By: Nick Gambino
We’ve come a long way since actors and models were saving up just to pay for new headshots. There was a time when you’d have to go to a professional photographer with a studio set-up in order to get a series of close-up photos of…well, your head and your face.
It was a different time before smartphones and before the democratization of photography. With easy access to high-quality cameras and editing equipment, not to mention how-to videos on Youtube and TikTok, it became easier than ever to create DIY headshots.
With the advent of websites and LinkedIn and other platforms that would require just about anyone to have a decent headshot, not just actors and models, it was necessary to find a cheaper and easier way to get a decent, professional photo. Now it looks like people are doing away with capturing a good photo altogether and opting instead for an AI image.
Once generative AI took a huge leap in quality, it was only a matter of time before people would turn to the burgeoning tech for quick and easy pro photos. There are a number of platforms that have emerged where you can get professional headshots created with AI in a snap.
Now, this is not strictly generative AI. These platforms don’t generally create headshots from nothing. It’s not one of those animated looking photos that you can tell aren’t real. The way they work is the user provides an image of the real person, typically one that resembles a headshot but is maybe not the best quality. AI then gets to work editing the photo to make it look like a professional headshot that can be shared on social media, websites and in casting calls.
A number of things will usually change in the image including lighting, skin tone, hair texture and even the background. Everything is edited to approximate a real professional headshot like one that would be captured in a studio.
Now these AI headshot generators (or editors depending on how you look at it) aren’t typically free, but they are a lot cheaper than hiring a professional photographer. I’m not advocating for one over the other, but the trend does seem to be leaning this way.
While I can see this being a cost-effective way to get a professional photo you can post online, I don’t see this being a good choice for actors and models. Casting agents and directors generally want images that represent reality, not something highly edited to the point where it’s essentially animation. This is why people get updated headshots so regularly – they know they need the photo to represent how they look when they show up to an audition.
I can see a future for AI platforms that help create headshots, but I don’t see it replacing professional photographers completely.
