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I couldn't afford a $300 headshot, so I built this

2 points by taoji1994 8mo ago

taoji1994 8mo ago
AI Headshot Generator is an AI-powered online portrait creation platform where users can generate professional-quality ID photos, business headshots, visa photos, and more by uploading a selfie or providing a text description The site offers various photo categories including standard ID photos, professional portraits, and creative styles, with customizable options such as background color and image dimensions. It even features a text-to-headshot mode, allowing users to generate headshots from descriptions without uploading any images
aanet 8mo ago
This looks good. Quite professional. However, personally, I would prefer a LOCAL solution where that I don't have to upload my passport/personal pic to an unknown site.
- taoji1994 8mo ago
  totally fair point — I actually agree with you. Privacy was one of my biggest concerns when building this.Right now, the trade-off I made was accessibility vs. local-only setup. Running the models locally still requires a fairly heavy setup (GPU, memory, model weights), which would block most non-technical users. A local / self-hosted version is something I’ve seriously considered, especially for developers and privacy-sensitive users. If there’s enough demand, that’s definitely a direction I’d like to explore. Really appreciate you calling this out — it’s a very reasonable concern. Thanks for the thoughtful feedback — really appreciate it.If you’re curious, feel free to give ai-headshot-generator.art a try.I’ve also added a 50% off code: SRLEILCR as a small thank-you
taoji1994 8mo ago
feel free to give it a try — much appreciated Here’s a 50% off discount code: SRLEILCR
sudohalt 8mo ago
1. You can get a great headshot using your smartphone 2. Headshots don't cost $300 (maybe on the extreme high end) 3. Gemini, ChatGPT, and nearly every multimodal model already solved this problem over a year ago.
- taoji1994 8mo ago
  Appreciate the feedback — I’m mostly sharing a different angle, not disagreeing. Many people can absolutely get a great headshot with a smartphone, and $300 is definitely on the high end, not the norm. I mentioned it mainly as an example of what I personally ran into, rather than a claim about average cost. For me, the bigger motivation was avoiding the logistics and friction — lighting, backgrounds, retakes, and decision fatigue — especially when all I needed was one usable result. That’s also why this is intentionally narrow in scope: predefined styles and outputs instead of open-ended prompting. For things like ID photos or short self-introduction videos, I’ve found some users prefer picking from a fixed set (e.g. Korean-style ID photos, US campus-style portraits) rather than starting from a blank prompt. It’s not meant to replace ChatGPT, but to serve people who want a very specific outcome with minimal effort.
jethronethro 8mo ago
$300 for a headshot? Really?
- taoji1994 8mo ago
  It’s on the high end, not the norm. I mentioned it mainly as an example of what I personally ran into.Out of curiosity, what’s the typical range you’ve seen where you’re based?
  - jethronethro 8mo ago
    Anywhere from $75 to $150. I've seen some photographers offer to do headshots for as low as $50 but not often.

2 points by taoji1994 8mo ago

taoji1994 8mo ago

AI Headshot Generator is an AI-powered online portrait creation platform where users can generate professional-quality ID photos, business headshots, visa photos, and more by uploading a selfie or providing a text description The site offers various photo categories including standard ID photos, professional portraits, and creative styles, with customizable options such as background color and image dimensions. It even features a text-to-headshot mode, allowing users to generate headshots from descriptions without uploading any images

aanet 8mo ago

This looks good. Quite professional. However, personally, I would prefer a LOCAL solution where that I don't have to upload my passport/personal pic to an unknown site.

taoji1994 8mo ago
totally fair point — I actually agree with you. Privacy was one of my biggest concerns when building this.Right now, the trade-off I made was accessibility vs. local-only setup. Running the models locally still requires a fairly heavy setup (GPU, memory, model weights), which would block most non-technical users. A local / self-hosted version is something I’ve seriously considered, especially for developers and privacy-sensitive users. If there’s enough demand, that’s definitely a direction I’d like to explore. Really appreciate you calling this out — it’s a very reasonable concern. Thanks for the thoughtful feedback — really appreciate it.If you’re curious, feel free to give ai-headshot-generator.art a try.I’ve also added a 50% off code: SRLEILCR as a small thank-you

taoji1994 8mo ago

feel free to give it a try — much appreciated Here’s a 50% off discount code: SRLEILCR

sudohalt 8mo ago

1. You can get a great headshot using your smartphone 2. Headshots don't cost $300 (maybe on the extreme high end) 3. Gemini, ChatGPT, and nearly every multimodal model already solved this problem over a year ago.

taoji1994 8mo ago
Appreciate the feedback — I’m mostly sharing a different angle, not disagreeing. Many people can absolutely get a great headshot with a smartphone, and $300 is definitely on the high end, not the norm. I mentioned it mainly as an example of what I personally ran into, rather than a claim about average cost. For me, the bigger motivation was avoiding the logistics and friction — lighting, backgrounds, retakes, and decision fatigue — especially when all I needed was one usable result. That’s also why this is intentionally narrow in scope: predefined styles and outputs instead of open-ended prompting. For things like ID photos or short self-introduction videos, I’ve found some users prefer picking from a fixed set (e.g. Korean-style ID photos, US campus-style portraits) rather than starting from a blank prompt. It’s not meant to replace ChatGPT, but to serve people who want a very specific outcome with minimal effort.

jethronethro 8mo ago

$300 for a headshot? Really?

taoji1994 8mo ago
It’s on the high end, not the norm. I mentioned it mainly as an example of what I personally ran into.Out of curiosity, what’s the typical range you’ve seen where you’re based?
- jethronethro 8mo ago
  Anywhere from $75 to $150. I've seen some photographers offer to do headshots for as low as $50 but not often.