

What size is a passport photo? Passport guidelines on passport photo size state that a passport photo should be 35mm wide and 45mm tall. Make Your Own Passport Photos – Readying for print, photo size and dimensions Now bring the left and right markers under the histogram towards the centre to increase contrast, and move the centre marker for brightness. You can bring up the Levels palette by going to Image > Adjustments > Levels.

But don’t wash out details or blow highlights though. Make sure you have enough brightness to give the impression of being shot under bright light, like a flash. Once you’re happy select Layer > Flatten Layer. You may be left with some tricky areas around the hair but these can be ‘picked off’ by zooming in and gently deleting (use the Eraser tool) offending areas, or changing the tolerance of your selection tools and re-selecting specific areas.ĭon’t worry about being too precise, as the image you are working on now is of a much larger size than the final print will be, so there is a lot of give in how much detail will be picked up in the final print. Use the Magic Wand or Quick Select tool to select your background and simply press the delete key to remove it – ensuring the fill layer is a 5-10% grey as a totally white background is against the guidelines and will cause rejection. However, as the background of your passport photo image is likely a little dark and off-colour, it’s easy to use PhotoShop or Elements to make the subject stand out. Make Your Own Passport Photos – Post-productionĪvoiding post-production as much as possible is the aim of the game – in fact, images which have been digitally manipulated to change your appearance are not allowed. As much as a photobooth will happily do all this for you, avoiding the expense is the target here. So snaps from down the local boozer won’t do – you have to specifically shoot for the right posed shot in the correct location. Your surroundings are important and need to be neutral – for example, should you stand by something red it will have a luminescence that will reflect red light back onto you.

When reviewing your images, ensure that they are well exposed – you don’t want underexposure, as the detail of the face will be lost in the shadows. The image of you, from the crown of your head to your chin must be between 29 and 34mm (while the overall height of the image is 44mm). You can’t use a photo that has been cut down from a larger photo, so make sure to position yourself or the subject so that they are completely filling the frame. You could even do this yourself if you use the camera’s self-timer and rest on an appropriate surface or, if you have one, use a tripod. Take several photos as to get the best possible image, avoiding smiling and blinking. Expose for the subject’s face, preferably using a spot or centre-weighted evaluative metering setting if your camera offers this. Flat lighting is integral, as shadows over the face may cause your images to be rejected. It’s worth checking the guidelines as they can change frequently ( Make Your Own Passport Photos – Shootingįind a light-coloured wall (should be light grey or cream, not 100% white where possible) as a background and shoot your passport photo subject using the portrait orientation.Īvoid using the flash as this increases the likelihood of red-eye and background shadows (however, if you can turn the flash down then a small pop of fill-in can provide good colour balance and open up facial detail).ĭaylight is best, such as from a window, as this can provide as equal a balance as possible to avoid shadows on the face and background. Though official rules state you cannot wear anything that covers your head, there is an exemption if the covering is worn for religious or medical reasons.

There should be no shadows on the face, no hair in the face, no facial-coverings and, after printing on photo paper, the images must have no tears, creases or marks. The photo should also have been taken in the last month – so you won’t be able to use an old photo that you happen to have on your computer. A neutral expression with closed mouth, no red-eye, clear and sharp focus, with a plain cream/grey background, posed face-on to the camera, are all a must. Shooting passport photographs demands that you stick to some stringent rules. Make Your Own Passport Photos – Official Guidelines
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Our money-saving guide shows you how to shoot your own passport sized photos quickly and easily at home… It’s a cost, though, that can be quickly and simply avoided by setting up a shoot at home, working some Photoshop magic to your images, and printing on some decent quality photo paper at the correct passport photo dimensions.
