When to Update Your Professional Headshot

Professional Headshot Guidance

There isn’t a hard expiration date on a professional headshot, but I generally recommend updating yours every two to three years.

Sometimes it needs to happen sooner. A new job, a promotion, a change in your appearance, or simply realizing that the photograph you are using no longer looks like you are all good reasons to update it.

Photography changes, too. A headshot can still look like you and feel dated because the lighting, background, wardrobe, crop, or overall photographic style reflects what was popular ten or fifteen years ago rather than how professionals are being photographed today.

I can see that evolution in my own work. Years ago, I photographed headshots from a higher camera position and often used a noticeable angle because that was very much the style at the time. Today, I generally photograph from a lower camera position—often below chin level—and I am far less likely to intentionally tilt the camera. The goal now is cleaner, more direct, and more natural. Styles change, even when the person in the photograph has not.

I have had clients use the same photograph for far longer than two or three years. And I will admit that I need to update mine, too. My current headshot was photographed around the beginning of the pandemic. I keep telling myself I haven’t aged that much since then—or at least I certainly hope I haven’t.

A Useful Guideline

How Often Should You Update Your Professional Headshot?

For most people, every two to three years is a good guideline. I don’t look at that as an absolute rule, though. The better question is whether your photograph still represents you and the way you want to show up professionally today.

If you still look like your photograph, your role has not changed, and the image still feels current, you may be able to use it longer. But once someone could meet you in person and wonder whether your photograph is actually you, it has probably been doing its job a little too long.

I see that fairly often. People get comfortable with an image they like, keep using it on LinkedIn and their company website, and suddenly several years have gone by.

Career Changes

A New Job or Promotion Is a Good Reason for a New Headshot

One of the most common reasons people come into my studio is because someone else told them they need a headshot.

They have accepted a new position. Their company is updating the website. They need a photograph for LinkedIn, a speaking engagement, a new biography, or an upcoming announcement. Sometimes they are excited about it. Sometimes they would rather be doing almost anything else.

Either way, a career change is a very natural time to take another look at your professional image.

Your photograph is often one of the first things someone sees before they meet you. If your responsibilities, position, or professional presence have changed, the photograph representing you should probably change along with them.

And Then There Is Real Life

Hair changes.
Weight changes.
We age. Apparently.

Sometimes the change is significant and sometimes it is subtle, but eventually an older photograph simply stops being an accurate representation.

I don’t think the goal of a professional headshot is to make someone look younger or turn them into someone they are not. I want the person in the photograph to look like the person walking out of my studio—just photographed well.

A current headshot gives people confidence that the person they see online is the person they are going to meet. We all know the reaction when someone’s online profile photo no longer looks anything like the person who shows up in real life. Dating profiles may be the most obvious example, but professionally the same disconnect can create doubt before a conversation has even started.

It May Not Be You That Looks Dated

Your Headshot Can Look Dated Even If You Haven’t Changed Much

This is something people do not always think about. Photography itself has styles, just like clothing and interior design.

Backgrounds change. Cropping changes. Retouching styles change. The way photographers light professional portraits changes. A photograph created fifteen years ago may still technically be a good photograph, but it can immediately place itself in another era.

That does not mean you should chase every photographic trend. A strong headshot should have some longevity. But if the image looks dated before anyone even considers the person in it, it may no longer be helping you.

Technical Choices Matter

Good Lighting Matters More Than Most People Realize

One of the biggest issues I see in professional photographs is lighting that simply is not flattering to the person being photographed.

Sometimes the image is a selfie. Sometimes it was photographed quickly. And sometimes it was created by a photographer who may be experienced in another type of photography but does not really understand headshot lighting.

Studio lighting is not automatically flattering just because studio lights were used. The angle of the light, its height, its direction, the shape of the face, and the position of the subject all affect the final photograph. Light used incorrectly can actually emphasize the very things someone would rather minimize.

This is one of the reasons I believe a professional headshot should be directed by a photographer who has studied both lighting and posing, rather than simply placing someone in front of a camera and taking a few frames.

A Different Kind of Session

What About a Headshot Taken at a Conference?

A conference headshot can absolutely be a good photograph. I photograph headshot stations at corporate events myself. The difference is often the amount of time available to work with each person.

At a smaller event, there may be enough time for individual coaching and refinement. At a large convention where hundreds of people need to move through a headshot station efficiently, the photographer may only have a few minutes with each attendee.

That can be an excellent way to get an updated professional image, but I would not necessarily expect a very quick event headshot to replace a customized studio session forever. A private session gives us the time to refine the lighting, expression, posture, wardrobe and small details specifically for you.

You Are Not Expected to Know This

You Do Not Need to Know How to Pose for a Headshot

I hear some version of this all the time: “I hate having my picture taken,” or, “I don’t know what to do in front of the camera.”

You are not supposed to know.
That is part of my job.

During a headshot session, I coach my clients through their posture, shoulders, expression, head position, jawline and all of the little adjustments that can make an enormous difference in the finished photograph.

I studied with Peter Hurley for years through Headshot Crew, and I know Peter personally. One of the concepts that has stayed with me is his emphasis on the jawline. A small adjustment in the way someone brings their forehead and jaw toward the camera can completely change how the neckline and face photograph.

If you are curious about the technique, Peter explains it well in his “It’s All About the Jaw” video .

Some of those directions can feel strange while you are doing them. Moving your forehead and jaw slightly toward the camera is a good example. It may feel completely unnatural, and then I show you the photograph and you can immediately see why I asked you to do it.

One of the things I particularly like about the way I work is that my clients see their images as we photograph.

We are not waiting until the session is over to discover whether something worked. If I want to refine a pose, change an expression, adjust the light, fix hair or try something differently, we can do it while you are still standing in front of the camera.

By the time my clients leave the studio, they already know what their images look like. Retouching still comes later, of course, but they are not leaving wondering whether we got something they will be comfortable using.

“She coached me during my session and we reviewed every shot taken together.”

— Ashley Bratcher, Google review

The End Result

What Should a Professional Headshot Communicate?

For me, confidence and approachability come first.

There are certainly professions where authority, warmth, creativity or a particular brand personality becomes especially important. But if someone looks uncomfortable, disconnected or unlike themselves, none of those other qualities matter very much.

A strong professional headshot should feel polished without feeling forced. It should look like you on a very good day, not like someone created an entirely different version of you.

Confidence

Clear posture, intentional expression and a portrait that feels comfortable in its own skin.

Approachability

A professional image can feel credible and polished without becoming stiff or distant.

After Your Session

Where Should You Update Your New Headshot?

Once you have a current professional headshot, use it consistently. LinkedIn is usually the obvious first place, but it should not be the only one.

LinkedIn profile
Company biography
Professional website
Email signature
Speaker profile
Association directories
Proposals and presentations
Press and media materials

It is surprisingly common for someone to update one profile and leave a much older photograph sitting somewhere else online for years.

Hilton Head Island • Bluffton • Savannah

Professional Headshots That Still Look Like You

I photograph professional headshots and personal branding portraits for clients throughout Hilton Head Island, Bluffton, Savannah and the surrounding Lowcountry.

My goal is not simply to give you a technically correct photograph. I want enough time to work with your expression, posing, lighting and the way you actually want to present yourself professionally.

If you look at your current photograph and realize it no longer feels like you—or you have simply been putting off replacing it—it may be time.

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