Use case
Make a LinkedIn headshot from a selfie
Your LinkedIn headshot is the first thing a recruiter sees, and it renders at 400 by 400 pixels on a profile and far smaller in the feed. Upload a selfie, pick a background and an outfit, and get a LinkedIn profile picture that reads clearly at every size.
Friendly · Business casual · Blurred office
Step by step
How to do it
Pick a selfie with a clear, unobstructed face
Shoot at eye level or slightly above, in soft indirect light. Skip sunglasses, hats, and heavy backlighting. A LinkedIn headshot is cropped to a circle, so leave a little room around your head.
Choose the background and outfit
For most industries a plain background reads best: studio gray or white, with a suit or business casual. Muted, solid backgrounds keep the focus on your face at thumbnail size.
Check it small before you upload
Shrink the result to about 100 pixels wide and look at it. If your face is still clear and the background is not busy, it will work as a LinkedIn profile picture. Each new try is one credit.
How LinkedIn shows your profile photo
LinkedIn crops your profile photo to a circle. On your profile it appears at 400 by 400 pixels. Next to your posts, comments, messages and search results it shrinks to a small thumbnail. That small version is the one most people see, so it is the one to design for.
Head-and-shoulders framing works best, with your face filling most of the circle and a little space above your head so the crop does not clip your hair. The Pro Headshot tool frames every result this way. If you use one of LinkedIn’s photo frames, such as Open to Work, it covers the lower edge of the circle, so keep your chin well clear of the bottom.
Plain backgrounds hold up at thumbnail size. Studio gray and White are the safe picks. Deep navy stands out in a feed where most photos are gray or white. Blurred office adds some context but gets busy when it is small.
Keep it recent and recognisable
Your LinkedIn photo has one job: when a recruiter or a new colleague meets you on a video call, they should know it is you. Start from a recent selfie with your current hair, and glasses if you wear them. The tool keeps your face, age and expression, so it will not make you look younger, and an old photo will still look like an old photo of you.
Retake the selfie when your look changes, after a new haircut or new glasses. If you want a light cleanup, Portrait Retouch at Subtle clears a blemish or under-eye shadow without changing your face. Anything stronger starts to look less like the person who turns up to the interview.
LinkedIn asks for a likeness of you. An edited photo of your own face meets that. A generated face or someone else’s photo does not.
Settings by field
Corporate with a Suit on Studio gray suits finance, law and consulting. Friendly with Business casual on Blurred office suits sales, recruiting and client-facing roles. Friendly or Creative with Keep mine on White suits startups and design work. Change one setting at a time and compare the results at about 100 pixels wide, the size most people will see.
This page is about LinkedIn profile photos. For a headshot for a company website, a speaker bio or a press kit, see the AI headshot generator page, which covers the same tool for those uses.
In the tool
Popular settings
Pick these in the tool. No prompt to write.
Corporate · Suit · Studio gray
The safe default. Works across finance, law, consulting, and tech.
Friendly · Business casual · Blurred office
Reads approachable rather than formal. Good for sales and recruiting.
Friendly · Keep mine · White
Startup and creative roles.
Corporate · Blouse / shirt · Deep navy
Stands out in a feed full of gray backgrounds.
Questions about linkedin headshot generator from one selfie
What size should a LinkedIn headshot be?
LinkedIn displays profile photos at 400 by 400 pixels and accepts images up to 8 MB. Upload something square and at least 400 pixels on each side. MightyPhoto returns roughly 1024 pixels on the long side at HD, comfortably above the minimum.
What should I wear in a LinkedIn headshot?
Match what you would wear to an interview in your field, one notch more formal than your day to day. Solid colors photograph better than patterns, which can shimmer at small sizes. You can try several outfits on the same photo: pick a different clothing option and run it again.
What background works best for a LinkedIn profile picture?
A plain light gray, white, or softly blurred office background. Busy backgrounds compete with your face once LinkedIn crops the photo to a small circle in the feed.
Is an AI LinkedIn headshot allowed?
LinkedIn requires your profile photo to be a likeness of you, so an edited photo of your own face is fine. What is not fine is using someone else's photo or a fully synthetic face. MightyPhoto edits the photo you upload and preserves your likeness.
