Reference · 12 professions · Updated August 2026
What a headshot has to say depends on who is looking at it.
A lawyer's headshot and a real estate agent's headshot both need to earn trust, and they earn it in opposite ways. The lawyer through restraint: charcoal suit, warm library light, no teeth. The agent through warmth: open blazer, late afternoon sun, a smile that says call me. This page sets out what the photo must signal in 12 professions, the mistake each field makes most, and the wardrobe, lighting and background that deliver the right read. Every spec below is what the studio actually renders for that style, read from the catalog at build time.
Pick your field
Each card is the short version. The link under it opens the full guide for that profession, with the studio preset to the right style.
CorporateDoctors
Calm competence. A patient should look at it and feel they can bring you the embarrassing question.
- Wardrobe
- well-fitted navy blazer over a crisp white open-collar shirt or
- Light
- soft loop lighting from upper-left key at 5500K, gentle fill
AttorneyLawyers
Judgement and discretion. The photo has to say you will not lose your client's file or their temper.
- Wardrobe
- charcoal tailored business suit, conservative formal attire
- Light
- warm tungsten-balanced key light from camera-left, soft
Real EstateReal Estate Agents
Warmth and availability. Your face is the logo on the yard sign, so it has to make a stranger want to call.
- Wardrobe
- well-tailored business-casual blazer
- Light
- warm late afternoon natural light from camera-left, soft and
Hurley SquinchActors
Exactly you, right now. A casting director is hiring your face, so the headshot is evidence, not flattery.
- Wardrobe
- tailored blazer over a clean neutral shirt, navy/charcoal/cream
- Light
- Peter-Hurley signature setup, two vertical strip softboxes
LinkedInTeachers
Approachable authority. Parents want to trust you; students want to not fear you. The photo has to do both.
- Wardrobe
- tailored charcoal blazer over a light top
- Light
- soft loop lighting from camera-left key at 5500K, single
- Corporate
Nurses
Steadiness. The person looking at this photo may be about to hand you a family member.
- Wardrobe
- well-fitted navy blazer over a crisp white open-collar shirt or
- Light
- soft loop lighting from upper-left key at 5500K, gentle fill
Tech FounderFounders
Conviction without polish. The investor wants to see someone who will still be standing when it gets hard.
- Wardrobe
- modern Silicon Valley founder uniform: dark merino tee or hoodie
- Light
- soft natural window light from camera-left, slight rim light
KeynoteConference Speakers
Stage presence, frozen. An event page is selling the experience of being in the room with you.
- Wardrobe
- smart-casual blazer with small lapel mic clipped to the collar
- Light
- dramatic top-down theatrical key with rim light defining the
CasualEngineers
Competent and human. Recruiters already assume the skills; the photo has to make them want to message you.
- Wardrobe
- comfortable quality casualwear
- Light
- soft golden-hour window light from camera-left, loop pattern
- Keynote
Podcasters
A voice with a face. Listeners already know your sound; the photo has to match it.
- Wardrobe
- smart-casual blazer with small lapel mic clipped to the collar
- Light
- dramatic top-down theatrical key with rim light defining the
- LinkedIn
Sales Reps
Someone the prospect would pick up the phone for. The headshot is seen at the exact moment they are deciding whether to take the call.
- Wardrobe
- tailored charcoal blazer over a light top
- Light
- soft loop lighting from camera-left key at 5500K, single
Editorial FashionModels
Range and a face an art director can build a campaign on. This is a portfolio piece, not a profile picture.
- Wardrobe
- high-fashion structured editorial piece with sharp lines
- Light
- beauty dish from front, gentle rim light from behind
The whole thing, in one table
What each field's photo has to signal, where it will be seen, and what the recommended style renders. Wardrobe, light and background are the studio's own specs for that style, not a description we wrote.
| Profession | What it must signal | Seen on | Style | Wardrobe | Light | Background |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doctors | Calm competence. | Hospital directory, residency application, patient-facing profile | Corporate | well-fitted navy blazer over a crisp white open-collar | soft loop lighting from upper-left key at 5500K, gentle | neutral light-grey seamless studio backdrop, gently |
| Lawyers | Judgement and discretion. | Firm website, bar directory, pitch deck | Attorney | charcoal tailored business suit, conservative formal attire | warm tungsten-balanced key light from camera-left, soft | walnut-paneled law library, defocused leather-bound legal |
| Real Estate Agents | Warmth and availability. | Zillow, yard signs, business cards, brokerage page | Real Estate | well-tailored business-casual blazer | warm late afternoon natural light from camera-left, soft | softly defocused suburban craftsman home, red brick wall |
| Actors | Exactly you, right now. | Casting submissions, agency profile, Actors Access | Hurley Squinch | tailored blazer over a clean neutral shirt | Peter-Hurley signature setup, two vertical strip softboxes | pure white seamless paper backdrop, completely clean, no |
| Teachers | Approachable authority. | School directory, faculty page, LinkedIn | tailored charcoal blazer over a light top | soft loop lighting from camera-left key at 5500K, single | modern office at 50mm focal-length depth-of-field: a warm | |
| Nurses | Steadiness. | Staff page, LinkedIn, travel-nurse agency submission | Corporate | well-fitted navy blazer over a crisp white open-collar | soft loop lighting from upper-left key at 5500K, gentle | neutral light-grey seamless studio backdrop, gently |
| Founders | Conviction without polish. | Pitch deck, Crunchbase, investor update, launch post | Tech Founder | modern Silicon Valley founder uniform: dark merino tee or | soft natural window light from camera-left, slight rim | modern office bokeh: glass walls, warm wood accents, or a |
| Conference Speakers | Stage presence, frozen. | Event page, speaker bureau, sponsorship one-sheet | Keynote | smart-casual blazer with small lapel mic clipped to the | dramatic top-down theatrical key with rim light defining | deep black stage backdrop with a subtle red rim accent |
| Engineers | Competent and human. | GitHub, LinkedIn, conference speaker bio | Casual | comfortable quality casualwear | soft golden-hour window light from camera-left, loop | warm interior background with rich bokeh, cafe / home |
| Podcasters | A voice with a face. | Apple Podcasts, Spotify, guest-pitch deck | Keynote | smart-casual blazer with small lapel mic clipped to the | dramatic top-down theatrical key with rim light defining | deep black stage backdrop with a subtle red rim accent |
| Sales Reps | Someone the prospect would pick up the phone for. | LinkedIn, email signature, account-team page | tailored charcoal blazer over a light top | soft loop lighting from camera-left key at 5500K, single | modern office at 50mm focal-length depth-of-field: a warm | |
| Models | Range and a face an art director can build a campaign on. | Agency book, comp card, casting platform | Editorial Fashion | high-fashion structured editorial piece with sharp lines | beauty dish from front, gentle rim light from behind | minimalist colored backdrop (oxblood, mustard, soft pink |
The mistake each field makes most
Not generic advice. These are the specific things we see go wrong per profession, and most of them are the result of copying what looks professional in a different field.
- Doctors. Costume. A stethoscope or a lab coat in a headshot reads as a credential you are performing rather than holding. Let the title on the directory carry that.
- Lawyers. A big open smile. It photographs well and it undercuts the one quality a client is paying for. Closed-mouth or a small smile reads better in this field than almost any other.
- Real Estate Agents. The corporate banker look. A dark suit against grey studio paper tells a buyer you are expensive and busy, which is the opposite of what gets the call returned.
- Actors. Too much retouching. If you walk into the room looking five years older than the photo, you have spent the meeting recovering trust you did not need to lose.
- Teachers. Either extreme. Too formal and you look like administration; too casual and the parent newsletter loses its weight. The middle register is the whole job here.
- Nurses. Scrubs in the headshot. It is honest but it is what the uniform photo is for; the profile photo should show the person, not the shift.
- Founders. The pinstripe suit. Nobody who funds early-stage companies expects it, and it suggests you do not know the room.
- Conference Speakers. A flat passport-style frontal shot. It gives the programme committee nothing to imagine. Directional light and a slight turn of the head do the work.
- Engineers. Overcompensating with a suit. Nobody in your field wears one, and it photographs as uncomfortable. A clean shirt and good light beats a jacket you do not own.
- Podcasters. Hiding behind a microphone. The mic tells people what you do and hides the one thing cover art is for, which is you.
- Sales Reps. Too slick. A sales photo that looks like a sales photo triggers the defence it was meant to lower.
- Models. Treating it like LinkedIn. A model's headshot is allowed to be editorial, and the neutral corporate framing wastes the one slot meant to show what you can carry.
Why the same photo cannot work for everyone
A headshot is read in about half a second, and what the viewer is reading for depends entirely on what they need from you. A patient is checking whether you will listen. A buyer is checking whether you will pick up. An investor is checking whether you will still be standing in eighteen months. A casting director is checking whether you are the face on the page. Those are four different questions, and a single photo cannot answer all of them at once.
That is why the wardrobe, lighting and background columns above move around so much. The lawyer's walnut library and warm tungsten light are doing the same job as the realtor's late afternoon sun and craftsman porch: putting the viewer in the room where they would actually meet you, so the photo feels like a preview of the relationship rather than an ID card. The corporate grey backdrop works for the professions where neutrality is the point, and feels wrong everywhere warmth is.
What stays the same across every field
Three things, and they matter more than any column in the table.
It has to look like you.Not a better-rested cousin. Every field above involves someone meeting you after seeing the photo, and the moment they quietly recalibrate, you have spent trust you needed. The studio's prompt system forbids slimming, smoothing and altering your face for exactly this reason; it will make the light and the wardrobe flattering, and leave the face alone.
It has to survive being small.Almost every platform in the “seen on” column shows the photo at under 100 pixels most of the time. A head-and-shoulders crop with the eyes about a third of the way down reads at that size. A three-quarter body shot becomes a smudge. Check it at thumbnail size before you commit.
It has to be recent.The photo that was right three years and one haircut ago is now a small lie you tell every day. The honest test: would a colleague who sees you weekly say “that is a good photo of you” or “that does not really look like you any more”?
How to use this page
Find your field above, or the field whose signal is closest to yours if you are not listed. Open the full guide; the studio will be preset to that profession's recommended style. Upload one selfie, facing a window, camera at eye level. About 60 seconds later you have three headshots in that style, free, with no account and no card. If they look like you, you are done. If they do not, you have lost a minute, which is the whole reason the first set is free.
Want the selfie itself to be better before you start? The short version is in how to take the selfie, and what to wear is covered field by field in what to wear for a headshot. If the photo you already have is good but the background is not, the background changer fixes that in your browser. And if you are wondering whether anyone can tell it was generated, that is its own article, with an honest answer.
Questions people ask before choosing
Does the profession actually change what a headshot should look like?
More than people expect. A lawyer and a real estate agent both need to look trustworthy, but the lawyer earns it through restraint and the agent earns it through warmth, and the wardrobe, background and even whether you smile with teeth flip between the two. The one constant across every field is that it has to look like you on a good day, not a different person with your haircut.
Can I use the same AI headshot for LinkedIn and my profession's directory?
Usually yes, if you pick the style for the more conservative of the two. A corporate or LinkedIn style works on a hospital directory and on LinkedIn. A founder style works on Crunchbase and LinkedIn. The mismatch happens when someone uses an editorial or stage shot on a platform that expects a plain professional photo.
Which professions should not use an AI headshot at all?
Any context where the photograph is itself the credential. Passport and ID photos are the obvious case; a generated image is grounds for rejection. Actors are the nuanced one: AI headshots are fine for a profile, but a casting submission is hiring your literal current face, so the photo must match the person who walks in. For everyone else the question is just whether it looks like you.
What does 'wardrobe' mean here if I am uploading a selfie?
The studio renders the wardrobe. You upload a clear photo of your face; the style specifies what you are wearing, how you are lit and what is behind you, and the model renders that around your actual face. So the wardrobe column describes what the result will show, not what you need to own.
How many photos do I need to upload?
One. A single forward-facing selfie in decent light is enough. Up to five are accepted for a little more variety, but the tools that demand six to thirty photos are training a per-person model first, and this one does not, which is why it takes about a minute rather than an hour.
Is every style in this table available on the free tier?
Yes. Nothing in the catalog is gated behind a paid plan. The free set is three watermarked headshots in whichever style you pick; the paid packs remove the watermark and add more photos, starting at $9 once.
My profession is not listed. What should I pick?
Match on what the photo has to signal, not on the job title. Anyone client-facing who needs warmth sits with real estate and sales. Anyone whose authority is the product sits with lawyers and executives. Anyone whose face is the brand sits with founders and speakers. The full catalog has 232 styles if none of the twelve fit.
Will it still look like me?
That is what the prompt system is built around. Every style carries a directive forbidding slimming, symmetrising, smoothing or changing your face, age or ethnicity, and glasses, hijab, hearing aids and mobility aids are preserved. It is not perfect on every face, which is exactly why the first set is free: you find out in a minute instead of after paying.
One selfie, any field
See your own face in the right style, free.
Three headshots in about 60 seconds. No account, no card, every style in the table open on the free tier. Decide from the actual result, not from a description of it.