AI Startup Photoshoot

The startup-district register

This is the new business district as the people who work there actually see it — not a stock lobby, not a grey conference room. The mural walls that colour the streets between the glass towers, the coworking loft where the light comes through the plants, the rooftop bar where the bay throws up its humid golden haze at the end of the day. It borrows the visual grammar of how young Manila professionals and founders already photograph themselves: smart-casual, warm, in motion, a coffee or an iced drink in hand, the city standing behind you as evidence that this is where you work.

In photographic terms that means half-length and three-quarter framing, natural tropical daylight, and a palette pulled from the setting — terracotta, sage, mural teal and coral in the day looks, then violet haze and window amber on the rooftop at dusk. Smart-casual dress throughout: a crisp white blouse, a sage polo, an open button-down over a tee, a slip dress under a light shirt. The register is deliberately warm and un-stiff — closer to how a magazine would shoot a rising founder than how a passport office would shoot a document.

The output is a photograph, not an illustration. It reads as real photography of you in a real Manila setting — no plastic AI gloss, no cartoon. Three registers, nine portraits: the mural district, the coworking loft, and the rooftop at dusk.

How to photograph yourself for an AI startup photoshoot

One clear selfie is enough to see your free preview in seconds. To unlock the full pack you train your own model on 12-20 photos — that is what makes every portrait truly you rather than a lookalike.

1. Use soft, natural lightStand near a window with indirect daylight on your face — the same warm, even light the pack itself uses. Skip overhead office lighting and phone flash; both fight the tropical-daylight register.
2. Shoot at eye level, front or three-quarterCamera at eye level, face front-facing or turned slightly. The pack frames you half-length, so a straight-on selfie for AI portraits works best. No selfie-stick uplook, no overhead angle.
3. Keep the background plainA plain wall behind you lets the AI place its own backdrop — the mural street, the loft, the rooftop — instead of fighting a cluttered one. It is the fastest way to a clean result.
4. Dress smart-casualThe pack renders smart-casual founder attire. Starting from a clean shirt or blouse in your source photo, rather than a heavy jacket or a graphic tee, makes the portrait read consistent with the register.
5. Upload 12-20 varied photos to train your modelOne photo covers the free preview. For the full pack, upload 12-20 photos of yourself — different angles, different light. That set is the best photo for AI portrait training and is what makes the likeness hold across all nine.

Frequently asked questions

What does the output actually look like — is it photorealistic?

Photorealistic. It reads as a real photograph of you in a Manila startup setting — mural street between glass towers, a bright coworking loft, or a rooftop over the bay at dusk — not an illustration and not the plastic AI look. The free preview streams in seconds so you can judge the likeness before you commit to anything.

Is this a photo studio booking?

No. If you searched 'photo studio near me' expecting to book a session, this is the opposite: there is no appointment, no travel to Makati or BGC, no photographer's day rate. You upload photos of yourself, train your model once, and every portrait renders on our own servers in about ten seconds. The three district settings are built into the pack.

How does it work, and how long does it take?

Drop one selfie and a free preview streams in seconds — a quick sketch, close but not fully you yet. To unlock the full pack you train your own model on 12-20 photos; it trains in the background and we email you when it's ready. After that every one of the nine portraits renders from your model in about ten seconds.

Can I use these on LinkedIn or a company team page?

Yes — that's the core use. Full-resolution, portrait-ratio, no watermark. The three registers give you variety, so a team page doesn't look like nine copies of one photo, and a single strong frame carries your LinkedIn or professional dp.

What if my only photo is a casual selfie?

One good selfie is enough for the free preview. If the likeness is off, the prep tips above are the fastest fix. For the full pack you train on 12-20 photos, which smooths out any single weak input.

How is this different from HeadshotPro or Aragon?

Same family, different shape. HeadshotPro and Aragon train a model per shoot — you pay first, upload, wait, and that model serves one delivery. Narcis shows you a free preview before you commit, then trains your model once. That one model renders this pack, every other pack, and the portrait Studio, at about ten seconds a portrait — and it stays yours to retrain or delete.

How is this different from making a 'startup founder' image in Midjourney or Stable Diffusion?

Text-to-image tools generate someone who matches a description — not you. This pack anchors the identity to your own uploaded photos, so the output is a portrait of you in the startup district, not a convincing stranger in a coworking loft.

Can I use the portraits commercially?

Yes. The output is yours — LinkedIn, company site, press, business cards, decks, anywhere a professional photo belongs, with no restriction. See the terms for the full scope.

What happens to the photo I upload?

Your photos are processed on European servers. Preview photos are deleted within 24 hours; your training photos train your model and nothing else — delete the model and they go with it. We do not share them with third parties.

When the startup photoshoot fits

• A LinkedIn profile that reads as a founder building something, not a corporate placeholder
• A startup team page or about page portrait that matches the culture you're actually in
• A pitch deck team slide or investor update headshot
• A press or media-kit photo for a funding announcement or product launch
• A conference or demo-day speaker bio paired with a talk
• A professional profile picture or professional dp for work channels and Slack
• A Crunchbase, AngelList, or accelerator-directory founder profile photo
• A refreshed headshot when your old one predates the company
• A newsletter or company-blog author portrait
• A polished profile picture for a young professional stepping into a first serious role

About narcis

Most AI portrait tools ship every pose, profession, era, and aesthetic in one giant catalog. The output looks like every other AI photo on the internet — a glaze over a stock face. Narcis goes the other way. One tool, one job: turn photos of you into portraits worth keeping. Drop a selfie and your free preview streams in seconds — a quick sketch: close, not you yet. For portraits that are truly you, train your own model on 12 to 20 photos; it trains in the background, and we email you when it is ready. Train once, render everywhere — this pack, every other pack, and the Studio all come out of that one model, about ten seconds a portrait, and it stays yours to retrain or delete. Each pack is hand-curated against actual references — paintings, photographers, registers — and tested on real faces before it ships. See a free preview before you pay, not after. Packs are one-time — no subscription to buy one; Studio, the unlimited composer, is optional at €12/month and every pack includes 30 days of it. No template generator. Built and run by one team, on our own infrastructure.