How to take a professional headshot with your phone

A professional headshot doesn't require a professional photographer. With a modern smartphone and a few minutes, you can take a photo that's good enough for LinkedIn, your resume, and your company's team page.

What you need

• Smartphone with rear camera (12+ MP)
• Window with natural light
• Plain wall or backdrop
• Someone to take the photo

Lighting setup

Best: Stand facing a large window. Soft, even light across your face.

Good: Shoot outdoors in open shade (under a tree, beside a building). Avoid direct sunlight.

Avoid: Overhead lighting (creates shadows under eyes), backlighting (silhouette effect), mixed lighting (color casts).

Camera settings

• Use the rear camera. Selfie cameras have wider distortion.
• Portrait mode on. Creates a soft background blur (bokeh) that looks professional.
• No zoom. Use the main lens at its native focal length.
• Grid lines on. Help with composition.

Posing tips

• Angle your body 45 degrees. Turn slightly to the side, then face the camera.
• Lean slightly forward. Creates a more engaged, confident posture.
• Chin slightly down. Avoids the "looking up at the camera" angle.
• Relax your shoulders. Tension shows in photos.

What to wear

• Solid colors. Avoid patterns, stripes, and busy prints.
• Contrast with background. Don't wear white against a white wall.
• Professional but authentic. Dress like you would for an important meeting.
• Minimal accessories. Large earrings and necklaces can be distracting.

Post-processing

1. Upload the best photo to a headshot tool.
2. Crop to a 1:1 (LinkedIn) or 3:4 (resume) ratio.
3. Optionally swap the background to a solid color.
4. Download and upload.

LinkedIn-specific tips

• 400×400 px minimum. LinkedIn displays at 400×400 on desktop.
• 1400×1400 px recommended. Survives LinkedIn's compression better.
• Face fills 60-70% of frame. Head and shoulders only.
• Professional background. Office, plain wall, or blurred outdoor setting.

A simple 3-point light setup indoors

When there's no good window, recreate studio light with three cheap sources:

• Key light: your brightest lamp at roughly 45 degrees to one side and slightly above eye level. This shapes the face.
• Fill: a weaker light — or just a white foam board or bedsheet — on the opposite side to soften the shadow the key creates. Aim for a shadow that's visible but gentle.
• Hair/rim light: a small light behind and above you, pointed at the back of your head, to separate you from the background.

Diffuse every source (a sheet of baking paper or a lampshade) so the light wraps instead of stabbing. Keep all bulbs the same color temperature — mixing warm and cool bulbs gives skin an uneven cast that's hard to fix later.

Dialing in exposure and focus

Portrait mode gets you most of the way; these settings do the rest:

• Tap to focus on the near eye, then long-press to lock focus and exposure so they don't drift between shots.
• Pull exposure down slightly (a third to two-thirds of a stop) to protect highlights on your forehead and cheeks. Bright skin is easier to recover than blown-out white.
• Turn off "beauty" or "smoothing" filters. They plasticize skin; do any retouching afterward.
• Shoot at full resolution (HEIF or ProRAW if available) and use a 3-second timer on a small tripod to avoid handheld shake.
• Fire a short burst and pick the frame where your eyes and expression line up.

Background cleanup and framing ratios

Stand 1 to 1.5 meters in front of the wall, not against it — the gap kills the hard shadow and lets portrait mode blur cleanly. If the room is still busy, shoot anyway and swap the backdrop later: Background Remover drops in a clean solid color, and the Resume Photo Maker crops the result to the ratio each destination wants (1:1 for social profiles, 3:4 for a resume header).

Leave a little headroom and shoot slightly wider than you need, so you can crop in without clipping shoulders. One capture session then gives you every format.

For where these shots go, see how to make your LinkedIn profile photo stand out and the resume photo guide on when a photo helps and when to leave it off.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which phone camera should I use — front or rear?

The rear camera. Front (selfie) lenses are wider and exaggerate the nose and forehead at arm's length. Use the rear main lens with a timer or a helper.

Do I need portrait mode?

It helps separate you from the background, but even lighting and distance from the wall matter more. If portrait mode smears your hair or ears, turn it off and blur the background later with a tool instead.

How far should the camera be from my face?

About 1.5 to 2 meters, using the main lens rather than zoom. That distance gives natural facial proportions; standing too close distorts them.

What resolution should I export?

Capture at the highest your phone offers and export at least 1400×1400 px for LinkedIn so it survives compression. Downscale for smaller uses rather than upscaling a small file.

Related tools

• Resume Photo Maker — crop, frame, and background swap
• Background Remover — remove busy backgrounds
• Photo Resizer — resize for LinkedIn and other platforms