diff --git a/app/components/About.tsx b/app/components/About.tsx
index 8b4244c..b32aa3d 100644
--- a/app/components/About.tsx
+++ b/app/components/About.tsx
@@ -99,7 +99,14 @@ export function About() {
           src="/about-author.jpg"
           fill
           sizes="(min-width: 640px) 58vw, 100vw"
-          className="object-cover object-center pointer-events-none"
+          // object-position shifted up from center — about-author.jpg is a
+          // square close-up portrait (1254x1254), and this banner is wide
+          // and comparatively short, so a centered crop on a square source
+          // blows the face up to fill the whole strip (reported 2026-08-29,
+          // after the photo swap to this tighter headshot). Biasing toward
+          // the top keeps hairline/forehead in frame instead of cropping
+          // straight into eyes-to-chin.
+          className="object-cover object-[50%_20%] pointer-events-none"
         />
         {/* Left gradient — from sm: up, not just lg:. Even without the
             -ml-48 overlap at Tablet, the photo sits directly against the