How to Take a Passport Photo at Home, Step by Step

Before you start: check that home photos are accepted

Most countries accept a photo you take yourself for online applications, provided it follows the rules. Some do not: Canada, for instance, requires printed photos from a commercial photographer, and rejects home prints and edited pictures. Read your country’s page in the requirements guide first, and then follow the steps below.

What you need

• A phone or camera with a good rear camera, and a tripod or a friend. A selfie from arm’s length distorts the face and is rarely straight.
• A plain white or light wall, or a large sheet of white paper or cloth.
• Soft, even daylight, ideally next to a large window.
• A chair at the right height, and a mirror to check your own expression.

Step 1: set up the light

Face a window so the light falls evenly on your face, and avoid direct sunshine, which makes harsh shadows and squinting. Do not stand with the window beside you or behind you. If you have no window, use two identical lamps, one on each side of the camera, at about the height of your face. Switch off the flash: it creates glare, red eyes and a shadow behind the head.

Step 2: set up the background

Stand about half a metre to a metre in front of a plain wall so your own shadow does not fall on it. Make sure there are no frames, door edges, sockets or patterns in the frame. If the wall is not white or light enough, hang a white sheet. Check that your clothes contrast with the background: white shirts on a white wall make it hard to see your shoulders, so choose a darker top.

Step 3: place the camera

• Put the camera at eye height, level, and about one to one and a half metres away. A longer distance with a little zoom flatters the face and avoids the “big nose” of wide-angle lenses.
• Keep the camera upright, not tilted, and hold it in portrait orientation.
• Leave space around your head and shoulders. You will crop later, so it is better to have too much room than too little.
• Use the normal photo mode at full resolution and turn off beauty filters and “portrait” blur.

Step 4: pose and expression

Sit or stand straight, with your shoulders level and square to the camera and your head not tilted. Look into the lens with a neutral expression: mouth closed, no smile, no frown, and both eyes open. Pull your hair behind your ears if it covers your face or eyes. Take off glasses unless your authority allows them, and remove hats or head coverings unless they are worn for religious or medical reasons, in which case the whole face must be visible.

Step 5: take many pictures and choose carefully

Take at least ten shots, and look at each at full size. Reject any with closed or half-closed eyes, a tilted head, shadows on the face or behind it, reflections on glasses, or a hint of a smile. Zoom to check that the picture is sharp, especially around the eyes.

Step 6: size the picture

Open the Passport Photo Maker, choose your country, drop in the best picture and move the frame so the head sits in the oval. The tool crops to the right proportions, scales to the right pixels and fits any file size limit. For prints, choose “Create printable sheet”, and use the print sheet page for guidance on paper and size.

Step 7: check before you submit

1. Compare your photo with the official page for your country, line by line.
2. Check that the head size is in range, the background is plain and there are no shadows.
3. For digital uploads, check the pixel size and the file size.
4. For prints, measure with a ruler and make sure that the paper is right.
5. Keep a copy of the original file for later.

Mistakes that cause rejections

• Shadows behind the head, caused by standing too close to the wall.
• A head that is too small, because the camera was too far away and the picture was cropped too loosely.
• Glare on glasses, or a flash reflection.
• Over-edited pictures: filters, smoothing, or a background replaced in an app.
• A smile, open mouth or raised eyebrows.
• A picture that is blurry or has been scaled up from a small file.

Frequently asked questions