Agents can spice up their marketing materials by enhancing humdrum headshots with artificial intelligence
By Myrna Traylor
Sharing a photo of yourself has become necessary to establish your brand as a REALTOR®. It helps potential customers identify you and gives them a sense of your personality and trustworthiness.
The way that agents can generate portraits to use on their various marketing materials has recently undergone a change, however, with the advent of generative AI (artificial intelligence) image services. These services will take one or more of your existing photos and generate dozens of new ones featuring a variety of outfits, backgrounds and lighting.
Experimenting with the technology
Jen Ward, CRS, salesperson of Cummings & Co. of Lutherville, Maryland, was curious about the process and used TryItOnAI.com to get a slate of headshots. “I thought, for $17—why not? That’s really inexpensive and sounds easy.” She uploaded several photos of herself and then selected parameters for what she wanted the AI to generate. “I chose a few things,” says Ward. “I requested ‘professional casual’ and ‘professional business.’ I also asked for some ‘neon’ shots for fun.”
Ward went into the experiment with the same concerns that many people of color have regarding AI-generated imagery. “Not that you can tell by my name, but I’m a Korean American woman. I thought, ‘Well, I’m kind of curious to see what AI picks up because it works well for Caucasian faces.’”
After Ward reviewed the initial output of 124 images, she selected some for additional work. “I went through each photo, and showed my husband the photos, and he’d say, ‘That doesn’t look like you.’” She selected the photos and emailed the edits, which cost $10 per photo, allowing her to select and refine the images she liked best, correct her features and pick some backgrounds, like city lights, that she hadn’t previously thought of. “AI is a great solution if you need to update a headshot without the hassle of preparing for a headshot, or if you change your hairstyle and color often like I do,” she said.
Still on the fence
California REALTOR® Steve Rath, CRS, of Rath Real Estate, hasn’t made the jump to AI yet. “I have mixed feelings about it,” he says. “The first negative is that you still have to have good photos to start with. I think it’s similar to going out and taking pictures of a listing yourself instead of having a professional photographer take them. You can take pretty good selfies and have other people take pretty good shots with a phone, but it’s still not a professional photographer catching the right angle and light and all the rest.”
Rath has looked at four or five of the top AI image sites. (“All the top programs claim they’re No. 1.”) Some of the services Rath has investigated want more upfront work on the images than he is prepared to do.
“Depending on the company, they prefer that you modify the photos before you send them, so that means getting into Canva or getting into some kind of a Photoshop program to enhance the photo and make it better to get the best result,” Rath says. “I don’t like having to learn how to do something to get something accomplished. I’ve tried to use Canva, and I just don’t like having to do it to have the AI tell me, ‘Here’s how to get the best results.’”
Some advantage
Rath admits he is “a little bit anti-AI because it’s another tool taking responsibility and creativity away from real people.” Still, he agrees that for people who are starting out or who want a quick refresh of their headshots, you can’t beat the price. “Going out and getting it professionally done is very expensive,” he says. “I think the last time I paid in the neighborhood of $600 or $700 for a shoot. And you have to take time out of your day; you have to look pretty and go through the whole thing. But with a good photographer, the results are excellent.”
The other advantage of the AI-generated portfolio, Rath says, is that agents can get a wide variety of looks for different marketing materials. “On LinkedIn and your website, you want to look like a professional. But on Facebook and other social media, that can be a different look,” says Rath. “I used to wear a suit and tie every single day, and I’ve gotten better at getting a little bit more casual depending on the person I’m working with.”
Even though she will not be sharing the more light-hearted photos with her clients, Ward has enjoyed the experience of reviewing so many different looks. It made her laugh at some of the photos, but it gave her some great ideas on future haircuts, poses, clothing and backgrounds the next time she hires a photographer for a real photoshoot.
The Photographers Respond
Not surprisingly, professional portrait photographers worry that inexpensive AI-generated images will take away their business. And it’s not just the loss of income that they are worried about. They are concerned about the lack of creativity and expertise that goes into making people look like individuals. Others fear that over time, all our portraits will be so homogenized by the algorithms that they’ll be all but useless.
One photographer warns that using computer-rendered shots may actually hurt your brand instead of helping it. “They lack the personal touch and authenticity that comes with a real photograph, which can make your brand appear impersonal and untrustworthy. Additionally, savvy consumers can easily recognize AI headshots as fake, which can damage your brand’s credibility,” says photographer Lev Gorn.
If you have opted for AI-generated headshots, think about running them by friends and business associates to be sure you look like you and are recognizable to clients.
Learn more about AI headshots at TryItOnAI.com.
Photo: iStock.com/GeorgePeters/rambo182
