In this article we share the LinkedIn profile photo tips from Melbourne Headshot Photographer, Bree Dunbar, to help you prepare (and inspire!) you to update your LinkedIn profile photo.

Please Meet Bree Dunbar who is one of the photographers listed in our Personal Branding & LinkedIn Profile Photographers directory.

Bree is a headshot and portrait photographer who works with creative people and progressive organisations to create images for websites, social media, and marketing collateral.

Bree offers a variety of photographic services including headshot shoots, portrait shoots, team headshots and studio hire. When we asked Bree about her tips for getting a LinkedIn headshot she told us almost everyone needs a headshot today, but most people find the process of being photographed awkward at best, and at worse, extremely anxiety-inducing. Bree’s been photographing people for almost a decade and finds that it’s a very vulnerable undertaking for most of her clients. Bree’s psychology degree certainly comes in handy in her work as a photographer!

LinkedIn Profile Photo Tips from Melbourne Headshot Photographer

Bree’s compiled some great tips that will hopefully make the process of getting a headshot a little easier.

Pick the right photographer

Don’t just pick the first person who comes up in a Google search, take the time to research, ask friends for recommendations, and reach out to a number of different photographers before booking. Not only do you need to love your photographer’s work and style, it’s also so important to ‘gel’ with and feel comfortable with your photographer. Getting a headshot is an awkward business for most people. It’s made quite a bit easier by working with a photographer you get along with and who puts you at ease.

Side note from Karen – If you live in Melbourne or Greater Melbourne, I’ve compiled a list of Personal Branding & LinkedIn Profile Photographers, including Bree, to help decide who’s the right fit for you.

Your headshot shoot is not the time to try out a brand new outfit, new hairstyle, new glasses, and so on

You want to go with your tried and tested ‘I feel great in this’ outfit, the haircut you know and love, your favourite glasses. I can’t tell you the number of times people have decided to ‘try something new’ for their headshot session and it usually doesn’t turn out the way they hoped.

Don’t drink the night before

Have a good night’s sleep, make sure your roots are done, don’t come to the shoot hungry, iron your clothes. In other words, be prepared! Most people stress about having their headshot done and for some people that translates to avoidance and not preparing for the shoot as well as they could. Your photographer can only do so much, the more you put into preparing for your headshot, the more you’ll get back.

Beware of false eyelashes

If you really want to use them, get a professional to apply them and tell them to be light-handed. The DIY lashes often come off and look wonky, and they are usually “too much”; they make your eyes look dark and heavy and don’t allow light to get into your eyes. With a headshot, having nice sparkly eyes is basically the most important thing!

Don’t be surprised if it takes you a little while to get used to how you look in a professional photo

We’re used to seeing ourselves in iPhone photos, and a professional photo has a very different look and feel. We’re also used to seeing our face in the bathroom mirror every morning, which is, obviously, not how our face looks in real life, but a mirror image! It’s really just about familiarity. Studies have shown that if you ask a person whether they prefer a mirror image photo of their face, or a ‘normal’ photo of their face, they will pick the mirror image because that’s what they see in the mirror every day. But if you ask that person’s partner to pick, they will pick the ‘real’ photo, the face that they see every day.

And lastly, look at yourself and your headshots with realistic, but kind eyes

I’ve photographed thousands of people over the years and in all that time there have been very few who have had a totally positive and accepting self-image. You are not alone in feeling uncomfortable about your body. Post-covid, I have noticed a big uptick in people coming to their headshot session with very negative self talk.

For women especially (but increasingly also men), there is a lot of societal pressure to look a certain way and it can be hard to undo that. I tell people to speak to themselves as they would a friend. Would you painstakingly point out all of a friend’s physical flaws? Never, you’d tell them they look gorgeous, and that you love them just the way they are. Be that friend to yourself.

_____________________

Thanks for your tips Bree. They are very helpful. You can find out more about Bree on LinkedIn.

Need help with LinkedIn?

Browse Think Bespoke’s website library and knowledge base for helpful articles about LinkedIn Training, LinkedIn Profile, LinkedIn Marketing and Career Management.