Headshots
Are Professional Headshots Worth It? An Honest Answer
An honest answer from a Toronto photographer. What a professional headshot actually does for you, what the numbers really say, and packages from $151.25.
I am a photographer, so you already know which way I am supposed to answer this. Let me try to be more useful than that.
The short version. A professional headshot is worth it when your face is doing work for you somewhere public: a LinkedIn profile during a job hunt, or a company bio page. If none of that is true, a good photo taken by a friend near a window will hold you over, and I would rather say that than take your money.
Phone cameras are genuinely good. Stand near a large window on an overcast afternoon, shoot plenty of frames, and one will be usable. So this is not an argument about megapixels. It is about what your photo says before anyone reads your name.
The first impression happens faster than you think
A 2006 Princeton study in Psychological Science (Willis and Todorov) found people form judgments about traits like trustworthiness, likeability and competence after seeing a face for a tenth of a second, and giving them longer mostly just makes them more confident in that first snap judgment.
One caveat before anyone quotes that in an interview. It was run with plain photographs in a lab, not with LinkedIn profiles, so it is not a study about headshots and I will not dress it up as one. What survives is that reading a face is fast and automatic.
Then think about where your face sits. It is the profile someone opens after your email lands, and the circle beside your name in a work chat full of people who have never met you. The photo finishes loading before the words get read.
What LinkedIn actually says
You have probably seen the big numbers: 21 times more views, 36 times more messages. Those come from two LinkedIn blog posts published in 2016 and 2017, copied around the internet ever since with the date stripped off.
LinkedIn’s own current help pages say a profile photo gets you up to 2 times more profile views and 3 times more connection requests. Much smaller, and it is the claim LinkedIn is making today. I would rather quote the modest number and keep your trust.
Two more, both worth holding loosely. A 2018 eye-tracking study by TheLadders found recruiters spend about 7.4 seconds on their first pass of a resume, which is their own research rather than an academic paper. And a 2017 CareerBuilder survey found 70 percent of employers use social media to screen candidates before hiring.
So the effect is modest but real. Your profile gets looked at, the look is quick, and the photo fills the first moment.
What a professional headshot actually signals
Since the numbers are small, the real case is made in the craft.
The biggest thing you are paying for is direction. Almost nobody knows what to do with their own face on command. You hold your chin level when it should come forward, or freeze your mouth into something that is not quite a smile. Most of a session is me telling you when to breathe out.
The rest is light that falls soft and from the side instead of under the eyes, and retouching that takes out a stray hair and a shine on the forehead but leaves your jawline alone. The frame is built for the small circle it will actually live in.
It adds up to one message. This person took some care with how they show up. You know the photos that say the opposite: the one cropped out of a wedding with somebody else’s shoulder still in it, the one taken in a car, the badge photo from your last job. They say something you did not choose to say.
When a professional headshot is worth it
The moment a photo starts to matter usually arrives with a deadline attached to it. You joined a firm and the bio page goes live next week, or a conference wants a headshot in a set ratio by Friday. If something like that is sitting on your calendar, the answer is yes, and if nothing is, the honest answer is that it can wait.
The phone caveat, honestly
I want to be fair to the phone. It does light well, and on a small screen most people will not see a difference in image quality.
What it does not do is stand back and tell you your chin needs to come forward, or keep the light consistent so your LinkedIn photo and your bio photo look like the same person. That last part is most of what you are buying.
What it costs in Toronto
Two sessions, both on location across the GTA, fully directed.
The Student, $151.25. Thirty minutes, one outfit, two fully retouched headshots, a gallery of fifteen or more good frames, and LinkedIn ready crops. It covers current students and grads within a year of graduating, with a valid student ID checked at booking. Full rundown in my post on student headshots in Toronto.
The Professional, $301.25. Up to an hour, two to three outfit changes, five fully retouched headshots, and a full gallery of thirty or more lightly edited frames with LinkedIn, website and print crops.
Delivery is one week. An extra retouched image is $26.25, and express 48 hour delivery is $51.25 on The Professional. Everything is on the headshot packages page.
Frequently asked questions
Are professional headshots worth it for LinkedIn?
LinkedIn’s own current help pages say a profile photo gets you up to 2 times more profile views and 3 times more connection requests, which is real but modest. The bigger figures repeated everywhere come from LinkedIn blog posts published in 2016 and 2017. The case rests on what the photo signals.
How much does a professional headshot cost in Toronto?
The Student is $151.25 and The Professional is $301.25, both on location across the GTA. In my experience backdrop sessions run cheaper and studio sessions run higher.
How often should I update my headshot?
When it stops looking like you: new glasses, a very different haircut, a beard that came or went. Roughly every two years is a sane default. That is my own rule of thumb rather than anything anyone published.
Can I just use a phone photo for LinkedIn?
Yes, and a decent one beats no photo at all. What you pay a photographer for is direction, a background chosen on purpose, a frame built for the circle crop, and a consistent set across LinkedIn and a bio page.
What do I get with each package?
The Student at $151.25 is thirty minutes, one outfit, two fully retouched headshots and a gallery of fifteen or more good frames. The Professional at $301.25 is up to an hour, two to three outfit changes, five fully retouched headshots and a full gallery of thirty or more, with LinkedIn, website and print crops. Both deliver in one week.
Do students get a discount?
Yes. The Student session is $151.25 for current students and grads within a year of graduating, with a valid student ID checked when you book. More in my post on student headshots in Toronto.
Book a headshot session
If your photo is out of date and you have been putting it off, this is an hour and a couple of shirts. Bring something you feel good in and I will handle the rest.
Or send me a note about a headshot session and tell me what the photo is for. I will tell you where I would shoot it.