Headshot guide
How to get a good LinkedIn headshot
Your LinkedIn headshot appears on your profile, in search results, in recruiters' lists and beside every comment you post, almost always as a small circle. It has to look like you, read at thumbnail size and survive the crop. LinkedIn said in 2016 that members with a profile photo get 21 times more profile views and up to 36 times more messages.
UpdatedWhat LinkedIn requires from your headshot
LinkedIn's profile photo guidelines put the rule in one sentence: "You can use an illustration, caricature, or other artistic rendering of yourself, but your profile photo must reflect your likeness." LinkedIn may remove photos that consist only of a company logo, emojis, a landscape, an animal, words or phrases, a flag, a childhood or baby photo, or someone else's likeness, which includes stock images, celebrities and fictional characters.The guidelines don't mention AI. A LinkedIn spokesperson told Business Insider in July 2026 that AI enhancement is allowed as long as the photo still reflects your likeness. By LinkedIn's own test, then, a headshot made or touched up with AI is fine when it looks like you, and a problem when it changes your age, weight or features.LinkedIn profile picture size and crop
| Spec | LinkedIn's help center | Our suggestion |
|---|---|---|
| Shape | Shown as a circle; LinkedIn recommends a photo "that won't require much cropping" | A square you crop yourself, head centered |
| Pixel size | Between 400 x 400 and 7680 x 4320 | 1000 x 1000 or larger |
| File | PNG or JPG, no GIF, up to 8 MB | JPG at high quality |
| Cover image | 1584 x 396 recommended, JPG or PNG, under 8 MB | 1584 x 396 |
What makes a LinkedIn headshot work
| Area | What works | What to avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Framing | Head and shoulders, face centered and large, eyes on the upper third of the square | Full-body or waist-up shots, where your face shrinks to a few pixels in a comment |
| Light | Soft daylight from a window or open shade, falling on the front of your face, with a catchlight in each eye | Overhead office lights, direct sun, a bright window behind you |
| Expression | A small, real smile, eyes to the camera, lower lids slightly raised | A forced grin, a stare, looking away from the lens |
| Background | A plain mid-tone wall or a softly blurred office or outdoor scene that contrasts with your hair and clothes | Clutter, readable signs, other people, a background the same color as your top |
| Clothes | What you'd wear to meet a client in your field, in solid colors, fitted at the shoulders | Busy patterns, fine stripes, logos, anything you wouldn't wear to work |
| Just you | A photo of you alone, taken for the purpose | A crop from a wedding or group photo, a logo, a pet, sunglasses |
| Recent | Your current hair, beard and glasses, so people recognize you on a video call | A photo from years ago or before a big change in how you look |
| Editing | Cropping, brightness, white balance, a stray hair or spot removed | Skin smoothing, slimming, whitened teeth, beauty filters, LinkedIn's color filters |
LinkedIn headshot ideas by field: clothes and background
Dress for the people you want to hear from, one step smarter than an ordinary day at work.| Field | Clothes | Background |
|---|---|---|
| Law, finance, consulting | Dark suit or blazer, plain light shirt | Gray or dark studio backdrop |
| Tech and startups | Plain knit, crewneck or open-collar shirt, a blazer if your clients wear one | Bright office far behind you, or a plain light wall |
| Sales, real estate, recruiting | Blazer or smart top in a solid color that suits you | Bright office or outdoor greenery, softly blurred |
| Healthcare | What you wear at work, such as a white coat or scrubs, clean and pressed | Plain light backdrop or a softly blurred clinic |
| Creative work | Your own style, in solid colors that don't fight your face | A warm textured wall or a plain backdrop in a color you use |
| Students and job seekers | What people wear in the job you want | Plain wall or open shade outdoors |
Is it OK to use an AI headshot on LinkedIn?
LinkedIn allows it if it reflects your likeness. What people think of it is a different question. In June 2024 Ringover asked 1,087 recruiters to pick a favorite from three headshots, two of them AI-generated, and the AI ones won 76.5% of the picks; picking at random would give about 67%. The recruiters spotted AI headshots only 39.5% of the time, though 80% believed they had guessed right. Two-thirds (66%) said they would be put off a candidate if they recognized the headshot as AI, and 88% said candidates should make it clear when they use one.Business Insider ran a similar test in July 2026 with headshots from ChatGPT, Gemini and a paid generator. LinkedIn users split on which photo was real, and about twice as many preferred the AI one.LinkedIn also reads Content Credentials, the C2PA metadata that ChatGPT and Gemini attach to the images they make. On images and videos in the feed it shows a C2PA icon that opens the credential, including whether AI was used. Its help page doesn't say whether this applies to profile photos, and LinkedIn notes that it can't yet label all AI-generated content.Put together: an AI headshot can do the job, and the risk is someone feeling misled after meeting you. Use one only if friends recognize you in it straight away, never one that makes you younger or slimmer, and if anyone asks, say how you made it. If you'd rather not have that conversation, take a real photo with the tips below.How to make a LinkedIn headshot from a selfie
- Start with good source photos. Stand facing a window, use the back camera at 2x from about two meters, and if you can, have someone else take one. Our guide to taking a headshot photo covers this step by step.
- Use the best one as it is, cropped square, if it already looks professional enough.
- Or turn it into a studio-style headshot with AI. In ChatGPT or Gemini, attach the photos and use the LinkedIn prompt from our AI headshot prompts guide, which we tested on both. In Leap's AI headshot generator, upload one to four photos, pick a backdrop such as Grey studio or Modern office, an outfit or your own clothes and an expression, choose square, and get up to four 2K headshots per run.
- Check the result at thumbnail size and against your face on a video call. Compare the eyes, hairline, teeth and any moles or scars.
- Upload it to LinkedIn and use the crop and zoom so your head sits in the middle of the circle with space above your hair. Skip the filters.
- Use the same photo on Slack, Teams, your email signature and your company bio, so people recognize you everywhere.