We used Gemini to turn casual photos into free polished professional headshots and the results are surprising

When it’s time to soup up your LinkedIn, you normally start with the profile picture, but for that, you need polished professional headshots, and they don’t come cheap, so we got Gemini to generate them for us for free.

Not that long ago, AI generated some truly hilarious offerings when you asked it to use a source image to make a professional headshot, but with the latest iteration of Gemini AI’s Nano Banana, some people have reported success.

We decided to try it out with our own pictures and see whether others’ successes were a fluke or if Gemini is just as good as some are saying.

Let’s just say that the results were mixed.

Click the star icon next to supercarblondie.com in Google Search to stay ahead of the curve on the latest and greatest supercars, hypercars, and ground-breaking technology

We tried to use Gemini to generate polished professional headshots

Tech is extremely helpful in many facets of life, and it’s led to some people even using AI to generate the pics they can’t afford to pay a professional photographer to do.

Instead of dressing up for photo day at work, a journalist for ZDNet decided to try to create his own professional headshots using the latest version of Gemini AI’s Nano Banana.

We used his prompts to try to replicate his success, with mixed results.

As you can see, the source picture is pretty casual, a simple selfie taken in normal light with no makeup and a smile.

We used the journalist’s prompt, but changed it to suit a picture of a woman. And it went a little something like this:

“Produce a hyper-realistic, formal portrait depicting the subject in a dark navy blouse and a blazer. Preserve the exact same facial features and hairstyle from the reference image. The expression should convey powerful confidence and composure, with a subtle sense of authority and intelligence.”

However, we found that the changed facial expression prompt made it seem even less like the original picture.

We also followed the prompt about lighting exactly:

“Use refined, dramatic lighting, soft studio illumination with delicate shadows that define and enhance facial contours. The background should feel understated yet upscale, such as charcoal, deep taupe, or a smooth black gradient.

Capture the image in a premium editorial style with crisp focus and cinematic depth of field, as if shot on an 85mm lens. Ensure extremely high detail, consistent with a polished corporate portrait and luxury brand aesthetic.”

(Don’t) say cheese!

Because the first generation looked too dissimilar from the source image, we asked Gemini to keep the same smile, but it created a picture with a smile that bordered on creepy.

When asked to make it more realistic, it only made the picture’s face more deranged.

It looked as though the smile using teeth was the problem for us, so we decided to upload a picture of a soft smile with no teeth showing.

We also slightly shifted the prompt, saying:

“Produce a hyper-realistic, formal portrait depicting the subject in a dark navy blouse with a blazer. Preserve the exact same facial features and hairstyle from the reference image. The expression should not change.”

The response we got from the Chatbot was the most realistic picture so far.

The features were definitely smoothed out, but the hair, eyes, and eyebrows look pretty spot on, and from a distance, this could be mistaken for the real deal.

If you’re willing to put in the effort and change your prompts until you’re happy with your headshot, then head to Gemini and make the most of Nano Banana by regenerating time and time again.

However, it might just be less effort to pay a photographer for your professional headshots at that point.

DISCOVER SBX CARS: The global premium car auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie