USA Passport Photo Requirements - Expression, Apparels, Ornaments And Other Objects

This can be read as the Part 2 guide for the US passport photo requirements as it contains the specifications that especially concerns about the facial expressions, apparels, wearable, ornaments and other objects that must be taken into consideration by the entrants. The photo requirements for the US passports, visas and green card (permanent resident PR) are same but it is different for US electronic Diversity Visa Lottery application. The entrant’s photograph for the submission is strictly validated against the actual appearance of the entrant in many ways. Some ways may include a physical identification at the time the passport is collected, or through internal processes and interviews. The procedures varies from territories to territories but still always requires the validation against an actual and recommended passport requirements regarding about apparels and other attires so it is highly recommended to thoroughly go through these specifications for the acceptance and no later regrets.

1. The pose and expression of the entrant must be a directly facing camera with the full-face view, natural, neutral, relaxed and composed face.

2. Entrant’s teeth must not be visible in the photograph because the biometric scanning and recognition system rejects the validation. So the expression is to be a normally closed mouth.
3. The eyes of the entrants must be wide open and clearly visible. Added makeups and eye lashes like beautifying products which could obscure and reflect the entrant’s eyes in various appearances than the reality are not acceptable at all. Especially female entrants are advised not to use any makeups that could hinder your natural expression and appearance.

4. Alternatively, the entrant can also have a natural smiling facial expression. Although a neutral and natural expression is preferred for the recommendations, a natural smile is also acceptable.

5. The entrant is not allowed to wear any hats, uniforms, or head coverings except for the condition that the entrant is obliged to wear them as a religious beliefs and norms. The head coverings must not cast any type of shadows or reflections over the face of the entrant.

6. The special military uniforms and security authority’s dresses are also not acceptable to be worn by the entrant in the photograph because there are concerns regarding security and dress code measures by the US Bureau of Consular Affairs. So, the apparels are to be casual and representing daily lives of the entrant.

7. The latest requirements that has been accredited from November 1, 2016 is that the entrant are not allowed to wear any types of glasses at all except for rare conditions explained below for the new US Passport Photo submission. This applies to US Visas too.

8. If the entrant is facing a rare medical condition such as a recent ocular surgery where the doctor has advised not to take out the eyeglasses in order to protect the entrant’s eyes then a medical statement describing the entrant’s medical condition and the advisory prescriptions signed by the medical professional/ health practitioner must be provided to the US Dept. – Bureau of Consular Affairs. For this accepted rare medical condition entrants with eyeglasses there are certain requirements to be followed like:
a. Eyeglass frames must not cover the eyes of the entrants.
b. No glares on eyeglasses that may obscure the eyes of the entrants.
c. No shadows or refraction from the eyeglasses that may obscure the eyes of entrants.

9. For entrants following hearing problems and wearing a hearing aid in a daily basis are allowed to take their photograph with their hearing devices worn.

10. Wireless hands-free, wired headphones, earpieces or any such gadgets and electronic devices attached to the eyes, ears, nose, mouth or neck must be removed and the photograph must be taken in plain visible way so that the person to be photographed is recognizable.

11. If the submitted photograph fails to reflect the actual and current appearance of the entrant even if the photograph submitted is not older than 6 months, the US embassy or consular affairs will demand a new photograph to be submitted with your application. In such cases of change in appearance, the typical reasons to be noted by the entrant are:

*. The entrant has gone a significant facial surgery or trauma. Added or removed large portion of facial piercings or tattoos. Or sometimes a significant amount of weight loss or gain. Gender transitions are also one of the reasons.

12. For example, if the entrant has grown a beard or colored his/her hair and still recognizable then the new photograph submission is not asked by the authorities. Similarly in infants, babies and children under the age of 16 years old, a change of appearance due to normal aging process is considered positive. Hence it is generally not necessary to provide a new photograph.

While we recommend you use a professional photo service to ensure your photos meet all the requirements, you may opt to take the photo yourself with this awesome trending mobile app “Passport Photo ID Maker Studio” available in Play Store bundled up with great features. It ensures the acceptance of your passport photo because the app is very comfortable with all of the US Passport photo requirements to adhere to. Please remember that photos must not be digitally enhanced or altered to change your appearance in any way. The acceptance of your photo is always at the discretion of the U.S. embassy or consulate where you apply for a passport.

USA Passport Photo Requirements - Photo Dimensions, Paper Type, Colors, Background

The photo requirements for the US passports, visas and green card (permanent resident PR) are same but it is different for US electronic Diversity Visa Lottery application.

1. The photo size must adhere to 51mm width x 51mm height i.e. it must be 2 inches by 2 inches. It means that the photo dimensions must be in square aspect ratio i.e. the height of the photo must be equal to the width of the photo.

2. The photo must be taken recently within last 6 months of time to ensure your current true appearance. The minimum acceptable photo dimension is 600 pixels x 600 pixels and the maximum acceptable photo dimension is 1200 pixels x 1200 pixels.

3. The head size of the applicant must be between 25mm to 35mm i.e. 1 to 1 3/8 inches. It must be ensured that photo presents bottom chin to top crown of the applicant’s head covering up the photo’s total height from 50% to 69% and the head of person is centered with the photo. The eye height is 28mm to 35mm i.e. the applicant’s eyes must be in a linear position when seen in portrait mode and measure between 1 1/8 to 1 3/8 inches from bottom of the photo.

4. As a photographers’ guide to taking pixel perfect US passport photo so that it is accepted, one must be give a great detail of attention to the camera positioning and lighting. So the camera must be at least 1.25 meters (4 feet) away from the person to be photographed. Also the camera must be placed at eye level of the person and try to minimize the distance from the person to background to eliminate shadows.

5. You need to submit only one photograph with your passport application for US. The photo must be printed in a high quality glossy or matte photographic paper. Submission of your passport photo in high quality is very vital to the decisions made to your application by the US authorities. For more detailed tips and information about the photo paper sizes check out the 10 most popular paper sizes for printing your photos.

6. The photos must not be in black and white exposure or other color combinations. The acceptable passport photo is sharp without any visible pixels or printer dots and the applicant’s face is in focus with evident clarity.

7. The photo must be in color of 24 bits per pixel in sRGB color space. It can be obtained easily because most of the digital camera has this as default outputs. The file format of the photo must be in JPEG file format and the file size must be less than or equal to 240 Kilobytes. If the image is exceeding the file size and hence needs to be compressed to under the maximum file size of 240 Kb then the photo can be compressed in the ratio of less than or equal to 20:1.

8. Brightness and contrast must be adjusted to show the person to be photographed and photo background accurately. Natural facial features obscured by improper color combinations or contrast are not acceptable. So the color of the photo must reproduce the natural skin tones of the person. High fluorescent, bad lighting, camera flashlights with unbalanced color causes bad color cast in the photo which is not acceptable. Improper color balance must be managed too.

9. High contrast due to the overall light and shade in the background causes the person and the color of the photo to be obscuring so to rectify the correct contrast the direction of diffused light onto the person can increase the local contrast and reduce the total contrast. Photos must not be mixed with incandescent and fluorescent lighting. Corrective filters improve the light reaching the camera sensor and removes unnatural color effects. A neutral white card can be used to set the white balance level on modern cameras.

10. The passport photographic background must be in plain white or off-white i.e. the photographed must be taken against a white background that must be directly at the back of the person to be photographed. The applicant’s face and the photo background must be ensured to be well lit and without any obscuring patterns, texts, objects, or distracting shadows. Photo backgrounds with dark, busy and discernible resolution are not acceptable too.

11. The other most important specification to observe is that the background color and the color of the clothing worn must not match each other or even be similar in any extent to obscure the applicant’s true appearance or identity. For best results as correct background, try using the plain white wall of your house or a photographers’ backdrop cloth because ideally the background will be out of focus and the minor markings or texture on the background are not evident on the applicant’s photo.

12. For the infant and babies under the age of 3 years or so who cannot support themselves, the parents are advised to lay down their baby over a plain white or off-white sheet or such clothing and take the photograph so that the baby photo background is same as adults one. Supporting hands or toys alike items are not allowed to be seen. It is best recommended to take photo of them with their eyes wide open and mouths closed.

The passport photo must meet the listed requirements above strictly because the country’s official authorities do not overlook even a minor mistake. Nowadays printers may produce grainy image or dots may be seen and hence such photos are rejected too. So, a continuous tone image with very photo-like image is recommended. While we recommend you use a professional photo service to ensure your photos meet all the requirements, you may opt to take the photo yourself with this awesome trending mobile app “Passport Photo ID Maker Studio” available in Play Store bundled up with great features. It ensures the acceptance of your passport photo because the app is very comfortable with all of the US Passport photo requirements to adhere to. Please remember that photos must not be digitally enhanced or altered to change your appearance in any way. The acceptance of your photo is always at the discretion of the U.S. embassy or consulate where you apply for a passport.

Step By Step Guide To Make A Passport Size Photo Using ID Photo Maker app:

Passport ID Photo Maker Studio is the best among free ID Photo maker, editor and combining apps. This app lets you save a lot of money by combining standard passport, id or VISA photos into single 4x6, 5x7 or A4 paper. Then you can order prints from providers like Walgreens' photo, Amazon print or local photo booth. Create photos for official ID, Passport, VISA and License of all countries of the world including USA, Spain, Germany, France, India, Italy, Korea and Brazil in no time. Our customers have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars by ordering the prints of 4x6 / 5x6 photos using services like Walgreens Photo or Amazon prints after combining passport photos using this app. We have excellent features like background removal, ink and money saver, photography tips, etc. are available for purchase. Purchases are non-refundable unless they fail to work on your device.

You can combine multiple copies of your ID photo into a single printable paper to reduce cost of printing. All standard sizes as well as custom size of paper are supported.

Download & Install (Android Mobile Users)

To download the “Passport ID Maker Studio” app from the Play Store, go to this link given here https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=np.com.njs.autophotos  from your android mobile phone.
If you are using your mobile phone then you can find the Play Store in there and open it. To start downloading apps on the Play Store, you need to sign in with your Gmail Account. If you don’t have a Gmail account, please consider it creating before the procedures ahead.
Assumed you have signed in with your account in Play Store, search for the app “Passport ID Photo Maker Studio” by Andro Nepal. You can find it easily at the top of your searches if you try with keywords like “passport id” or “id photo”. After you have located and selected the app, you can see the green “Install” button at right side. Click the “Install” button. The downloading starts instantly and it installs the app for your mobile phone automatically. The total size of the app is about 2.5 MB; lightweight.
When you run the app for the first time, a popup window must appear that would ask for your choice of Photo Save Location - “The app will save your photos to this folder: (link to the location)”. You can change the location of the photo to be saved by clicking the Change option. Click the Got it! option to enter the app. It automatically displays the basic guidelines about the basic functionality of the app. On the top left corner you can find a Watch Demo option that plays the YouTube video showing the demo. You can skip these by clicking X button alongside the Watch Demo. But it is recommended to go through these tips and demo for your own ease by clicking the Next button.

Taking the photo

When you are at the main menu of the app, you can clearly find the Camera option right at the first. Click the Camera option. It should now open the camera showing you the yellow vertical grid and two outline of human body. Adjust the person to be photographed within these outlines and ensure the body of the person is divided equally by the given yellow vertical dotted line. After the adjustments are correct, click the white circular button to capture the photo. If the photo is mistaken then you can always press the X button and start over again unlimited.

Making Photo

When the photo is ready to proceed, click the √ to go next step. In this step you can choose among four options - Left, Right, Mirror and Flip. These options help you to change the orientation of the photo if you need. Click the √ Next button at the top right corner to go next step. In this step you can align the photo to left or right side by sliding the bar given at the bottom if you need. Click the Skip button to proceed without changes made. The next Crop Photo step is very important. In this step, you can choose the photo sizes and the country passport size accordingly. Click the Standard at the bottom left corner and choose your country for the passport. If your country is listed in the Most common sizes panel then you can choose the photo size accordingly.
After the photo size option chosen, the display allows you to adjust and cut your photo by fitting it inside a photo frame of chosen size. Touch inside the frame and drag to adjust it around. The head of the person must fit exactly between the top and bottom lines provided in the frame. After all to be cropped dimensions are adjusted, touch the √ Crop button at top right corner to crop the photo. It leads you to the next step where you can enhance your photo using several tools. Assumed you have taken the right shot, we recommend you not to enhance the photo in excess and only use them if needed.
Finally you can click the Save button at top right corner and giving it a name to save your passport sized photo in your mobile phone. Up to now you have captured, edited and saved your passport photo but now it’s time to get Ready to Print.

Ready to Print

Now you are back to the main menu where you left off for Camera. It’s time to head to Ready to Print just below the Camera. It leads you to the customized gallery of your saved photos from the app. The photos you saved from the earlier steps are displayed in this step. First thing you need to do is connect your home printer and mobile phone in the same Wireless connection. Now you can choose the single photo you want to print and touch the Share Photo option at the bottom. The other cool feature you can use is selecting the single photo and choosing the Print Multiple Copies option. This tool option lets you Choose paper size for the final print with multiple photos in a single chosen paper size. For instance, if you choose 4R (4 x 6 inches) then the app automatically creates your single passport photo into that printable paper size with multiple copies of itself such that you could scissor down each photo later. It gives you multiple ways to print them via your phone for e.g. Bluetooth connection and Wi-Fi Direct but since you already have printer connection you can choose Send to Printer option and print your photos unlimited times. It is more exciting to try out and save yourself some time and money.

Passport / Visa And Other Official photos Requirements For Singapore

The passport and visa photograph requirements and specifications for Singapore are both same. The Singaporean government is comfortable with both of the documents’ similar rules and requirements. Unless there are any variations in the photograph complying with the stated official photo requirements, the applicant’s photograph is assured to be accepted.

1.The applicant’s photo must be recently taken within the last 3 months of time in a passport sized dimensions of 35mm (3.5cm) width x 45mm height (4.5cm). There should not be any borders, frames or such boundaries around the photo.

2. The photo must be in color and it should have a close up face of the applicant such that it takes up 70% to 80% of the photographic paper size. The head size is 2.5cms to 3.5cms i.e. from top crown of applicant’s head to the bottom chin; the size of the applicant’s face must measure 25mms to 35mms and should be aligned in the center of the photo.

3. The photo must be taken against a white background in a matte or semi matte glossy photographic paper with no creases, stains, sheen, ink marks, or reflective properties. The color of the clothing worn by the applicant in the photo must not match the background obscuring the appearance. Attires, uniforms, hats or special clothing of the military departments, governmental agencies, security authorities or such depicting the personnel and employees standards are not allowed to be worn by the applicant in their photographs due to security concerns.

4. The full facial features of the applicant must be clearly visible without the headgear, headwear, masks or hats unless they are worn for religious or cultural purposes. In case the headwear matches the photo background obscuring the color then the background should be in a shade of light grey dark enough to distinguish your head and hair.

5. For those normally wearing spectacles in a daily routine, it is allowed to wear it in the photograph too but the eyeglasses must not have any reflections. Sunglasses, tinted glasses are not accepted. The eyes of the person to be photographed must be clearly visible. The glare on the spectacles can be avoided by slight tilting of head to upward or downward directions. The frames of eyeglasses must be checked to ensure that they don’t cover up any part of the eyes.

6. The applicant’s face must be facing the camera directly and the camera level must be straight to the eye level of the applicant’s face. The applicant must not be looking downwards, upwards or the head structure must not be tilted sideways in the photo. Any photo that is found to be substandard by the official authorities will be rejected.

7. The applicant’s face must be in showing a natural, neutral and relaxed facial expression or mood in the photo with their mouths closed and eyes wide open.  The photo must show the true skin tone of the applicant in natural state.

8. The facial image must be clearly evident and not too big whereas the applicant’s top shoulders must be clearly visible. The applicant’s hair must not be cropped off or altered to any design. Both edge of the applicant’s face with ears must be seen. Hair and wears should not cover the applicant’s eyes or ears and discern the identity well.

9. Neck, Chin, nose, eyebrows, both ears, and eyes must not be covered by anything and the forehead must be seen to that extent such that the shape of the applicant’s face is apparently evident from some distance away.

10. Only the person to be photographed who is the applicant of the Singaporean passport application is required to be photographed and any second person, chairs, sofa or object must not be seen. The face orientation of the applicant must be frontward and portrait.

11. As each one of the qualified applicant is provided with a separate passport or visa, group application are not allowed and hence group photos are also not accepted. Individual photograph of a person applying is required in all cases.

12. The total exposure of light to the passport photograph must appear evenly distributed and the blurriness or graininess within the photograph is totally not acceptable. Shadows, red eyes and uneven bright spots in the photo are not allowed. Flash reflections, out of focus and air-brushed photos are not allowed.

13. Uniform lighting is a must property in the applicant’s passport photographs. Photos without proper contrast and color are regarded as poorly taken photos and hence rejected. So proper brightness and rich contrast adjustment must display the applicant’s face and background properly.

14. The photograph attachment file with the online application form submission must adhere to these requirements. The photo must be in JPEG file format i.e. *jpeg extension. File size cannot be bigger than 150 Kilobytes. Dimensions of the photo image have to be 400 x 515 pixels. Discernible pixels or patterns in the photo are to be avoided.

15. Any kind of digital alteration, Photoshop effects, image manipulation, enhancement, spots removal or such changes made to the original passport photo of the applicant is not acceptable.

16. The photographs that are cropped off and printed or that appear to be taken as a Selfie are not acceptable at all. Scanned photos from another source photograph and printed or color photocopies are not allowed and hence not regarded as original photo. The authorities regard the live photograph taken from digital camera and printed as the original photo source. The passport photo with the date printed on it as a reminder or staple marks, are not allowed too.

17. For infants and babies under the age of 3 years who are unable to support themselves, parents or guardians can lay down them under the plain white sheet and take photographs with the babies face looking directly at the camera. While doing so, hands or supporting objects or toys like things are not allowed to be seen in the photo.

If the passport photo submitted to the application doesn’t meet the required specifications mentioned by the Singaporean government then the application gets delayed for further processing ahead. ICA provides you with the notification letter regarding your rejection of photograph through letters as soon as possible. So, you can re-submit a new photograph using the photo re-submission slip enclosed within the notification letter. After the receipt of your submitted passport photo and acceptance, the official Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) will notify by post to collect your completed passport/ visa.

Setting Up Printer For Printing Photos at Home

It is very crucial to properly set up your home printer for printing your passport photos because it doesn’t matter how expensive or how high quality printer you are using to print your photos unless you manage to set its settings to print things as per required. Any average costly printer can print your passport/ ID photos in high quality if you set the settings right and any high tech latest can ruin your photo if you are unknown to its settings. So, let’s head ahead to some of the most used and popular home printers categories that must be sitting right in front of you ready to print your passport/ ID photos at your home. We have included some five commonly available printers’ features and its default procedures to set for your passport/ ID photo requirements.

1.Epson Printers

People having Epson branded printers at their homes, follow these specific guidelines to set up your Epson photo printer for the passport photo right away. Starting with your saved digital image, you need to open your best chosen photo in any photo editing software (like Photoshop, CS, Picasa etc.). If you don’t have such software then your computer system has default photo viewer applications so find one and open the photo through it. Now you can find printer driver settings in the following dialogue boxes. Click Print menu from File menu of your application and discover Page Setup, Layout, Mode Settings in Print dialog box. There are three levels of Mode settings viz. Automatic, PhotoEnhance, Custom. We recommend you to stick with Automatic Mode Setting for now. Although professionals in these sectors know the advanced controls and may opt to go for it.

Next there is Media Type Settings in the Print dialog box. For best results choose these defined settings but according to your paper quality and printer conditions you may go other options too.

Plain Paper, 360 DPI, A4 paper size, EPSON Photo Quality Ink Jet Printer (A4), Matte Paper-Heavyweight

To make Ink setting in Color menu, choose Color option to print in color. While choosing for quality and speed of printing, recommended to choose quality over speed for best results.

For Photo Enhance settings, choose Standard option for standard image correction. Choose Portrait for the orientation of your passport photo. Do not reduce or enlarge photo settings while printing so keep it 100% available. Select a centered printable area and you are ready to print with Epson printers.

2. Canon Printers

For people having a Canon company printers at their homes, follow these default guidelines to set up your Canon printer for the printing your passport photo. Starting with your saved digital image, you need to open your best chosen photo in any photo editing software (like Photoshop, CS, Picasa etc). If you don’t have such software then your computer system has default photo viewer applications so find one and open the photo through it. Now go to the File menu option at top head and find print or print settings menu option. Some dialogue box must pop up with Printer’s name showing Canon and its model number. This is the window where you get to set your settings. Look for printer’s status to ready state and go to properties of printer menu. Some control menus may be different according to the system architectures from time to time but these procedures are applicable in default.

Generally you should find Media Type and Paper Source status there at first. Make sure the Media Type is Plain Paper, Source as Auto Sheet and Paper Size to be A4. You shall also find Print Quality and Color Adjustment options out there nearby. Set the Print Quality to High option if you have some 4 to 6 cartridges printer with you otherwise just select Standard. Set Color Adjustment to Auto because you don’t want to mess with random colors. If you find Gray scale Print Settings, it is better to turn it off.  After these default settings right, find a plain loose paper to test the first print and observe the quality. When it’s good to go, choose a fine photo paper and get ready to print your passport photo.

3.Brother Printers

In Brother branded printers, you find a printer setting tool (for Windows). This tool is mandatory for the proper settings. And it is installed with the printer drivers. With Communication settings tool, you can change printer communication settings for only one Brother Printer or many printers. With this tool, the settings can be changed over the Wireless LAN connection too.

Firstly you need to open printers folder, find Brother Printer driver and open the Printer Preferences on windows. To do this you can head to Start > Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Devices and Printers > Brother Printer. This applies in Windows 7 and lower versions. For Win 8 and higher, search for Devices and Printers in the start and search window bar.

Now in the Printer Preferences, you find three options Basic, Advanced and Print Profiles tabs. You just need to focus on two tabs for default settings. Usually the default is preset but it is always better to ensure with following guidelines about the specific preferences in Basic and Print Profile tabs.

First click the Basic tab and ensure these settings. Paper Size set to the one you are using. Mostly we assume you are using a standard A4 sized photographic paper. Orientation set to portrait as it is always for the passport photos. Copies options must probably must have a dropdown box indicating number of print copies you want to output. For now set the value to 1 as a test paper. Media Type set to Plain Paper. Resolution set to 300 dpi as default for almost the entire countries passport photo but still it is better to recheck your requirements and set as it is. Set the Print Settings to Graphics for photos.

Secondly click the Print Profile tab a step to right side of the dialogue box. Now this option just helps you to save time and moreover helps you store your custom preferences for the passport photo. A single print profile would store your customized print settings for once and apply it to all the other prints accordingly when you apply it. So creating a separate print profile and saving the aforementioned print settings especially for the passport photos is a good idea to get away with the future hassles and work.

Alternatively you could also download a mobile app from Play Store called “Passport Photo ID Maker Studio” that helps you to take your passport photo, save them locally at your phone memory and makes ready for the printing via USB tethering or wireless connection over the shared printers. So a single app in your smartphone could replace three things - digital camera, laptop and these print profile settings.

Why do you need to keep spare passport/ ID photographs?

In today’s hustle and bustle, people hardly even have time to look at their passport photos let alone carry an extra of them. But it is always a good habit to carry an extra pair of your recently captured passport or ID photos. We have some strongly valid reasons to make you think again about not going after the fuss of it. There are always stiff conditions in the airport terminals and traveling destinations. If you are a business person or a working person traveling many places then you must have been adept to various scenarios where you need to help with your identity and there you get stuck with the urgency to a pair of passport/ ID photo to be printed ASAP. So always keep spare ones because here we briefly summarize some of the places and occasions where you might get in a hurry for the passport/ ID photos.

1. Replacement for lost/ stolen passports

During the travel you can never be sure about your passport because it can be lost, stolen or damaged anytime anywhere. The only thing assured is that your country’s embassy is going to help you at these times but it is up to you to execute these procedures faster. And the first important thing to have is a pair of passport/ ID photos. So, it is always a good habit to carry an extra pair of them that qualifies the requirements and can be used for the replacement ID/ passport in case of such emergencies.

2. Getting a Visa

It is also helpful for getting your visa application process. In most of the countries, a recently taken and not older than 6 months passport-sized ID photo is required to be submitted for the Visa. And when you already have some extra then it is definitely going to save you a lot of your time and trouble searching for photo booths around your new traveling destination. Obtaining a visa will be much handy with the spare photographs.

3. Educational paperwork

Apart from traveling and business persons, there is also a vast majority of workforce like students, teachers and professional people who are in the educational sectors. They always surround themselves with paperwork and forms (e.g. admission form) that may need an ID photo stamped or glued for the identity purposes. So if you are living a student life then you must start a habit of carrying an extra pair of passport sized photos because it is better not to wander around helplessly during the urgency.

4. Public Library cards/ SIM Cards/ ID cards

Whether you are a foreigner or a native, the telecommunication providers always demand a photo of yours if you intend to register a new SIM card for you cellphone. Nowadays people can buy cellphones along with the SIM card but first you always need to do a small paperwork stating your identity. Similar is the case for ID cards that you may need in various walks of your daily schedules like public library membership or a fun park cards at the weekends. So an extra pair of passport photos will surely save some of your bucks when you are buying a new SIM card or planning to have weekend discount cards.

5. Police aid/ reports

Usually native and locals doesn’t make up the list here because they are not away from their home but having an extra passport copy and ID photos can be a serious help during the police report filings for an outsider or a tourist. You never know what bad lucks could run onto you during your vacations or business visits. So in case of any theft, loss or emergencies such that you may acquire a police aid in new places it is worth to have an extra copy of your documents that depict your identity such as passport photos and passport itself.

6. Official/Local/ Government forms

Tourist, business persons, students, locals and any other person from different walks of life might need one or more official government documents. And almost each and every government processing requires an ID/ passport sized photo of the applicant/ entrant. For instance, applying for a drivers’ license, a tourist pass for some days in visiting places, an insurance form processing, registering with local offices, a business meeting and sometimes even renting a flat. So when you are about to print some ID photos it is better to print some more to have with you all time.

7. Foreign Child Adoption

In most of the countries, there are rules to bring extra copies of passport/ ID photo if you are planning to adopt a child from the child care centers and orphanage homes.

8. Luggage Identification

In airports, train stations and passenger terminals, you go through luggage checking and there are many times problems regarding the identification of your luggage. A lot of people face these common problems in the entry and exit points at different airports where finding own luggage becomes a headache amidst the crowd and security checks. So sliding your extra photo in the luggage tag along with your home address keeps your luggage safe and with proof of owner. This way even if it gets misplaced or AWOL, the security pesonnel can find you with the photo.

9. Job Application/ Resume

While applying for a job interview, a passport/ ID photo is usually required to be attached with your cover letter or job application. Similarly a resume or curriculum vitae might also need a passport/ ID photo of the applicant/ entrant in most of the cases. So instead of scouring the big city for photo studios to get the urgent ID photos done, it is always a healthy habit to have a pair of spare passport/ ID photo with you during these job visits and city works.

Keeping a spare photograph can be more comfy when you save them digitally in your smartphones in the exact size and format for future printing. So you can download a mobile app “Passport ID Photo Maker Studio” and let this app work as a vault to save your ID photographs in your cell backups. So whenever you have a need you can just look up in your mobile and print them using the printers.
A last but not least tip for ones carrying these extra passport/ ID photograph is that try to keep your printed photographs in those zipped plastic cases so that it doesn’t get dirty and damaged due to the debris and moisture from outside in long runs.

How to shoot a passport photograph with perfect lighting and shadows?

Lighting with no shadows is the one of the most important factor to take into consideration when shooting for the passport photo. If the submitting passport photo does not fit these two important elements then it is no good for the submission. And you need to shoot a retake. So, it is better you reconsider these helpful tips thoroughly. Lighting and appropriate focusing on the portrait is important for the accurate detail of entrant’s visage. It is little hard to manage a perfect lighting and focus which doesn’t cast any shadows on the background, face or any body part seen in the photo. Shadows, reflections or refractions due to poor lighting are totally not acceptable. So it is all about training your eyes to weight the correct amount of lighting and focus needed for your passport photo.

1. Daylight time

Professional photographers know that the perfect time for any type of portrait oriented passport sized photo is the day time when there is enough natural lighting and focus to discard shadows too. After all it is better than all other artificial light sources, studio lighting or indoor lighting such as window light at homes. The photographer must be adapting to deal with variety of lighting sources. It is best suited to take your passport photo indoors with adequate lighting and focus over the entrant’s face so that there are no any obscurities.

2.Avoid excess and poor lighting

However excessive amount of lighting is also harmful for the passport photo because it produces overexposed photos with unusual facial obscurities. Bright and direct light from the sun is also not applicable for passport photos because it gives unflattering and dark shadows onto the face of the entrant obscuring the facial clarity. So a passport photo must be taken into consideration of avoiding excessive lighting and direct sunlight. Poor lighting is also equally bad for these passport photos because it produces under exposed photos. If the light is not enough for the face to be clearly visible then it is not being accepted so the best thing to do is illuminate your entrant from the front with enough artificial lighting in late night and position the camera along the sunlight during the daytime. This way you get lighting ahead of you as photographer and the person is also evenly lit so that you can manage your way to find a perfect shot.

3.Camera to person distance

There is a more technical and compositional tip to photographers about the camera distance from the person to be photographed. In average and complying with most of the countries photographers’ rule book, the correct distance between the camera lens and the person is around 3-4 feet away. Maintaining this distance for the photograph is best for the right zoom and close up shot as required for the passport photos for almost all of the nations around the globe. If you are getting shadows then it is recommended to try managing some paralleled distance to eliminate it.