Leon Britton Photography

OK being direct and right to the point never ever, if you’re serious about your career, should you ever do that. There is no such thing as a professional selfie but there is such a thing as a professional headshot. So whilst you may be able to use a selfie, you shouldn’t do it. 

The first thing many people need to remember is that the point of headshot is to use it for promoting you as an individual. There were many careers where literally your image is arguably a deciding factor as to whether people will do business with you or not. For example, some careers where your headshot might directly impact includes areas like acting legal representation medical practitioners modeling, real estate and other similar jobs. 

The reality of it is that some people decide upon working with other people, such as doctors or solicitors, based on their characteristics such as confidence professionalism and approachability and all of these come across in a good headshot. In fact there are studies that show we judge people by their photographs first so this is not too surprising 

Back to our original question can you use a selfie as a headshot? the answer is no because there is much more to it than just the push of a virtual button. 

Some people may argue that there is no benchmark for what a professional headshot should in fact look like in terms of quality. But you can look at a headshot from the professional photographer and you can most certainly tell there is a difference. 

Approximately 88% of hiring managers interviewed said they felt that a selfie on an online CV was unprofessional and from that same survey 58% of people also said they would not hire someone who had specifically used a selfie on LinkedIn. 

Therefore, the thing that you really need to do is find yourself a professional headshot photographer. this can be difficult particularly in cities like Manchester, Liverpool, London, Birmingham, etc so you’ll want to make a shortlist and begin by checking out the reviews online and the photographer’s very own portfolios which should be shown on their websites. 

When viewing their portfolio and make sure you do it on a desktop computer or a laptop and the reason is you don’t want to do this on a smartphone. You can’t see the full size and quality of the images on a mobile device and you’ll also want to potentially engage with them via e-mail or phone call so you can evaluate their professionalism and get them to answer any questions you may have about the shoot. 

Getting on the phone is also a good opportunity to evaluate how much they know even if you do not know yourself. Ask them about their equipment and why they use it. Do they retouch the photographs and what do they do it on? Again, even if you don’t know about the topic knowledgeable people generally sound knowledgeable and it’s an opportunity for you to see if they stumble. 

In addition to the camera equipment lighting is the next most critical component and any professional photographer will be able to use studio lighting to make headshots look even more professional and businesslike. Having great lighting can not only be flattering to the subject, but is also allows the focus of the image to be directed to convey the type of message and sentiment you are planning.  

For more information on headshot photography, visit the help page on our website. 

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