CROP SO YOU POP Turbocharge Your Headshot - CareerEnlightenment.com

This is particularly true for placements like LinkedIn or other social media outlets where profile photos are compact in size, but critical in function. Consider  Kirsten’s  photo below, shown here in two different versions of the ubiquitous square crop.As you can see, both follow the Rule of Thirds you may remember learning about in grade school art class, with key points of interest (eyes) at convergence points and extra credit available for leading lines in/out of corners.Okay, so maybe the Rule of Thirds is a lazy interpretation of 13th century mathematician Leonardo Fibonaccis Divine Ratio(1:1.618), around which some of the most famous buildings and works of art in history are designed, including the Parthenon, the Mona Lisa, and many others.Whatever its lack of sophistication, Ive found the Rule of Thirds works just fine for headshots.Here, you can see both images in relative balance with their boundaries; one retaining the top of the head and the other losing it.  This is wh ere the proverbial rubber meets the road. Look at the area inside the red squares, which reflects the percentage of the overall image dedicated to Kirstens face.With nearly  double  the area available for expressionâ€"up from 15% to 27%â€"not only can we see more of the sparkle in her eyesbut more of the imaginative, insightful, independent qualities she identifies as the core of her personal brand.Now that weve established the fact that losing the top of your head can nearly  double  your headshot’s personal branding power, the question you  should  be asking yourself is:Why didnt my photographer cut off mine?LIMITED TIME OFFER:  Shoot me an email  including your current headshot and I will unleash a little headshot ninjutsu to croptimize it for you  free of charge.  Just remember, anything times zero is still zero. Wondering if your headshot is a brand liability? Ill give it to you straight