Photographer Grantly Lynch

Over the last few years we have been promoting the importance of your LinkedIn profile photo. It is still fairly common to see business people using family photos or badly taken portraits on their LinkedIn profile page. Their is a misconception that because it is quick and easy to change your photo on LinkedIn, any digital pic to hand will do for the time being. Clients will spend hours preparing their LinkedIn profile description and listing their business achievements, forgetting that the first thing potential clients look at when reaching their LinkedIn profile page is their headshot.

As we provide a professional LinkedIn photographer service we always suggest that clients give their profile photo some thought and extend their marketing budget to include a commissioned LinkedIn headshot. Before hiring a portrait photographer you need to decide on what image you want to put across on LinkedIn and take in consideration your business and your professional personality.

There are three main styles you can select from. The first is a photography studio style which uses professional lighting. This means you can commission a photographer whose portfolio you prefer and they will shoot your portrait using studio lighting with a plain background at your offices. This allows you to have plenty of control over your headshot and will result in a formal and traditional portrait.

The second option is to capture your LinkedIn headshot in a less staged and more contemporary style. This is the sort of commissions we get asked to do and it involves a photographer visiting your place of business and including elements of your company and surroundings in the LinkedIn photos. We find this results in a more relaxed and natural style of headshot which although professional makes the person look more approachable and engaging.

The third option is similar to the second option ie the photographer comes to you, but instead of a formal to camera pose you can be photographed looking off camera as if you are in working mode and almost unaware that you are having your portrait taken. This style of corporate portrait photography is becoming very popular as the portraits look completely unposed and the subject finds the whole process less staged.

If your marketing budget does not allow you to commission a professional corporate portrait photographer then we still suggest that you take care what you upload as your LinkedIn photo. Never leave the profile photo empty so that your page shows a default blank. This looks really unprofessional and can even suggest an element of mistrust in the viewers mind.

If you can get a friend to take a portrait for you then try lots of different options. Think about what the background will be and consider the different poses, not everyone suits looking straight to camera and smiling. Using a Iphone to capture a self portrait can be a clever way of to get a good result. You can do unlimited attempts at no extra cost and many of the photography apps available allow you to balance the lighting/tones. Instagram offers a good selection of filters and cropping options. A common problem we have noticed is that clients do not crop their portraits in tight enough which means as the actual profile size on LinkedIn is already small the image gets lot once reduced to fit on the LinkedIn page.

If you are on LinkedIn and would like to connect with our LinkedIn Photographer London profile.

© Grantly Lynch Director @ Corporate Photography Ltd