An improper passport photo can delay your application and travel plans.
While it's easy to find passport photo services that will capture a passport image for a fee, you might want to save time and money by taking your passport photo at home for free. This also allows you to control the quality of the image, by allowing you more than one take at the best picture. The U.S. Department of State has strict guidelines that must be adhered to when creating passport photos at home. When applying for a passport, your photo must be recent, taken within the last six months, printed in color on photo paper, and be at least 2 inches x 2 inches in size.
Instructions
1. Stand with your back facing the plain white or off-white background. Set up the tripod, or have your assistant hold the camera so that the composition captures your your upper torso and head, leaving some room on above your head and to your sides to be cropped later. Your photo must include your entire head, from the top of your hair to the bottom of your chin.
2. Disable the flash and adjust the lighting in the room to eliminate shadows on your face. Photos with shadows on the face do not meet the guidelines for a U.S. passport photo.
3. Look directly at the camera with a neutral face expression and with both eyes open. Wear clothing that you would wear on a normal day. Uniforms, sunglasses, headphones and any other non-prescription or religious devices may not be worn in your photo. If wearing glasses, tilt your head slightly downward or disable to flash on the camera to minimize glare. Photos with glare on your glasses will not be accepted.
4. Upload your photo to the U.S. Department of State's passport photo tool (see link in Resources). Your photo must be at least 600 x 600 pixels to be uploaded to the photo tool. Click and drag your photo so that your face sits in the center of the template. Use the slide tool to resize your photo so that your face fits within the established frame on the photo tool. Select "Crop Photo" to crop your photo to the correct dimensions and select "Save Photo" to save the photo to your computer.
5. Open your cropped photo in MS Paint, Adobe Photoshop, or any photo editor and print a test photo using regular printer paper.Your photo should measure 2 inches x 2 inches.The height of your head, from the top of your hair to the bottom of your chin, should be between 1 inch to 1 3/8 inches. Your eye height should be between 1 1/8 inches to 1 3/8 inches from the bottom of the photo. If your test print meets these standards, print your photo, in color, on standard photo paper. If your test photo needs to be resized, use your photo editor's resize tool to make adjustments as needed. Photos cropped and saved from the U.S. Department of State's passport photo tool are formatted to print to these size requirements.
