5 Signs Your Team’s Headshots Need an Update
5 Signs Your Team's Headshots Need an Update
We've been photographing London businesses for over 26 years, and in that time we've learned that the same thing trips people up again and again: nobody quite gets round to keeping their team photos current. It's an easy thing to let slide, and headshots have become a steady part of what we do as a result, for offices, agencies and teams right across the city.
One thing hasn't changed, though: most companies don't notice their team photos have gone stale until someone points it out. You walk past your own "Meet the Team" page every day, so the gradual mismatch of backgrounds, the new starter with no photo, the five-year-old picture of someone who's since grown a beard: none of it registers the way it would to a new visitor landing on the page for the first time.
Here are five signs worth checking for.
1. New starters are missing a proper headshot
This is the one we see most often. A company has everyone photographed, hires three or four people over the following year, and now half the team page is a professional headshot and the other half is a LinkedIn selfie or a cropped photo from the Christmas party.
It's rarely a decision anyone made on purpose. It just happens as teams grow. We see this pattern constantly across the London offices we work with: one full shoot a few years back, and a handful of newer faces who've never quite been added properly.
You don't need to bring the whole company back in for this. A short session for the new starters, matched to the lighting and background of the original shoot, brings everyone back into line without much disruption.
2. The photos on your team page don't match each other
Have a look at your About or Meet the Team page and see whether the backgrounds, lighting and framing are consistent, or whether it looks like the photos were collected over several years from different sources.
We see this a lot with growing businesses: one person shot against a plain white backdrop, another against grey, someone else outside a building entrance, and one poor soul still using a slightly blurry photo from an old work do. Individually, none of these are terrible photos. Lined up next to each other, though, the inconsistency is what a visitor actually notices.
This matters more in some sectors than others. If you're a law firm, a consultancy, a tech startup or a creative agency where clients are essentially choosing to trust you before they've met you, a scrappy team page undercuts that first impression more than most business owners realise.
3. You don't look like your own headshot anymore
A photo doesn't have to be old to be out of date. People change their hair, grow or shave off a beard, get new glasses, or simply look different a few years and one promotion later.
The simplest test: if someone met you today after seeing your LinkedIn photo, would they recognise you? If you're not sure, that's usually the answer.
This is a genuine practical issue for anyone who meets clients face to face. Turning up to a meeting and not quite matching your own online photo is a small thing, but it's an odd thing, and it's easily avoided.
4. The images are low resolution, stretched or badly cropped
Sometimes the quality problem only shows up when you try to use a photo somewhere new. A headshot that looked fine as a small LinkedIn thumbnail can look rough once it's enlarged on your website or printed on a pitch document.
Worth checking your current set for:
Blurry or pixelated images
Inconsistent cropping across the team
Photos stretched, squashed or oddly sized
Images noticeably lower quality than the rest of the site
This tends to happen when the original high-resolution files have been lost somewhere along the way, and someone's ended up re-downloading a compressed version from LinkedIn or an old email signature to fill the gap. A proper session gives you a full set of high-resolution files you actually own, ready for the website, LinkedIn, pitch decks, press and anything else that comes up.
5. It's been more than two or three years since the last session
There's no strict rule here, but two to three years is a sensible point to take stock.
The tricky part is that headshots don't go out of date overnight. A year in, everything still looks fine. Two years in, probably still fine. By year three, though, you've usually had a few new hires, a couple of people have changed roles, and one or two photos genuinely don't look like the person anymore, and it's crept up gradually enough that nobody quite noticed.
For some businesses a full team refresh every two or three years works well. For faster-growing companies, smaller sessions spread through the year as people join tends to be the more practical option, and it's what we'd usually recommend for teams that are actively hiring.
When it's worth updating sooner
We've covered timing and pricing in more depth in our guide to Professional Corporate Headshots in London, worth a read if you're new to the process. In short, though, you don't need to wait for a fixed anniversary. It's worth updating sooner if:
Someone's appearance has changed noticeably
Their current photo doesn't look like them anymore
They've moved into a new or more senior role
Their photo clashes with the rest of the team's style
A new starter has no professional photo at all
The existing images aren't good enough quality to use
If you're hiring regularly, smaller top-up sessions usually work better than waiting years and doing everyone at once.
Do you need to photograph the whole team?
Not always. This comes up a lot with clients who've just noticed their team page looks patchy.
If most of the existing photos are still current and consistent, you might only need two or three new starters photographed. There's no need to redo everyone's photo if it's not necessary.
If the page is more of a mixed bag, different years, different styles, different photographers, starting fresh with the whole team usually makes more sense. Shooting everyone in one session means consistent lighting, background and style across the board, and gives you a clean set of images to work from going forward.
It comes down to your team, how quickly you're growing, and what your current photos actually look like. We're always happy to have a quick look and advise on whether a full session or a smaller top-up makes sense.
Why team headshots are worth getting right
It's easy to file team photos under "small detail," but for a lot of businesses they're one of the first things a prospective client or candidate actually sees, before an email exchange, before a call, sometimes before anything else.
Good headshots don't need to look stiff or overly corporate. The best ones look natural and confident, and still genuinely look like the person in the photo. Getting the style and consistency right across the whole team is really what makes a team page feel put-together rather than assembled.
Corporate headshots across London
We cover the whole of London inside the M25, from the City through to Central, South and South West London and everywhere in between, including areas like Clapham, Wandsworth, Wimbledon, Richmond, Kingston and Battersea.
Sessions range from a single person needing an updated LinkedIn photo through to full teams of 25 or more, and everything in between. Sometimes it's the whole office. Sometimes it's one department. Often it's simply two or three new starters who need bringing into line with everyone else.
If you're not sure whether you need a full refresh or just a smaller top-up session, we're happy to talk it through and suggest what actually makes sense for your team.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if my LinkedIn photo needs updating?
If it no longer looks like you, or it's a few years old, it's worth updating. LinkedIn is often the first place a client or candidate sees your face, so it's worth it looking like you do now.
Do we need to book the whole team in at once?
No. A lot of our headshot bookings are for two or three new starters rather than a full company shoot. We'll match the new photos to your existing set wherever possible.
We're only a small team of 2–3 people. Is that worth booking?
Yes. Most of our headshot clients fall somewhere between 2 and 25 people, and we're just as happy photographing one person as we are a larger office.
Do you travel to our office, or do we need to come to a studio?
We can shoot on location at your office anywhere within the M25, which is usually easier for teams than trying to get everyone to a studio on the same day.
Can the photos be used on our website and LinkedIn?
Yes. You'll get high-resolution files suitable for your website, LinkedIn, pitch documents, press and marketing more generally. Worth letting us know in advance how you plan to use them so we can shoot and size accordingly.
Ready to refresh your team's headshots?
If your team page is starting to look inconsistent, outdated, or just doesn't look like the people currently working for you, it's probably time for a refresh. Whether that's a full company session or a quick top-up for a few new starters, we can help.
Take a look at our corporate headshot pricing or get in touch to talk through what would work best for your team.