A company logo is very important to a business since it represents that business. Similarly a business portrait acts like a logo for that person. So why do some people use holiday snapshots or other amateur pictures for their business portrait?
An article written by personal branding expert Daniel Schawbel talks about the importance of having professionally produced portraits:
…get the best possible photo of yourself. For if logos are quintessential to commercial brands, photos are quintessential to personal ones. … pictures – when they display a lucky blend of originality, quality, artistic merit and manage to capture the essence of what you stand for – send a powerful message about you and your brand that colors the perception other parties will have of you across the board. Underestimate the importance of a portrait picture at your own peril.
…today even home-made pictures can have astounding quality and do the job for us – at least temporarily. If you ask me, however, I would never recommend trusting such a crucial piece of your personal brand to luck and my advice has consistently been to always engage the services of a professional photographer…
Here’s another article on the importance of business portraits.
