Use Canva to Create Your Professional Headshot

(How my Aragon AI headshots made me look)

I've never been happy with the headshots I received from Aragon AI. While many people have probably been satisfied with theirs, for some reason the app couldn't get my proportions right. 

Admittedly, I started the process at a disadvantage. Very few photos of me exist, because I'm always the person taking the pictures. And selfies are out of the question. I'm sure there's an ideal way to take selfies, but all I ever end up with is a giant photo of my face, imperfections and all. So, I found a series of pictures my husband had taken for band publicity, and since Aragon requires multiple photo uploads, those are what I went with.

When I got my proofs back, and once I discarded the truly gross ones, I was left with approximately four that weren't totally hideous. Yet for some reason, Aragon's AI model stuck me with an unnaturally long neck. Nothing screams AI like a photo with non-human characteristics.

Thus, I've been wanting a new profile pic for a long time. Yes, I was even willing to pay. Yesterday, I Googled "free headshot generators", just for fun, and was surprised to find a listing for Canva. Is there anything Canva doesn't offer? The monthly subscription is worth maintaining, simply for all the uses I've found for it. I've made book cover mockups, website banners, photo collages, a (very) short video clip, also for my website, and every novella book cover (which equals nine). But to be clear, while none of the above required additional payment, the headshot generator will only supply one photo for free. Any additionals require purchasing credits, because it's a third-party app. For headshots, Canva offers eight different apps. The one I chose would cost me $3.99 for ten additional headshots.

So far, I've only claimed my one free pic.

A problem I have with all the apps (paid or free) is the dearth of clothing selections. The last time I dressed up in a blazer was sometime in the nineteen nineties, yet the preponderance of choices are just that. Another of Canva's third-party apps might let a customer design her own outfit, but I have not dived into researching them.

Anyway...

My one free headshot is head and shoulders above all the Aragon images. The original photo I uploaded turned out to be a bit out of focus, which is obviously not the app's fault, but the result wasn't awful enough to not use it.

I know you want to see the comparison, so embarrassingly, here is an Aragon image versus my free Canva pic:

 

 (Yes, Aragon apparently stitched my head to my neck.)

(I'll call this "soft focus")

Nothing I can do about the dated hairstyle, so I just have to live with it. I did find a free app online that lets you try on different styles, but it keeps the original one and just plops the new one on top. 😀

I don't know if it would be worth buying additional credits in order to experiment with different looks. Yes, this one still has the blazer, but maybe that makes me look like a professional author. Or maybe it doesn't really matter. I'm just happy to have a photo that doesn't make me cringe.

If you're on a tight budget, yet you want to display a professional image, Canva isn't bad at all.