Looks like you
Same hair. Same skin tone. Same age. The catchlight in the eye matches the light on the cheek. Joshua's grading rubric throws out any photo where the face has drifted off the real you.
AI headshots
An AI headshot is either authority-building or career-harming. There is no neutral middle.
A bad AI headshot reads as fake the second a recruiter looks closely. A good one earns the call. Aurawave is the only AI headshot product graded by a working photographer's checklist before delivery. Upload 10 selfies and get a hand-picked set in under 90 minutes.
Built by Joshua Albanese · 20+ years behind the lens · 15,000+ studio sessions
- ★ 4.8 stars on Trustpilot
- 15,000+ studio sessions of experience
- Delivered in under 90 minutes
- Plain-language redo policy
The four tests
What makes a good AI headshot
A good AI headshot passes 4 tests. Identity, light, expression, background. Miss any of the 4 and the photo reads as fake.
Light reads natural
The fill ratio, the rim light, and the color temperature line up with how a real photographer lights a face. No flat skin. No glow that screens for a phone-flash render.
Expression earns the click
A small, real smile beats a fake grin. The mouth is calm. The eyes look at the lens, not past it. The photo looks like a person, not a model on a job.
Failure modes
What makes a bad AI headshot
The 1-star reviews on every other tool name the same 4 failure modes. We grade against all of them.
- 1Identity drift. Hair color shifts. Age looks 5 years off. Skin tone changes. The face is close, but it isn't yours.
- 2Plastic skin. Pores erased. Texture wiped. The face reads as a wax model under studio gloss.
- 3Dead eyes. No catchlight, or the catchlight points the wrong way. The eyes look glassy.
- 4Body that fights the face. The shirt collar doesn't match the neck. The hands are wrong. The pose leans forward in a way no real person stands.
Real Aurawave outputs
We do AI photoshoots for individuals and teams
These are real photos from real customer uploads. Look at the eyes, the skin, and the lighting. The signs of bad AI are not there.
Trustpilot
"Looks like me on a great day. The lighting alone is worth it."
Jeremy B. · LinkedIn refresh
Trustpilot
"Delivered in under an hour. Saved me a half-day session at a studio."
Frank M. · Conference deadline
4.8 / 5
across 7,800+ verified Trustpilot reviews
View more samples and reviews
How it works
Get your headshots in minutes, not days
Three steps. Phone-friendly upload. Hand-picked delivery. No studio appointment, no wardrobe prep, no half-day blocked off.
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1 Upload
Upload 10 selfies
Phone photos are fine. Mix up the angles, expressions, and outfits. Take them in the last year so the AI grades you, not a younger you.
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2 Generate & grade
The AI builds and grades your photos
Every shot is scored against a working photographer's checklist. Lighting, eyes, sharpness, identity match. The bad ones get tossed before you ever see them.
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3 Delivery
Hand-picked set in under 90 minutes
Every photo passed before it reached you. Most orders finish in less than an hour. Download, share, set as your LinkedIn profile photo, done.
Get my headshots
If it doesn't look like you, we redo it. No questions, no fine print.
The difference
What sets Aurawave apart
A photographer's eye, built in
Most AI headshot tools were built by AI teams. Aurawave was built by a photographer who has shot 15,000 sessions. The grading rubric runs on every photo.
Hand-picked, not dumped on you
Other tools give you 100 photos and make you sort out the bad ones. Aurawave only ships the keepers. That is how a real photographer ends a session.
The photo earns the meeting
Other tools compete on photo count. We compete on whether the photo gets you the callback, the match, or the referral.
What a polished headshot is worth
Your photo walks in before you do
First impressions form in 100 milliseconds. The data on what a sharper headshot does for perceived competence, influence, and reach has been measured for years.
-
0%
More competent
in viewer perception versus a casual photo
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0%
More influential
in viewer perception versus a casual photo
-
0x
More profile views
on LinkedIn with a professional headshot
Sources: Princeton's first-impressions research (Willis & Todorov, 2006) is the academic anchor. The 76% and 62% figures come from a 2019 industry study by HeadShots Inc (n=243). The 21x is from LinkedIn Talent Solutions data. Background: Wikipedia on the headshot.
Built for your use case
Headshots that walk in before you do
Pick the use case. Aurawave's grading rubric tunes for the visual cues that matter for that audience: confident eye line for executives, warm expression for healthcare, sharp wardrobe for lawyers.
LinkedIn headshots
Your photo walks in before you do.
See samples
Lawyer headshots
Earn the call before the consultation.
See samples
Doctor headshots
Earn the appointment before the visit.
See samples
Nurse headshots
First patient impression, dialed in.
See samples
Real estate headshots
Earn the listing before the open house.
See samples
Executive headshots
C-suite portraits that ship in the deck.
See samples
Actor headshots
Earn the audition before the read.
See samples
Dating headshots
Earn the right swipe.
See samples
What customers say
Real reviews from real customers
4.8 / 5
across 7,800+ Trustpilot reviews
"The AI-generated results are unnervingly accurate, like someone extracted the professional version of me that exists."
JB
Jeremy B.
Trustpilot · LinkedIn refresh
"I needed headshots for a last-minute conference, and Aurawave delivered in record time. The speed doesn't compromise quality."
FM
Frank M.
Trustpilot · Conference deadline
"Aurawave gave me a professional look I couldn't achieve with selfies or amateur photography."
LH
Lance H.
Trustpilot · Business owner
"I appreciate how Aurawave's AI handles diversity. The headshots look great for people of all ethnicities and ages."
GB
George B.
Trustpilot · Healthcare exec
If it doesn't look like you, we redo it
That's the whole policy. No fine print. No clause that voids the redo if you download a photo to inspect it.
Same business day turnaround
One sentence, no clauses
Keep what you like
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is an AI headshot?
An AI headshot is a portrait built by a model trained on photos of you. You upload 10 selfies. The model learns your face. The model makes new photos of you in studio lighting and a clean background. The good tools grade the output. The bad ones ship every photo, mistakes and all.
How do AI headshot generators work in plain language?
You give the tool 10 reference photos. The tool fine-tunes a model on your face. The model makes 100 or more candidate photos. Bad tools deliver all of them. Aurawave grades each candidate, throws out the failures, and makes new ones until the set is clean. The photo you see passed the grade.
How do I tell a good AI headshot from a bad one?
Look at 3 things. The eyes (is the catchlight in the right spot, or do they look glassy?). The skin (does it have pore texture, or is it plastic?). The face (does it still look like you, or has the hair, age, or skin tone drifted?). If any of the 3 fail, the photo is bad. Joshua's checklist tests all 3 before delivery.
Are AI headshots ethical?
Yes, when the photo is built from your real photos and used the way a studio headshot would be used. Joshua's take, as a working photographer: a photo of you, lit better, is not a deception. A photo of a model who looks vaguely like you is. Aurawave grades for the first kind and rejects the second.
Can recruiters tell my headshot is AI?
Most can't, if the lighting is right and the face still looks like you. The tells they spot are the bad-AI tells: plastic skin, dead eyes, hair color drift. Aurawave grades against those tells before delivery. Read more in our deep dive on what recruiters actually see.
What's the difference between AI headshots and a real photographer?
A real photographer costs $250 to $500, takes 2 to 3 work days, and gives you 5 to 10 photos. Aurawave costs less, takes under 90 minutes, and gives you a hand-picked set. The photographer is still in the room with Aurawave. Read the full breakdown of AI headshots vs a real photographer.
Will my AI headshot actually look like me?
Yes. Identity preservation is the first item on the grading checklist. Photos that don't look like you get thrown out before delivery. The photo should pass the test where a coworker spots you on a bad-hair-day morning.
How fast will I get my photos?
Under 90 minutes from upload to delivery. Most orders finish in less than an hour.
Get headshots that look like you on your best day.
Upload 10 selfies. Get a hand-picked set in under 90 minutes. Every photo graded.