep an up-to-date picture and use a backdrop that is relevant to the industry. You should also avoid using filters, selfies, and group photos.

As well as that, you should also take the picture of your LinkedIn professional headshot in natural light, and smile throughout the picture. By following these tips, you can ensure that you take the perfect LinkedIn professional headshot.