Article by Lauren Rodrigue

AI Headshots vs. Real Photography: A Creative Director’s Honest Take

This is a story about headshots. But it’s more than that, too.

When I started as Creative Director at p3, the team wanted to throw my headshot up on LinkedIn, the website, what have you. The initiative made sense: mine is a new role for the small, scrappy agency as it evolves toward a more full-service, creative-centered future. Only problem? I had no headshots, and I hate getting my picture taken.

So I clicked on a LinkedIn ad for an AI headshot app, uploaded a few selfies, entered my credit card information and, poof, told the gang here I had it all handled. First task as p3 CD? Done and dusted.

Then I got my photoset back.

What Happened When I Replaced Creative Production With AI

The AI headshot app yielded about 60 generated images: 60 newfound, genetically addled twins and cousins staring back at me. In some, I looked like a Bratz doll. In others, my forehead and teeth stretched a few pixels too long, giving me a fiendish aura. Some were unusably bad (like, “butt chin grafted into lower gumline” bad), but the most striking results were the ones that came out eerily good.

A few of the AI portraits, according to friends, were for all intents and purposes me, except for one crucial detail: they weren’t anyone at all. Their eyes were dead, their smiles sallow, their skin waxy. The bot even shrunk my nose. Thanks a lot.

Why Generative AI Keeps Tempting Creative Teams

I went in expecting less-than-good results, but I pressed on with AI headshots anyway because the lure of generative AI solving my problem so quickly (for cheap!) was too intoxicating to ignore.

This workflow is a common one circulating around our industry right now, as creatives and their clients become acquainted with the siren song that is generative AI. Timelines, budgets, and headcount are tight. Demand is high. And hey, AI is good enough, and good enough is good enough… right?

Why Human Creative Production Will Always Matter

No, not really. My teammates at p3 have been experts of the real kind of creative production for nearly 15 years: the kind with insightful brainstorming, seasoned directors, meticulous lighting and camerawork, thoughtful editing, artful animation. They’ve cranked out content for almost every category, from local charities to corporate behemoths, all with one thing in common: real people behind the camera, real people in front of it, real people everywhere in between.

People bring out stories. Stories move viewers to take action. AI doesn’t have stories.

And from the looks of my blank-staring digital twin, AI headshots don’t have stories either.

What Professional Headshots Actually Look Like

After lovingly snarking at my little AI headshot side-quest, the p3 team hooked me up with a real session. A talented local photographer named Tadin Brego (real person!) set me up in their cozy Portland studio in front of a white seamless backdrop, facing two bright but expertly diffused lights.

I was dreading it and self-conscious, but Tadin, kind and patient, cut my nerves after just a few test shots. They showed me the initial digitals, and I realized I looked like me in them. Me with good lighting, me with a professional photographer who understands nervous people and good angles and natural poses, me in good creative company. The best version of the real me.

The Takeaway: Soul In, Soul Out

Lessons were learned. Going the human route might take a little longer, be a little less comfortable, cost a little more than slamming the AI easy button when it comes to creative production.

But as with everything in the creative process, the more soul you put in, the more you get out.