An Illustration of how you can improve your Profile Photo

Last Friday I presented a talk at the Farnham Business Hub, on photography as a tool to brand aspects of yourself and your business.

The first part of the talk addressed the Profile Photo, used pretty much everywhere online these days, not least LinkedIn.

It doesn't take much for anyone to create a reasonable quality profile photo and to abide by some guidelines, remembering that this is a business profile photo.  Part of my presentation dealt with Branding Portraits, or Character Portraits, where the rules are absent and provided the images are positive, anything pretty much goes.

However, the profile photo is your starting point, your first online handshake and a clean, well presented business image is hugely important.I have posted here before samples of photos I have done for clients, but today I thought I would lead you through a simple process on how to improve your profile photo.  The end of this little run through involves studio lighting, but before we get there you will see how some thought on positioning and clothing can get you looking pretty good.

There really is no excuse for displaying that dreadful image of yourself!

Now, for this exercise I used a volunteer, Roisin is now working and travelling abroad teaching English as a foreign language and she chose one of these end results as a CV photo (and received job interviews immediately).  Note that I decided to do this process without much attention to hair and make up. The point is to illustrate a quick fix, one you can do pretty much any time.

Also, this process is just as relevant to men, maybe mostly without the mascara but the principals here are not gender based.

So, first off lets look at that awful photo. As soon as Roisin arrived I photographed her with my iPhone, with her back to the window, hair pulled back and no make up at all. All to often this type of snap is used by people in business as their profile photo.  The other type of comment I get is 'oh, don't photograph me, I look awful in photos!', but I maintain that it isn't that anyone looks awful, it's just a bad photo.

First lesson here, look at where the light is and make it work for you.

So here all I have done is turn Roisin around, nothing more; still not in any shape or form a usable profile photo, but at least we now have some light. Using the iPhone too.

Now, just to give the photo a different feel Roisin has let her hair down. Nothing else has changed.  For women this is a major advantage over men. With exceptions, in the main women tend to have more changeable hair or at least ways to make some styling choices.

OK, now this post isn't specifically about how far you can go with a smartphone and from here on in, I am using my Nikon (in this case a D700 if anyone wants to know specifically), and up until I use studio lighting I am still just using window light. With natural light like this it maybe less of an issue than with flash, but remember to not stand too close to the background which is when you may create shadows.

I am also now using a reflector on Roisin's left side, which evens out the light and fills the shadows. Yes, I am using studio reflectors but other stuff works too. Experiment with a white sheet or large pieces of white paper or card.

Everything I am doing here can be done with any camera!

Just to highlight the hair thing again. Changing the position of hair makes a big difference in the photo.  If you are working on your profile photo, experiment.

OK, personal choices aside, this next photo has become a usable profile photo.  It has soft natural light, no dramatic shadows and is a vast improvement from where I started and you can do the same!  But I am not finished.

Business profiles have dress codes. All too often I see profile photos where the subject is dressed inappropriately, or so far from what their profession dictates as to maybe throw confusion over who the person is in business.

So, this red jumper may be entirely appropriate but I want to look at what happens when we change clothes.

Before that however, Roisin applied a little mascara and a little lippy.  Now make up is a very personal choice; I have photographed ladies 'sans' make up entirely because they usually didn't wear any, some prefer a little and some a lot. I think the guide here is to go with how you usually present yourself; I am a firm believer in your profile photo representing who you are and not a faux personality. Still using that window light though!

Now a white shirt. Nothing more. Makes a big difference. What you wear will impact on your photo image and by extension how people perceive you.  Clothing is a big issue and I am personally interested in the styling gurus work, it is a fascinating subject and it is real. Your clothes will alter peoples' ideas about you and this should be considered for your profile photo.

Jewellery crops up as a question quite often.  Personally I think a little 'bling' works but it is again a question of what is right for your personality and the business you are in; I tend to answer in the same vein as the make up, except that you don't want any jewellery dominating your photo.

So again, still using only window light and a reflector I think we have a decent profile photo, but for business, what about a jacket? A choice aspect maybe but let's take a look. 

For me, we have now reached the 'simple fix' profile photo and I have done nothing here that you cannot do yourself.... OK, I hear you, with a friend!  But what about Black & White?

Black & White is definitely a personal branding choice.  I like B&W a lot and it can be a little more flattering than colour. Have a look.

OK.  Basically I have shown you that you can make a decent profile photo, so have a go, thinking about where the light is coming from, what you look like and what you are wearing.

Men can apply the above principals just as easily. For me though, if you wear a tie make sure the knot is good and tight and that if you are tieless, choose a shirt with a collar that looks right without a tie! That will make a difference.

But to finish off, I thought I'd fire up the lights. To be fair, most people will find this beyond them; you need the equipment but if you have access to strobes or speedlights, have a go. You do basically need lighting to achieve the white background, without the light even white paper will look grey.  On the subject of background, keep it uncluttered but I think any colour or shade works (except blue, oh how I hate blue backgrounds!). It's pretty much a branding issue. These three photos are against white, just because really!

I think B&W is timeless.  Love it!

So I hope this has been useful, maybe given you some inspiration to have a go at improving your photo. There is in fairness a lot more to cover with profile photos, but I hope the above gives you a start.

Next time I'll be talking a little about Stock Photos and I'll be using Roisin again to demonstrate how you don't necessarily need stock.