Maybe you are asked to speak at a convention or an event. Maybe you are a professional speaker or maybe you are a person of authority at an organization and are expected to speak without a fee. Either way, you may very well be asked to give the event organizers a nice headshot of yourself so they can place it on their brochure or catalog.
Now, I understand that everyone wants to look good and not stupid in their picture that everyone will be seeing. But I highly recommend that you do not send in a Photoshopped picture of yourself. Here is what happens when you do: if you make yourself look two or three times better than you look in real life, and people see that picture of you first, that is the image they form of you in their minds. So if I go up on stage in such a scenario, people will think, ‘God, TJ has aged horribly!’.
So try not to send a picture that is much different from the way you normally look, although it is okay to send in a flattering one. I remember going to a National Speakers Convention where a comedy expert was supposed to speak and their picture looked as fantastic as anyone could possibly look. But when the speaker came on stage, it became clear that they had used a picture at least 20 years old.
So you can have a professional headshot but try to make sure that it looks just like you. Do not use Photoshop or anything else to make yourself look drastically better or different.