You do not need a professional camera for a good profile photo. A recent phone, a window and five minutes are enough. These are the things that make the biggest difference, roughly in order.
1. Light: face a window
Stand or sit facing a window in daylight, so the light falls evenly on your face. Overcast days are ideal because the light is soft. Avoid direct midday sun (harsh shadows and squinting) and overhead ceiling lights (dark eye sockets). Do not stand with the window behind you, or your face will be in shadow.
2. Camera height and distance
Hold the camera at eye level or very slightly above. From below, it is rarely flattering; from far above, it looks like a selfie from a decade ago.
Phone main cameras are wide-angle, and wide-angle lenses close to a face make noses look bigger and ears smaller. Step back to about one and a half to two metres and use the 2x or 3x lens if your phone has one, or ask someone to take the photo. Then crop it in the frame tool.
3. Background
Plain and uncluttered beats interesting. A wall, a hedge or an open sky all work. Leave a bit of distance between you and the background so it is slightly out of focus. If the background is busy, you can add space around the photo in the frame tool and fill it with a solid colour or gradient.
4. Framing for a circle
Profile pictures are cropped to circles, which cut off the corners. Take the photo with more space around you than you think you need: head, shoulders and some air above your head. You can zoom in when cropping, but you cannot add back what was not in the shot.
5. Expression and posture
- Turn your body slightly to one side and your face back towards the camera.
- Push your chin slightly forward and down to avoid a double chin.
- A natural smile usually works better than a fixed grin. Take a burst of photos and pick the one that looks most like you.
6. Clothes
Wear what you would wear in the context: work clothes for LinkedIn, whatever you like for Discord. Solid colours photograph better than small busy patterns, which can shimmer when the image is shrunk.
7. Phone settings
- Clean the lens. A smudged lens is the most common cause of hazy photos.
- Use the self-timer and prop the phone up if nobody can take it for you.
- Portrait mode can blur the background nicely, but check the edges of your hair and glasses for odd cut-outs.
- Turn off beauty filters. They are obvious at small sizes and can make the photo look unlike you.
8. Edit lightly
A small brightness or warmth adjustment and a good crop are usually all a photo needs. Save the bolder looks, rings and badges for platforms where a playful style fits, like Discord or Twitch.
9. Check it small
Your picture will mostly be seen at 30 to 100 pixels wide. Shrink the preview (zoom out in your browser) and check you are still recognisable. If not, crop tighter.
10. Photos of other people
Only use photos you have the right to use, and ask before using a photo of someone else. Take extra care with photos of children: for under-13s, a parent or guardian should decide, and many platforms do not allow young children to have accounts at all. Our terms cover this.