So you’ve decided to take your own passport photos; maybe it’s more convenient for you, maybe you’re worried about getting good baby or child photos in a booth, or maybe you just can’t find anywhere to have them done near you. Whatever the reason, there are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind to make sure your photos come out looking good — and pass inspection.
1) Angle
If you’re taking a selfie, you’re going to want to be extremely cautious about the angle of your picture. Do a lot of experimenting to find out the best possible angle to meet passport requirements — even a slight angle on your picture can get it tossed out during inspection. For this reason, it’s probably best to have someone else taking your picture, but even then, do your homework and experiment to get things right.
2) Lighting
If you’re working with a modern digital camera, this probably won’t be too big of an issue — just take the picture in a bright, evenly lit space, and you’ll probably be fine with automatic settings. If you’re using a camera phone or older camera, you’ll want to be a lot more cautious. Experiment with settings, lighting angles, lighting types and so on, and figure out the best one to clearly present your face without unnatural shadows or other problems.
3) Accessories
It’s best to not have accessories of any kind in your passport photos. They’re often going to lead directly to failure at the inspection stage, and for little to no benefit — no one looks great in a passport photo, it’s just the nature of the beast. Go for comfortably neutral and accept that most of us have passport pictures that look functionally identical to mug shots.
4) Focus
Absolutely do not send in passport photos with bad focus — it doesn’t take much blurring at all to render your pictures completely useless for passport purposes. Remember, much of the goal here is to make it so that someone who looks a lot like you can’t use your passport convincingly — that means crystal clear photos with a perfect frontal view of your face. If you’re using a camera phone and can’t get the focus right for the appropriate framing, you might need to use another one or invest in a digital camera.
