Turning a Selfie into a Professional Headshot
A proper headshot session costs money and takes planning. AI photo editing can get you most of the way there from a decent selfie or casual photo — good enough for LinkedIn, a company profile, or a resume — for free, in a couple of minutes. This guide covers how to do it well on PixForge and, just as importantly, how to keep the result looking like you.
What makes a good starting photo
The result is only as good as what you start with. Best results come from a photo that's already reasonably clear and well-lit — the AI is changing the background, clothing, and lighting style, not fixing a blurry or very low-resolution source image.
- Good, even lighting on your face (natural window light works well)
- Facing mostly toward the camera
- Reasonably high resolution, not a heavily cropped or zoomed photo
- A neutral or simple expression to start from — it's easier for the AI to preserve a natural look than to invent one
If you have a few candidate photos, pick the one where your face is sharpest and most clearly lit, even if the background or outfit in that photo isn't ideal — both of those are exactly what the edit is about to change anyway.
How to try it on PixForge
- Go to PixForge and select the Edit Photo tab.
- Upload your selfie or casual photo.
- Enter a headshot-style prompt (see below).
- Download the result.
Example prompt to try
Variations worth trying
- Plain backdrop: "...use a plain grey or neutral-coloured studio backdrop instead of an office."
- Industry-specific: "...style the clothing as smart business casual" or "...as formal business attire," depending on what fits your field.
- Outdoor/lifestyle: "...use a softly blurred outdoor setting with natural daylight" for a less formal, more approachable headshot style that still reads as professional.
- Colour-graded: "...with a warm, slightly desaturated colour grade" if you want the result to feel a touch more editorial than a flat corporate headshot.
Getting a LinkedIn-ready result
LinkedIn headshots have their own unwritten conventions worth keeping in mind: a fairly tight crop on the face and shoulders, a background that doesn't compete for attention, and an expression that reads as approachable rather than overly formal. If your result looks a little too corporate or stiff, try re-running the prompt with "warm, approachable expression" added, or soften the background request from "office" to "softly blurred neutral setting" for something less stiff.
Keeping it looking like you
Headshots are one case where over-editing is genuinely a problem — a result that barely looks like the original photo defeats the purpose. Always start the prompt with "keep my face and features exactly recognisable," and avoid stacking too many style changes in one go. If a result changes your face more than you'd like, re-run it with that instruction stated more firmly, or try a slightly less dramatic background or lighting request — smaller, more conservative changes tend to preserve likeness better than one large stylistic leap.
Common pitfalls
- Starting from a heavily filtered photo — if your source photo already has a strong filter or heavy retouching, the AI treats that as part of "how you look," which can compound with the edit in ways you don't want.
- Asking for too much at once — background, clothing, lighting, and expression all in one dramatic request increases the odds that at least one of them drifts further from the original than intended.
- Skipping the identity-lock instruction — the single most common reason a headshot edit "doesn't look like me" is that the prompt never explicitly said to keep the face recognisable.
Why AI headshots have become so common
The rise of remote and hybrid work means more people need a professional photo than ever have easy access to an actual photographer — LinkedIn, company directories, conference speaker pages, and freelance profiles all expect one. A traditional headshot session typically runs from a modest sitting fee up to a few hundred pounds depending on the photographer, plus the time to book and attend it. An AI edit doesn't replace a proper photoshoot for every use case — a magazine cover or a large printed banner will still benefit from a real photographer — but for the everyday professional-profile-photo use case, it closes most of the visible gap for a fraction of the cost and none of the scheduling.
Frequently asked questions
Will this look obviously AI-generated?
Results vary by starting photo, but asking for "realistic, not overly retouched" in the prompt generally produces more natural, less artificial-looking results than leaving it unspecified.
Can I use this for a company profile photo, not just LinkedIn?
Yes — the same prompt and approach works for any professional profile use. Adjust the clothing and backdrop description to match your company's style if there's a house look to match.
Is this free?
Yes — your first generation each day is free, with more available via a short ad or a small credit pack.
What if I don't have a recent photo that's good enough?
Even a phone photo taken specifically for this purpose works fine — you don't need professional equipment. Prop your phone up, find a window for natural light, face it directly, and take a few options to choose the sharpest one from. That's a perfectly good starting point for this whole process.