A headshot can be rejected for a few common reasons. Here are some of the most frequent ones:

• Lighting issues: Dim or uneven lighting can create shadows that affect the clarity of your features.
• Selfies or cropped images: Selfies or photos where parts of your body (like your arms or upper torso) are cut off won’t meet our guidelines. We need your full upper torso and both arms visible in the frame.
• Using the front-facing camera: The front camera on most phones produces lower-quality images, often with graininess. For the best result, use your phone’s rear (outward-facing) camera and set it to the highest resolution.
• Heavy filters: Using filters can distort your appearance and make it hard for us to create a consistent look across your team’s headshots. We value authentic, natural images. If you’d like any edits after delivery, you can request them within 30 days under our Happiness Guarantee.
• Standing too far from the camera: If you're too far from the camera, your features can appear pixelated when we zoom in to edit, which lowers image quality.
• Hair blending into the background: When your hair color closely matches your background, it makes it challenging for our editors to cleanly remove the background—especially with natural hair textures. We recommend choosing a background that contrasts with your hair color.

For the exact reason your photo was rejected, please check your email. You’ll find personalized feedback there along with tips to fix it.

If you have any other questions, feel free to contact us at hello@headshots.com—we’re always happy to help!