Is Your Profile Photo Sending The Right Message

Hi Bob...great article! I know mine needs redone...and I just don't do it. Partly because I can't decide on one and don't want to keep changing it and partly because I see some who don't use a headshot at all but use a logo or image of their work and don't know if I want to do that instead...and partly because I'm waiting for a good hair day :)

Also once done I guess the next thing to do is to go to all the sites where that image is used and change it...

I would do a face shot but then people would know my true identity.

looks like I'll be keeping my smiley face. ;)

Hi JC, no don't change yours! I know your kidding ....it is one of the best! That's one of the things I wonder about...logo vs. headshot. I think yours works so well because of the mystery...but it says a lot. You have the whole pilot thing going on which immediately adds so much and then the batman thing which makes it so much fun. It is a really good example of making the most of that tiny little square.

Ops, maybe I should change mine- alcohol promotion, but from the another side- it is me, enjoying any minute of my life.

I think mine tries to show my personality. That I don't take any of this too seriously. And I like bugs!


At least I don't have a camera in front of my face.

:o)

so far mine is working very nicely.

though i'm not sure what the poll was for though. people liked the formal dress. but seeing that on facebook looks odd. i don't like people in suits. i think casual is better. they didn't mention the negatives using your cat, dog, baby as an avatar (though didn't really read the whole thing).

i think a good picture attracts attention in a good way and makes you more curious to know who that person is, in there.

and yeah that camera in the face - DOES NOT HELP YOU TELL PEOPLE YOUR A GOOD PHOTOGRAPHY so quit doing it folks, you all look silly.


---Mike Savad

"and yeah that camera in the face - DOES NOT HELP YOU TELL PEOPLE YOUR A GOOD PHOTOGRAPHY so quit doing it folks, you all look silly. "

Wow! Ain't that the truth. That camera in the face thing is so NOT cool.

I think that if you are a photographer or artist, a professional taken photo is the only way to go. And taking a selfie of yourself does not count! lol

If you are a gallery, then I think you need a gallery logo that is NOT a picture of yourself even if you are one of the selling artist in your gallery.

Mike, I don't think everyone is going to be able to pull that off, what you do.

You do an incredible job of it and I would agree that it probably works great for you. One of the things that makes it work, imho, is your commitment to keeping it fresh and timely. Santa Clause, Easter Bunny, etc, etc.

But with few exceptions, I don't think your "profile" photo is the place to get overly creative or try to be funny. As that article says, you have just a second or two to make that indelible first impression.

How funny! I just changed my profile pics from a smiling close-up to one where I'm not smiling and my face is obstructed. Apparently that's a no-no, but I only use it for the month of October. It helps to shake things up sometimes.

this current avatar took me 6 hours to make, but had to do it. i had another idea but i would to have to smile for it, and i thought... nahhh... this is my thing. i've always felt that if people saw only your avatar and nothing else would they be interested. and i've found more often than not, that i have attracted new people (one person even told me).

but i've seen them upside down, sideways, clearly done as a selfie, in a dirty bathroom mirror, on a vacation, as a couple, sometimes so small you can only see the background, their car, kids, pets, someone else, a stolen image of something, a famous actor.... none of those should be a representation of yourself. either keep it simple, or make it something that relates to the thing you do - like a selfie painted because you paint. or an abstracted selfie because you abstract.

---Mike Savad

The article makes sense but I wonder if its relating more to someone who is in a more conventional job/lifestyle. Do people want to see artists looking more artsy? This was covered in another thread I think.

So Bob with this article have u considered critique of your portfolio we are seeing now. Are u looking up from a fishing boat? just wondering

I think my current avatar is very fitting. It represents my current position in this wonderful community of artist... You see, I don't know where the release button is.. I think the staff have it. and I suspect there is a very heavy finger hovering over it at all times.. :-)

I agree with JC. I don't want anyone knowing what I look like.
I won't put a photo up of myself online ever, and if a friend wants to load a group photo with me in it, I say 'sure, but don't tag me' (which they respect).
Beyond that, I avoid being a woman online as much as possible. Life is just so much easier online as a man - and I make more sales as such.

I think safety needs to be a consideration for women and the fact that were profiling ourselves as artists. After all KISS and other public figures have a public personna they project. This is a completely different field. BONO for example I think I recall seeing him in sunglasses. Don't think this effects his image any.

Interesting article, kind of silly really, but I decided to update mine to something more 'squinchy'.

I shot a new one and tried to upload it. You hit the 'Upload' arrow, and nothing happens. Wait a while, click it again, nothing. Leave that page and come back and you see an error message about the file being too large. The error message says the limit is 5 MB, and below the photo it says the limit is 10 MB. Try again with a smaller file and same thing. The last file I tried was 1.7 MB.

So now I have nothing.

UPDATE: after many tries, I succeeded. The problem seems to be this: when you click the Upload button there's no visible indication that anything happens. You have to ignore that and wait until the upload completes, no matter how long it takes. If you give up and leave the page the upload never happens.

Much better Jim.

Hmmm...maybe I should go back to my color shot with my smiley face. Things to ponder ... Thanks for the article Bob :)

@April, I like you pic just fine. Like Mike, you were able to pull it off. Not smiling without the mask I don't think I would like as well. But this I like.

@Barry, it is obvious that you are trying to make more of "protest" statement regarding internal matters vs one that represents you or your art? Not sure that sells art but I bet you are having fun with it. lol

Is Your Profile Photo Sending The Right Message?

Yes, ... I am a big green head gazing dramatically into the cosmic void (^__^)

... now thinking about adding glasses and a full-teeth smile to my green head (kidding).

Dramatic, non-smiling gazes just ain't friendly, and no glasses suggests less competence, right?

So, now we have a big green head gazing into the cosmic void, smiling wildly with glasses. Oh no, my background is a bit plain and boring too, so maybe I should add some stars and butterflies in addition to the teeth and lenses.

If this is what attracts people in milliseconds, then I guess those people are not my audience.

I suppose that I do not wish to nurture an audience of those folks entertained by the hyper-happy, snappy, sugar-coated manic banter of local TV news shows and the like.

meh. No one cares what we look like. A logo is the best idea - it is what you want people to remember, isn't it? That said, the clever ones like Findley & Savaad have are memorable enough to be better than a logo. :)

@LC - I welcome critique of my profile pic but the one you see is not the one that I first uploaded. Mine was too serious, as I was told by my wife, so I used a snapshot that she took of me as I was approaching our sailboat in the dinghy. It looks natural because I wasn't posing and I think the water and the shearstrake of toyboattoyboattoyboat in the background place me on or near the water which is where I am usually found and the subject of a lot of my photography.

I would like to come up with a unique and creative self-portrait (or series of) to use but have not gotten around to it. People like Mike set the bar pretty high on that task and I know that I have a lot of work to do on my profile and galleries before I worry to much about tweaking my head shot. I was thinking about the typical camera over the face shot but with a blender or something instead but then only photographers would get the reference and 17% of them would be offended.

I like yours Bob. Like you said, it looks natural and relaxed. I would keep it!

@Georgia Fowler - I like your pic. I know it does not follow all of those "rules" including the one Mike mentioned about bw put it gets my attention as I scroll by and looks mysterious.

I really struggled to find a photo I was comfortable with for my avatar, but in the end I found one of a genuine smile -- although I'm looking away from the camera.
I'm holding a friend's newborn baby --which is bliss. :)

As for my bio, I've re-written it several times in the last couple of weeks and I have a different version of it on my other sites just sort of testing out which version I like best.

I do think that a genuine photo and a light personal journey bio help people connect with your work.

Great smile Jess - think how much better all of our driver's license photos would look if they had babies and/or puppies for people to hold at the DMV.

I think the profile picture and the bio are just part of the bigger picture on how we present ourselves to the world. Oh yeah, along with the work itself!

If it didn't matter we could all have the "stock" paintbrush as our avatar and leave our bio blank.

If the buyers didn't care about the artist, they could just go to Wal-Mart and pick out an image from the nameless prints there.

Even though this is large on-line store buyers can still have SOME connection with the person that actually created the art. Might as well try to connect with them.

I don't do smiling well,so that is out for me. I think I will stick with what I have. I really don't think it will make that great a change in the long run

I plan to use my new improved bio to welcome browsers into my store rather than recite "The History of Bob". I have seen others that do this well...give them a brief statement of what you are presenting to them (your vision/style), invite their comments and encourage them to contact you. Then I will retire my original bio to the first entry of my blog that I haven't got around to starting yet.

All of this is scheduled to take place at the same time as the new changes to the AW sites roll out...any day now. ;-)

I thought about updating mine....but I like it because I love fall. :)

Georgia and Jess, you both have wonderful avatars.

Also, I like the idea of handing people a puppy right before snapping their DMV photo :-)


Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

I had a severe sinus infection for my last DMV photo. Now, I'm stuck with a license where I look like a serial killer who just crawled out of a crack house. No one in their right mind would have willingly handed me a puppy on that particular day . . . unless they really disliked that puppy!

I believe my avatar is better than showing the face of an octogenarian. Who wants to see that?

I think some here wondered why photographers included cameras in their avatar. Well, probably for the same reason that most film directors stand next to a camera.

It sorta shows what they do. Otherwise, they're just some dude standing there.

You don't see too many pictures of doctors holding a scalpel standing next to a person on a operating table.

But you do see pictures of doctors wearing lab coats, or with a stethoscope casually slung around their neck. It's the same thing.

I don't mind the camera pictures, per se, except they usually obscure everything else. Then, they all begin to look alike. Look, ma . . . a lens!!!

My profile is sending the right message but it's to the wrong audience and I know it. I cater mostly to the straight street candid image crowd. From what I know, candid images of strangers equals zero sales to the Wall Decor crowd. What usually happens is that candid street images are made into a book (which is what I will do with my images early next year).

Wendy, that is funny! In my driver's photo, I look like my grandmother awoke from the dead and painted a slash of red on her lips. Seriously, couldn't they do better with those photos? Maybe it was just me, lol. My passport photo is a little better because I kept having it re-taken until I was acceptable. That got expensive. Trying to get a decent head shot is a lot harder than it looks.

Robert, your avatar seems very fitting, and I like the sepia tone to it.

Great discussion everyone. Mike brought up a great point about blending in that I have taken to heart. Amidst an array of other avatars mine did blend in without notice and I did not consider that. I have decided to change my avatar to something a bit more unique...

dmv rules require you not to smile, glasses off. new rules. so they used to allow a smile, but not any more.


---Mike Savad

I guess if they don't let you smile they sure won't let you go with your present profile pic either Mike. I'd like to see the look on the policeman's face when they look at Mike's license and see his Avatar. I have a credit card with a photo on it that was taken in the 80's and I get confused looks from young store clerks who look at what 30 years of entropy can do to a person.

as long as i'm really dressed like that it should be fine.

it's odd though the reason why its set up that way. biometrics ID's your face. but if you normally smile and normally wear glasses, what's the point of it all? if the lenses shift the eyes down, it would be like that normally anyway. i do know that when you get your photo taken, there is a blue screen height chart behind you. and while it looks just like your face was taken, your whole body was taken. i glanced at a screen.

---Mike Savad

@Mike Well I'm not sure what to make of that! An abstract wave!! haha Can't for the life of me see that but it's an interesting take on my avatar :)
I do love your changing ones though, very eye catching.

Thanks Bob and Dan.
It was an interesting point though about google+ not liking an avatar unless it's full face. I will have to rethink that.

Interesting, Mike S., because the last time (2013) I was at the NC DMV, the examiner taking my pic said, "Smile."

AND I wear glasses for most of my waking hours, which also appear in my DMV pic, because glasses are an integral part of my real-life, functional, everyday look. Removing my glasses for a DMV photo would make it more difficult to identify me, therefore.

Headshots favor people with pretty or otherwise interesting looks. Let's face it - if you do not fall into this category, then a headshot can have a negative impact.

People want the most appealing visual stimulation, and sonic stimulation. There is a voracious appetite for this, as evidenced by watching local TV news shows, for example, where the newscasters are speaking about the ebola virus in friendly, happy, upbeat tones more approriate for addressing young children than for informing intelligent adults. Happy, happy, happy, upbeat, snappy, ... can't get too serious about it newscasting - it sickens me.

We're back to deception. Deception need not have a sinister intent. It merely reflects an underlying reflex to gravitate towards the most aesthetically appealing. In the case of ebola news, if you are not actually dying from an infection, then news of others' sufferings from infections becomes entertainment, as uninfected, affluent people reflexively avoid any real contemplation of suffering.

Suppose I had third-degree burns over 90% of my face. Unless I were in some weird, anti-art, shock-art market, I don't think that would want to use a headshot as my avatar, ... with glasses, with smiles, coy, flirty or whatever. I would want to focus viewers on the beauty of something else besides my face. This is not sinister. This is marketing.

for me it was - don't smile, can't do it now. or not in nj anyway. its odd they tell you to remove glasses for that reason. if i wear it, and look different without them - like superman right? it would make sense to wear them. i guess if people were to recognize me electronically, it would be from above using security cams, and at that angle it would match a basic expression above eye glass height?

i wouldn't call a nice avatar deception. we can't talk to the buyer face to face, and turn on the charm and wooing. best we can do here is keep them in the store without our charming avatars.

---Mike Savad

Ooops...I'm not squinching...and I have a fan in my hand and I am presently about 25 pounds less than the present picture...guess I need to take a new picture...but I still have another 25 pounds to go...Anyways, thanks for the article!

Ooops...I'm not squinching...and I have a fan in my hand and I am presently about 25 pounds less than the present picture...guess I need to take a new picture...but I still have another 25 pounds to go...Anyways, thanks for the article!

Mike
Its all about the BIO in biometrics. Glasses are not natural and during the process the alignment of your face must be within tolerance. Same thing with fingerprints, they have to have recognizable markers to compare previous records. The actual capture and file is just of your face. The body shot you saw is just a freeze frame and the software does the rest. Also, on a practical side, the officer who stops you wants to see the color of your eyes. Each state has its own requirements and some do not want the smile to hinder the alignment/recognition. Its not an Olan Mills portrait, its strictly for I.D. suitable only for the post office wall.
Again, straying from the subject
- The Car Window Guy.

I'm lost then. I absolutely dislike the fake grinning look - there are a few above that look genuine, very few, and I can't do it to save my life. :(

then they should get one with and without. because it makes a picture ID pretty useless. and eye color can be changed pretty easily.

as for smiling - i don't, while i'm borgish right now, the expression is neutral, that's how i usually look.

---Mike Savad

Ya, I look fairly blah - sort of neutral and something has to be might funny hilarious stupid to make me laugh. It's who I am. I like your non smiling face - I relate to non smiling images better.

I don't mind the slight smile that looks genuine on some - but it's the tombstone teeth appearance that just is so .........no idea how to explain it. :=)