A Good Photo Can Have the Wrong Job

Oct 4

3 min read

By Shea Swinford, Founder of The Personal Brand Studio

Shea Swinford in a white blazer, a close portrait that stays clear at a small size.

Have you ever looked through your photographs and kept returning to the one you love most? You like the way you look. Your friends like it. It deserves a place somewhere.

That still leaves a question: Is it the image you want doing this job?

A photo can be excellent and still be the wrong choice for a particular page, profile, or moment in your business. I see this when someone uses the same portrait for everything because it is the most flattering, newest, or familiar image in their library. The photograph gets asked to make a quick introduction, show their work, establish context, and carry a campaign. That is a lot for one frame.

The small profile circle

Think about LinkedIn. Your image may appear beside a comment at a size no larger than a thumbnail. A wide environmental portrait might be beautiful at full size, but the face can disappear when the platform crops it down. A simpler, closer image may be more useful in that particular spot because people can recognize you immediately.

The surrounding profile matters too. The photo, headline, and About section meet the visitor together. A photograph can support a clear introduction, but it does not have to carry the whole explanation of what you do.

The speaker page

Now think about a conference planner considering you for a program. A close portrait helps them recognize you. They may also want to picture you doing the work: presenting, facilitating, listening to an audience member, or engaging with a room. A second photograph can answer a different question from the first.

That does not mean every speaker needs a stage photograph as their profile image. It means a speaker page can use more than one kind of visual proof. The photograph that introduces your face and the photograph that shows your work may both be doing their jobs beautifully.

The leadership page

On a company leadership page, photographs are seen beside one another. Consistency can help the page feel coherent. But identical poses and expressions are not the only way to get there. A shared approach to crop, lighting, or background can make room for each person's personality while still showing that they belong to the same team.

A solid background is often helpful here. It brings attention to the person and can make different portraits sit together comfortably. An environmental image may be useful elsewhere on the site when there is a story about the team's work to tell. I would assess either choice against its purpose, not against a rule that every image needs a location behind it.

Make a map for the images you already have

Before booking another session, list the places where people encounter you. For each place, write one sentence about what the photograph needs to help them understand. Then look at the images you already own. Which have the right crop, context, expression, and room for the layout? Which are doing a different job well?

You may find that you need a new image. You may find you already have one sitting unused. Both are useful answers. The Authority Image Audit™ can help you examine the image leading that introduction and how it works with the words around it. https://authorityimageaudit.netlify.app

Your favorite image does not have to win every assignment. Give each photograph the job it does best.

Take the Authority Image Audit™ and start with the image people see first. https://authorityimageaudit.netlify.app