Create professional black-and-white headshots in Marco Grob style using AI

What you’ll get

You will get a professional black-and-white studio headshot from your own photo, styled like the iconic portraits seen on TIME magazine covers by photographer Marco Grob. The AI will focus on your character, using dramatic lighting and a simple background. This method works by using a detailed prompt to guide an AI image generator to transform an existing photo, ensuring your likeness is preserved while achieving a specific artistic style.

Tools you need

• Gemini (freemium): An AI assistant that can generate images from text descriptions and reference photos.

Steps

1. Prepare your reference photo: Choose a solid, high-resolution, well-lit photo of the person you want to transform. The author recommends attaching a good quality image for best results.

   You should have a clear photo ready to upload.

2. Open Gemini: Go to the Gemini website on your phone or computer.

   You should see the Gemini chat interface.

3. Upload your photo and paste the prompt: Upload your chosen reference photo to Gemini. Then, copy and paste the following prompt into the chat box. Remember, this prompt is specifically for men. The author notes that a separate prompt was created for women to avoid masculine features, but that prompt is not provided in the source.

   Goal: Transform the attached photo into a professional black-and-white studio headshot in the style of a Marco Grob editorial monochrome portrait, the TIME magazine cover aesthetic: simple, psychologically intense, character-first. Subject & identity: The man in the reference image. Keep his exact facial features, facial structure, skin tone, eye color, hair, and hairline completely unchanged — same age, same build, instantly recognizable to people who know him. Change only the framing, lighting, background, wardrobe, and tonal grade. Composition & camera: Classic head-and-shoulders crop, chest-up, his eyes in the upper third of the frame, centered composition with a small margin above his head. Body squared to camera or turned 10-20 degrees, shoulders relaxed and level, head straight into the lens, chin neutral. Hasselblad medium-format look: short-telephoto perspective (ab...

   The original source prompt is truncated at “ab…”. You may need to experiment with how to complete this part, perhaps with a common lens focal length like “about 85mm” or “about 100mm”.

   Gemini will start generating images.

4. Review and regenerate: The author suggests you should expect to regenerate the image 2-3 times to get the best result. Look for images that capture the “psychologically intense, character-first” aesthetic with appropriate lighting and framing.

   You should get a high-quality black-and-white headshot in the desired style.

Original source

This workflow was inspired by a Reddit post by user /u/flanmorrison, who shared their refined prompts for generating Marco Grob-style TIME cover portraits after finding other AI headshot apps unsatisfactory.

Notes & variations

• Other AI tools: While this recipe uses Gemini, other freemium AI image generators like Leonardo.ai or even paid tools like Midjourney or DALL-E 3 (via ChatGPT Plus) could also be used, provided they support uploading reference images and detailed text prompts.
• Original tool: The original author used a tool called ‘Nanobanana 2’. Since this tool is not widely available or identifiable, this recipe uses Gemini as a readily accessible alternative. The core prompt, however, remains the author’s original creation.
• Common pitfall: A common pitfall is not providing a high-quality reference image. The AI relies on the input photo to maintain your likeness, so a blurry or poorly lit photo will lead to poor results. Also, remember the author noted that unisex prompts made women look masculine, so if you’re generating for a woman, you might need to adjust the prompt significantly or find a different one.
• Tip for better results: Experiment with the aspect ratio. The author used a 4:5 aspect ratio for their examples, which is common for portraits. Most AI tools allow you to specify this. If your tool doesn’t, you might need to crop the output image afterwards. Also, the author mentioned 4k output, which means high resolution. If your tool has resolution settings, choose a higher one for better detail.