How to Add a Photo on LinkedIn

Adding a photo to LinkedIn is one of the quickest ways to elevate your professional presence, but it’s more than just uploading any old headshot. Your photos are a core part of your brand story, communicating your personality, expertise, and professionalism before a single word of your profile is read. This guide walks you through every step: how to add or update your profile picture, design a compelling background banner, and share images in your posts to grab attention and drive genuine engagement.

Your Profile Picture: The Face of Your Brand

Your profile picture isn't just an icon, it's your virtual handshake. Profiles with photos get up to 21 times more views and 9 times more connection requests than those without. It instantly builds familiarity and trust, making you appear more credible and approachable. In a sea of names and job titles, a professional photo makes you memorable and human.

How to Add or Change Your LinkedIn Profile Picture

Whether you're setting up your profile for the first time or giving it a much-needed refresh, the process is straightforward on both desktop and mobile.

On Desktop:

• Step 1: Navigate to Your Profile. Log in to LinkedIn and click the "Me" icon in the top navigation bar, then select "View Profile."
• Step 2: Access the Photo Menu. Click directly on your current profile picture circle. If you don't have one, it will be a generic gray icon.
• Step 3: Upload and Adjust. A new window will pop up. Click the pencil icon or "Edit" to upload a new photo from your computer. You can use the tools to crop, straighten, apply filters, and adjust the zoom.
• Step 4: Save Your Changes. Once you're happy with how it looks, click the "Save photo" button. LinkedIn will also ask you to adjust the visibility of your photo (public, your network, etc.). For maximum impact, setting it to "Public" is recommended.

On the Mobile App:

• Step 1: Open Your Profile. Tap your profile picture icon in the top-left corner of the app, then tap "View Profile."
• Step 2: Edit Your Photo. Tap on the profile picture circle on your profile page. This will give you the option to view or edit your profile photo. Tap the pencil icon to begin editing.
• Step 3: Select or Take a New Photo. You can choose an existing photo from your gallery or use your phone's camera to take a new one on the spot.
• Step 4: Customize and Save. In the editor, you can adjust the framing, add filters, or alter the color and lighting. Tap "Save" when you’re done.

Best Practices for a Killer Profile Picture

Not all headshots are created equal. Follow these guidelines to make sure yours stands out for the right reasons.

• Use a High-Resolution Photo: Your photo should be crisp and clear. A blurry or pixelated image looks unprofessional. Aim for a file at least 400x400 pixels, though larger is better.
• It's a Headshot, Not a Full-Body Shot: Your face should take up about 60% of the frame. The best profile photos are from the shoulders up, allowing people to clearly see your face.
• Be the Only Person in the Picture: This is about your personal brand. Avoid pictures with friends, family, or pets. Cropping someone else out often looks messy.
• Keep the Background Simple: A distracting background can pull focus away from you. A solid color, blurred outdoor scene, or subtly textured wall works perfectly.
• Show Some Personality: Professional doesn't have to mean stuffy. A genuine, warm smile makes you seem approachable and confident. Pick a photo where you look like someone people would want to work with.
• Keep it Recent: Your photo should look like you. Use a picture taken within the last couple of years to avoid surprises when you meet contacts in person or on a video call.
• Technical Specs: LinkedIn accepts JPG, GIF, and PNG files up to 8MB. The minimum dimension is 400x400 pixels.

Your Background Photo: The Digital Billboard

Often overlooked, the LinkedIn background photo (or banner) is prime real estate for branding. It's the first and largest visual element people see on your profile. You can use this space to tell a richer story, reinforce your professional identity, or guide visitors toward a specific action.

How to Add or Change Your LinkedIn Background Photo

The process is similar to changing your profile picture and is easiest to do on a desktop where you can get a better sense of how it will look.

• Step 1: Go to Your Profile Page. From your homepage, navigate to your profile by clicking "Me" > "View Profile."
• Step 2: Open the Banner Editor. Click the pencil icon or camera icon located in the top-right corner of the banner area.
• Step 3: Upload Your Image. A window will appear. Click "Upload photo" to select the banner image you've prepared.
• Step 4: Adjust and Apply. You can reposition the image by dragging it, zoom in or out, and apply basic filters. Once it's positioned correctly, click "Apply."

Creative Ideas for Your Background Photo

Your banner should align with your professional goals. Here are some ideas:

• For Personal Brands (Consultants, Speakers, Freelancers): Showcase yourself in action - speaking at an event, leading a workshop, or working with a client. You could also feature your book cover, a quote from a testimonial, or contact information for your business.
• For Job Seekers: Include keywords related to your industry and desired role. A simple, well-designed graphic displaying your core skills can be very effective.
• For Entrepreneurs and Founders: Use your company's branding, display your core products in a high-quality image, or feature a picture of your team to humanize your business.
• For Corporate Professionals: You might choose an image that reflects your company's brand, an abstract graphic that represents your industry (e.g., lines of code for a developer, a cityscape for a real estate professional), or an image of your city.

LinkedIn Background Photo Specs & Tips

• Recommended Dimensions: 1584 x 396 pixels. Keeping this aspect ratio helps prevent your image from being stretched or awkwardly cropped.
• File Type & Size: JPG, GIF, or PNG. Maximum file size is 8MB.
• Mind the Mobile View: Be aware that your profile picture will cover part of the lower-left section of the banner, and the layout shifts on mobile devices. Keep important text and visual elements centered and away from the edges and the profile picture overlap area. Use tools like Canva, which have pre-made LinkedIn banner templates, to make this easier.

Adding Photos to Your Posts: Driving Engagement in the Feed

Visual content consistently outperforms text-only content. A relevant, eye-catching photo in a LinkedIn post can stop the scroll, increase dwell time, and encourage likes and comments. It helps make your message more digestible and memorable.

How to Share a Photo in a LinkedIn Post

You can share a single photo or create a mini-slideshow by uploading multiple images, which LinkedIn automatically turns into a document post or carousel.

Posting a Single Photo or Multiple Photos

1. On your LinkedIn homepage, click "Start a post" at the top of the feed.
2. In the pop-up window, click the "Add media" icon (looks like a picture frame).
3. Select one or more photos from your computer. If you select multiple, you can reorder them before posting.
4. Write your caption. This is where you provide context, tell a story, or ask a question.
5. Add Alt-Text. Before posting, click "Alt text" on the image thumbnail. Write a brief, descriptive sentence of what the photo shows. This is vital for accessibility and can help with discovery.
6. Add relevant hashtags and tag any people or companies mentioned in your post.
7. Click "Post."

Best Practices for Posting Photos on LinkedIn

• Quality Over Quantity: Only use clear, high-resolution images. Cell phone cameras are great, but make sure the lighting is good and the subject is in focus. Avoid generic stock photos whenever possible, authentic images perform better.
• Tell a Story with Your Caption: Never post a photo without context. Your caption should supplement the image. Explain what's happening in the photo, what you learned, or what you want your audience to take away from it.
• Optimize for the Feed: Square (1:1 aspect ratio, like 1080x1080 pixels) or vertical (4:5 ratio, like 1080x1350 pixels) images take up more space in the mobile feed and tend to perform better than landscape images.
• Use Carousels for Deeper Info: If you have multiple points to make or a process to show, a photo carousel is perfect. You can create a step-by-step guide, share key stats from a report, or showcase different angles of a product.
• Tag Thoughtfully: Tagging people or companies featured in your photo or caption is a great way to increase reach, but only do so when it's genuinely relevant.

Final Thoughts

Effectively using photos on LinkedIn comes down to three key areas: a professional and approachable profile picture, a strategic and on-brand background banner, and engaging, context-rich images in your posts. Polishing these visual elements is a high-impact way to build your personal or company brand, create connections, and stand out in a crowded professional landscape.

As we know from managing our own social media content, creating a consistent plan for visual posts is just as important as the photos themselves. After getting tired of disorganized schedules and an unclear content pipeline, we built our own tool, Postbase. Our visual calendar enables us to plan out all our client and internal LinkedIn posts - photos, carousels, and videos included - and see exactly what’s going live and when. It takes the guesswork out of content planning and frees up our time to focus on creating content that performs, instead of shuffling spreadsheets.