Article
How Often Should You Update Your Headshot?
Quick answer: Update your headshot when it stops looking like you. For most adults that’s every two or three years, or sooner after a change people would notice: a new cut or colour, grey coming in, new glasses, a beard or a new job. Kids change fast, so about once a year. How much you’ve changed matters more than the date on the photo.
Start here
A headshot is a promise.
Why It Matters
A headshot has one job: to help people know you before they meet you. That’s harder than it sounds. We’re very good at recognizing people we know and surprisingly bad with strangers. In one study, people sorted 40 photos of two people they’d never seen. The typical answer was seven or eight different people, and not one of them got it right. People who already knew the two faces sorted them almost perfectly.
Time makes it harder. In another study, people tried to find a face in a lineup of ten. When both photos were taken the same day, they found the right person 79% of the time. When the photos were taken about a year and a half apart, that fell to 59%.
Even people who check faces for a living get it wrong. In a study of passport officers, they accepted 14% of photos that weren’t of the person standing in front of them, and years on the job didn’t make them any better.
When the Photo Doesn’t Match
People notice when you don’t look like your photo. In one study, researchers compared online dating photos with photos of the same people taken that day. About a third of the profile photos were judged not to match the person who came in. On average, the profile photos were 21 months old.
When researchers interviewed daters, they talked about a profile as a kind of promise: the person you meet shouldn’t be fundamentally different. An older photo was fine, as long as you still looked like it. One put it plainly: “if you’re 40 and it’s from when you were 18 then no, not acceptable.”
A headshot works the same way. It’s a promise about who’s going to walk into the room, join the call or show up to the audition.
The numbers
Where the rules draw the line.
Who Sets a Number
There’s no study that gives a set number of years for adults. A few places do set one, though:
- Passports. Canada wants a photo taken in the last six months that shows “how you look now.” A child’s passport lasts five years at most.
- Driver’s licences. In Alberta, once your licence photo is four or more years old, you get a new one.
- Real estate. Quebec’s real estate regulator treats a broker’s photo as expired five years after it was taken.
- LinkedIn. No time limit. Its rule is that your photo has to look like you.
The US passport rules put it well. Growing a beard, colouring your hair or the normal aging process don’t call for a new passport. A big change in weight does. It all comes down to whether someone would still recognize you.
So, Every Two or Three Years
For most adults, every two or three years is a good rule of thumb. Casting directors say about the same for actors: be ready to update every couple of years, even if you don’t think you need to. Kids change so fast that once a year makes sense.
The calendar is only a rough guide, though. The real test is whether people would look twice when they meet you.
Signs it’s time
When people would look twice.
Kids Grow Fast
Kids can change a lot in a year. When researchers showed people a baby’s photo beside the same child four or five years later, they matched them only 64% of the time, not much better than a coin toss. That’s part of why a child’s passport runs out after five years, and why agencies and casting want the current face. Plan on about once a year, or sooner after a growth spurt, a big haircut or braces coming off.
A New Cut or Colour
A new haircut or colour is easy to forget about. You see yourself every day, so the change sneaks up on you. Someone who only knows you from your photo sees it the moment you meet.
Grey, Glasses and Beards
Grey coming in, new glasses, a beard or a moustache. A passport office may not care about a beard, but your headshot has a different job. If people know you with the beard, the photo should have it too.
Glasses matter more than you’d think. In one study, people were about 80% accurate at telling whether two photos showed the same stranger when both photos had glasses or neither did. When only one had glasses, they did about six points worse. There’s more on glasses in What to Wear for Your Headshot.
A Few Years On
Sometimes nothing big changes and the years just add up. Every face ages at its own pace, so no set number fits everyone. If it’s been a few years, put your headshot next to a photo from this week and be honest with yourself.
A New Role or Purpose
Your headshot was made for the work you were doing then. A new job, a new business, a podcast or a move into different roles can all call for a new one, even if your face hasn’t changed much. One client came back because he needed shots for his podcast. Another wanted a more creative look. An actor came back a year later with a moustache, ready for more character roles.
Sometimes a Year Is Enough
If the change is big, the calendar doesn’t matter. One client came back a year later with a full beard. Another’s hair had gone grey.
Every year, on purpose
Ian and Chantel.
Every Year Since 2016
Some people don’t wait for the photo to go stale. Ian and Chantel run a real estate team, and I’ve photographed them every year since 2016. Their faces are on signs, listings and profiles, so each year’s photo shows the people who’ll open the door. Here are four of those years.
How to tell
Does it still look like you?
If You’ve Barely Changed
Some people barely change. These two photos are five years apart. If your headshot still looks like you, it’s still doing its job.
Let Someone Else Pick
When you do update, get a second opinion on which photo to use. In one study, photos picked by strangers made better impressions than the ones people picked of themselves, most of all for professional profiles.
Check yours
Is it time for a new headshot?
- Put it next to a photo of you from this week. Would a stranger know it’s the same person?
- Ask someone who hasn’t seen you in a while.
- Count the changes: hair, colour, grey, glasses, facial hair, weight.
- Check the date. If it’s been three years or more, look closely.
- Think about your work. Does the photo still fit what you do now?
- For kids, has it been a year?
I’m Ryan Parker, a headshot photographer in Edmonton. The number one reason people come back to me is “my photo doesn’t look like me anymore.” If that’s you, it’s time.
Need a new headshot in Edmonton?
Get In Touch