The questions repeat because they are real

The same handful of uncertainties come up before anyone commits to a headshot tool. They repeat because nobody answers them clearly, not because people are not paying attention.

The likeness question

Will it look like me. The honest answer is: usually, and the failure when it comes is subtle — a jaw slightly narrower, eyes sitting slightly differently. Nothing you can point at, and yet people who know you notice.

The safety question

What happens to fifteen photographs of my face. The answer lives in two words in the terms: a retention period with a number, and whether the images are used for training.

The value question

Whether it beats a photographer. For one important portrait, no. For a workforce photographed across different months, yes, and not because of quality.

The one nobody asks

What the source photographs should be. Different days, clothes and light — and it moves the result more than the choice of vendor does.