Passport/visa and other official photos if available photo requirements for France.

The French passport photo requirements/ specifications that are acceptable for Republic of France for the entrants are as follows:
1.In French passports, entrants need to submit two identical and recent photos not exceeding 6 months age from the time of taken first time. One is required to be affixed to the application form. In dimensions, it must be exactly 45mm (4.5cms) in height and 35mm (3.5cms) in width.
2.It must be printed on a high quality photo-paper size at a high print resolution of at least 600 dpi especially when taken with digital camera. The recommended passport photo size is 2” x 2”.
3.The photo must be in color, not in black and white texture and the skin tone must appear natural. It must be taken on a plain white or a light-colored background covering the full front close up view of the entrant’s face. The top of shoulders must be seen such that 70% to 80% of the entire photo area must be taken by entrant’s face.
4.The background of the photograph must not contain any type of pattern. It should only show the person to be photographed and no other second person or any type of object. Shadows, obscurity and reflections are not acceptable in any manner within the appearance of photo.
5.Appropriate brightness, rich in contrast and clearly visible from some distance, no red eyes are some other style and appearance specifications to be checked before making any submission.
6.The entrant must be facing the full view of camera i.e. looking directly at the camera lens. Entrant’s eyes must be clearly visible and not covered by hair. The head structure must not be deviated from the line of view. The photo must not be taken in an angled or side view. In short, the head must be square to the camera.
7.The camera level must be straight at the eye level of the entrant’s and not above or below. The vertical length from top of entrant’s head or hair to bottom chin must fit inside 1 inch. In exact dimensions, the crown of head to chin is 32mm to 36mm.
8.Obviously the entrant’s face must be showing a neutral and natural expression with mouth closed.  No any tinted wear glasses or any obscuring glass frames are allowed. The entrant’s face must be evenly illuminated by the flash of camera.
9.People who are bound to wear any religious coverings or due to any medical reasons, these wearing are acceptable under the strict condition that it shall not obscure the photo in any way. The head wear is best recommended to be removed although the allowance because it will ensure your acceptance.
10.The entrant’s face must be clear in the photo, in sharp focus, in high quality and no marks or creases of any sort should be present along with the both left and right sides of face.
11.If you love to grow hair voluminous, then it must be taken care that the head including your hairstyle is clearly shown without reducing the size of face as much as possible.
 The photograph is recommended to be taken by a professionally experienced person or in passport photo booths available in various regions of France. The other easy and comfy option can be the trending awesome android application “Passport ID Photo Maker Studio” available in Play Store that eases up all the hardships and gives you a perfect combination of various features for passport photos, visa photos and other official document photos specifications.
12.Strictly, the photograph is not allowed to have any kind of impurities, Photoshop effects, alterations, image manipulations or editing. For example, removing dark circles, facial structures or softening lines.
13.For babies and infants who are unable to support by themselves, their photographs can be taken by laying them down and capturing from above. Still the child photo must not be seen with supporting hands or objects around.

French Visa application photo requirements

For the French visa application photos the requirements are very much similar to the passport photos, so some of the basic standard specifications to be met and checked are briefed here:
1.Here too, the visa entrant must submit two identical passport sized photographs that measure 2” x 2” in width and height. One photo affixed to the application form.
2.The photo must not be older than 6 months to ensure an up to date identity of the visa entrant.
3.The face in the photo must be centered, camera level to eye level of the entrant’s face and no obscuring appearance.
4.A clearly visible close up view of visa entrant’s face along with the top of their shoulders must be seen within the photo such that the face covers up 60% to 70% of the total photographic area size. In dimensional words, 1 inch and 1 3/8 (1.375”) from entrant’s chin to top crown of the head.
5.The visa photo must be taken against a plain white background without any patterns or creases. It should include only a person to be photographed and no other things or person.
6.No shadows, red eyes, Photoshop effects, image editing and similar digital acts are allowed before or after the photo printing.
Since each qualified entrant receives a separate visa, no group photos are allowed for the application and no group applying is accepted.
7.Digitally scanned or photos captured or produced from another photo are not allowed in the application both in passport and visa application forms. Only original photos taken live from cameras are regarded as acceptable.

And all other specifications and requirements are similar as well as equally applied and recommended for French Visa application photo to ensure the acceptance at very first time. Among the most typical reasons for your French passport or French visa application to get rejection, creating and submitting a badly taken photograph or the one lacking a clear implementation of recommended tips is one of the major reason. However, a genuinely precise measurement and its specialization to guarantee your acceptance of photograph in terms of official guidelines can really prove to be a hardship for anyone. So get your visa or passport photos done at the very first time and do not acknowledge any regret for rejection later. These strict rules and requirements for the various countries passport and visas photos are really tiresome and time consuming to go through so download and install this great mobile application called “Passport Photo ID Maker Studio” which supports the specifications stated by the official departments of more than 100 countries and is totally free to unlimited usage.

Passport/visa and other official photos if available photo requirements for Brazil.

The Consulate General of Brazilian government strictly asks for three recent identical photos for the Brazilian passport photo application. All the three photos must be in modern biometric size of 35mm (3.5m) width x 45mm (4.5cm) height. And all three photos must not be older than 30 days.
The entrant's face must be seen in front view against the off white or light gray background. The photo must be in color and printed in a glossy high quality photographic paper. Matte paper prints are not allowed for the passport/ visa photos.
A clearly visible face with mouth closed along with a neutral, natural and moreover a relaxed facial expression over the entrant's face and an original image color must be present such that it represents your true skin tone. Facial expressions that may profess the entrant’s mood to be frowning, laughing, smiling, tensed or such moods are not accepted for the face of the entrant to be photographed.
The instant photos printed and produced by the photo booths available around the shopping malls are not accepted as it is not checked under the supervision of recommended specifications specified by the Federal Consulate of Brazilian Government.
Similar to the head size specified by UK, the Brazilian passport photos also demand that the top crown of the head to bottom chin of the entrant's face must measure around 31mm to 36mm. Here better accuracy is considered to be acceptable that are obtained from professional cameramen.
Earlier there were rules that the Brazilian passport photos to be submitted over the application form must have a date of snap but now as the rules are changed, date is not required. Moreover, now photos with dates are rejected. So a good care is to be taken so that none is confused with the older requirements.
The entrant to be photographed is not allowed to wear any sunglasses, hats, caps or any other types of head coverings unless the entrant is bound to wear them due to religious reasons. The entrants who have specified medical conditions and are bound to wear spectacles are allowed to be photographed with their spectacles but these spectacles must not have toned reflections or tinted glasses. And also the frames of the spectacles must not be cover up the eyes or ears sideways.
The entrant's attire, clothing and other dress code must not match the background color of the photo so to ensure that the color combination is different from each other. Entrants with the beard are allowed. Uniforms that depict the military, law enforcements departments or such security agencies are not encouraged to be worn for the entrant to be photographed due to security concerns.
The entrant’s photo must also adhere to proper lighting. A little more brightness or a little less than the normal lighting exposure in the photo is not acceptable. So, poor lighting is to avoid.
Shadows, reflections and filters in the photo are not acceptable at all. Any kind of Photoshop effects, image manipulation or fancy designs that distorts the true identity of the entrant to be photographed is not acceptable.
Infants and babies to be photographed as an entrant under the age of 3 years in average who are not able to support themselves for the photograph may be laid down over the plain white sheet or clothing. This is recommended to the guardians that no any other object or supporting hands of the second person are allowed to be seen in the photographs of the infants. The child’s eyes must be looking directly at the camera with both eyes wide open.

Now Brazilian Visa application photo requirements and specifications conforms to US standards.

Here only one photograph conforming to the specifications of US standards is required. A 2" x 2" passport-sized photograph taken within the last 6 months to ensure the true appearance of the entrant is required for the visa application.
The dimension for the entrant’s visa photograph is required to be 50mm (5cm) width x 50mm (5cm) height. No Xerox copies are allowed.
Alike the Brazilian passport photos, many requirements are similar and equally acceptable with Brazilian Visa photo requirements too. So a visa photo also must show an entire face of the entrant from top crown of the head to the bottom of chin.
The visa photo must show the front view of the entrant's face. It must be clearly visible and rich in contrast as well as the camera level of the photo must be parallel to the eye level of the entrant's. Unclear, overexposed, poor lighting, matching background colors, blurry or low quality photos are not accepted.
The head size is 28mm to 35mm i.e. the top crown of the head to the bottom chin of the entrant's face must measure from 28mm to 35mm with the best possible accuracy maintained. This is the reason a professional cameraman is recommended for these purposes. But if you may not manage him/her or if you are in urgent need to have passport/ visa photo then it is recommended to have a mobile app trending over the Play Store called "Passport Photo ID Maker Studio". Through this app you just need to take a photo from your decent camera mobile and all other cropping and adjustments are done by the app according to your supported country requirements.
For the Brazilian Visa photos, a white background is required i.e. the entrant's photo must be captured against a plain white background. And no any shadows, red eyes, glares or any sort of reflections in the photo are acceptable. Anything that obscures the clarity of the entrant's facial appearance is not accepted.
Any kind of digitization of photo, image scanning, snapshots or computer editing from another source photo/s to produce an alike original photos are not accepted. Only photographs taken live by camera are considered to be original and are accepted.
Applicants of Brazilian Visa application who are under the age of 18 years are considered to be MINORS by the government of Brazil. So minors are required to fill up their forms provided their parent/s’ consent. The visa photo requirements for the minors are same to the ones that are older than 18 years old unless the minor is an infant.

Passport Photo Background Color for 18 Countries Including US, UK, India, Australia and Brazil

Country Passports are the most widely required document for identification of any being in the world. A key element of the passport as a means of requirement and identification is the passport photo background color. Very few countries now accept black and white photos for passports and photographs are now starting to be gathered by many countries in digital forms so that it can be used for computerized detection for required background color. This form of digitally acquired passport photograph is validated against the actual background color required for the visual verification at the time the passport collection and processing. The background color requirement varies from country to country but still it plays a vital role in determining the acceptance of the passport photo. As each country has its own set of rules and regulations defined by their governmental bodies responsible for Passport Services, there is always a need of a more general and clear understanding of the requirements asked for the legal acceptance of your passport. It is a worse feeling to be rejected for a minor requirement like this so a much more pedantic understanding about your passport photo background color must not be overlooked in any circumstances. So, let’s learn about the specific and official requirements needed for the background color in some of the most used passports in the world. Here are the countries and their background color requirements for passports summarized from the official government sites.

United States of America

The background color of the photo must not obscure the face or appearance of the person. The background must be uniform, plain white or off-white. Both are acceptable. It must not have any shadows.

United Kingdom – Britain

In UK guidance for passport photo requirements, the background color must be in plain cream or light grey (5% to 10% grey is recommended). Both are equally acceptable. Your photo must be in clear contrast to the background. No shadows and uniform lighting.

Nepal

For the country of Himalayas, the background color requires that the applicant’s passport photo to be taken against a very plain white or off white color. No shadow within the photo and a very sharp focused high resolution photo without any borderlines showing a clear appearance of the applicant’s visage is acceptable according to the official regulations.

France

The French requirement for the background is either white or a very light color. Anything else than a plain white background is unacceptable and leads to rejection.

Australia

For the land of Kangaroos, the passport photo must be taken against a plain white or light grey background that contrasts with your face.

Russia

Similarly, the Russian Passport photo requires that the background is either plain white or light color. Any patterned background in your passport photo leads to rejection.

Singapore

For the Singaporean Passport Photo, the photo must be taken against a white background without shadows. However if your hair, hat or head covering is white, the background must be light grey.

Italy

If you are planning to apply for an Italian passport then your passport photo must show the frontal view of your visage with a white background. You must wear dark colored clothes.

Brazil

For the Brazilian passport photo, the photo requires the frontal view with light gray or off white background.

India

The Indian passport photo requirements states that the background should be plain white colored without borders with contract colored clothes and not white clothes. Photos with dark, busy or patterned backgrounds shall not be accepted. No shadows on the face or on the background.

Germany

In German Passport photo requirements, the background should be one color and bright ideally a neutral grey color and in a contrasting color to the face and hair. In case of light colored hair, a medium-grey background is suitable whilst a light-grey background is suitable for dark hair. The background should not have any pattern. No shadows must be shown on the background.

Spain

White backgrounds are specified for Spanish Passport photos. In color, a uniform white background and printed on photo quality paper with high printing resolution. It must be taken against a light background so that features are distinguishable and contrast against the background.

Honk Kong

In Honk Kong Passport photos, the background should have a plain white background showing the applicant’s face straight ahead, with head centered in the frame and ears exposed.

South Korea

In South Korea passport photos, the photos must be clear, well defined and taken against a plain white or light colored background. Shadows are not acceptable and uniform lighting across face, ears and shoulders with a clear difference between face and the background.

Indonesia

About the Indonesian Passport photos requirements, the rules have been changed a little for background color. Now the Indonesian Authorities require a white background and NOT red as before. And there should be enough contrast between the background and traits or clothing.

Canada

The Canadian Passport photos must be taken against a plain, uniform white or light-colored background to ensure that the applicant’s facial features and edge of the face are clearly visible. As such for someone in wheelchair, the photo be taken with a plain white blanket placed behind the applicant’s head. Shadows are not acceptable and uniform lighting across face, ears and shoulders with a clear difference between face and the background.

Malaysia

The Malaysian Passport (Polycarbonate) photo requirements says that a white or off white background with no shadows. But for the Attaché Immigration Offices in overseas issued Malaysian Passport without Polycarbonate film bio data pages, the applicant must be photographed with a light blue background. Effectively from 21 October 2013, new Malaysia passport application will require White Color Background photo.

Philippines

A new photo requirement for the issuance of a Philippian Passport, the passport photo should be taken against a plain white color background instead of a royal blue background. This new requirement is updated fact by August 2016.

Passport/visa and other official photos if available photo requirements for Australia

The general guidelines for the passport photo requirements for Australia are stated by the Department of Federal State and Affairs. These are the strict rules and specifications that ought to be applied by the entrants onto their respective photos for passport application. The entrants get so obsessed with the passport processing procedures that they ignore the staple fact that bad photographs are the most common reason for rejecting your passport application. The facial recognition technology used for detection of Australian passports prevents from potential identity frauds. So if you do not have a photo with recommended requirements as stated below, your passport will not be acceptable.
The basic available photo requirements for Australian passport photos are enlisted and briefed down for you ease and understanding:

1. The most usual and recommended is that the entrant’s photo must be in high resolution and quality photographic paper with color gloss prints and must not be older than 6 months.

2 .No any marks in the face or any red eye. Normal lighting and no shadows at all with a clearly focused image shall be presented.

3. A plain white background that contrasts with entrant’s face or with light grey background equally acceptable.

4. The photo dimensions must be at least 45 mm (4.5 cm) height and 35 mm (3.5 cm) width. And from top of head to chin, it should be 32 mm to 36 mm. If bigger photos, no trimming is allowed.

5. Entrant must show a naturally neutral facial expression with closed mouth, eyes looking directly at camera lens and face not tilted in any direction.

6. If you have multiple photos to process than each must be identical to another along with no obscurity in facial features.

7. People with daily religious attires, wearable, glasses or facial jewelry can take photos along with them. Though these items must not obscure any part of eyes, mouth, ears or nose. The thick glass frames or tinted wear glasses creating reflections or such any feature are not acceptable.

8. For babies and children under 3 years old, an open mouth is acceptable but all other requirements must be met and no any other object or second person can appear in it.

9. For people creating new passports for Australia, the government asks for an endorsement made by a guarantor on behalf of the entrant’s any one application photos whereas a renewal application for passports doesn’t need it.

By any serious medical conditions, if you are unable to meet the photo requirements then there is a different form named B11 to fill up available in governmental site.
Officially the Australian Passport Offices doesn’t endorse any type of photo outlets or providers online or offline for these requirements check. So it’s better to opt for an experienced photographer in passports’ photos. Or the other recommended option for you is to try a DIY (Do It Yourself) or an even better option is to go for this trending awesome mobile app “Passport Photo ID Maker Studio” available in Play Store.

Top 10 mistakes that people make while shooting a passport photo.

Usually the DIY beginners tend to make these mistakes while shooting for a passport photo but it is not true that experts and professional cameramen don’t make them. Setting up a perfect shot at the first time is very hard for any professional. Sometimes these common mistakes happen even after the awareness due to unusual conditions. So let’s learn some and let’s not do any one of them

1. Incorrect size and dimension

The first and foremost mistake an applicant does is with the size and dimensions of the required passport photo. According to the specified official rules, most of the countries demand a 2” x 2” inches sized photo without any borders or outlines. However it varies from countries to countries so the entrant must be well aware of his/ her specific country requirements. Most of the time, the inappropriate editing and cropping results in the unwanted size and dimensions. It also creates an unparalleled view of the applicant’s face with the portrait orientation.

2. Apparels and wearing

For the entrant of passport application wearing proper and casual clothing is very vital during the shooting of passport photo because there are certain rules and regulations regarding them in every country’s rule book of passport photo requirements. And failure to decide what to wear for the photo shoot is also very baffling to the entrants which ultimately results in the second most common mistake. Generally, hats or head gear are allowed unless the entrant is wearing them in a regular basis for religious reasons. Another common mistake is entrants thinking that wearing a regular eyeglass in belief that it would be acceptable but it is not. Wearing spectacles or eyeglasses are only allowed if there lays any good medical reason else it is recommended to remove them. Though for these cases, the entrant must be submitting a signed document stating the head gears are religious in nature. If the entrant is wearing the uniforms of any school, organizations or such authorities then this mistake must be acknowledged and you should go change your apparels. Camouflage attires are rejected.

3. Lighting and focus

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 makes it the other common mistake performed by the DIY entrants and even professionals too. Too dark contrast or too light contrasts as well as overexposed photos are directly rejected. So these factors must be looked carefully by the photographer. You should make sure that the photos are in focus. Shades, reflections or refraction over the face of the entrant due to poor lighting and shadows are totally not acceptable at all.

4. Camera level and Eye level

Please look at the camera lens for a while at least because the other defect found in the passport photos of the rejected entrants is the deviated eye and camera level. People tend to look downside or attempt to neglect the camera view just because they are used to so. Not looking at the camera level causes the entrant’s eyes to be viewing at deviated angle and this causes the rejection. If you are doing it yourself with DIY procedures then you must be very careful about both of these levels in the tripod. Whereas the second person photographer needs to manage properly with his/ her camera distance from the entrant’s face and eyes at both sideways and upside positions.

5. Background/ background color

Obviously people make background mistakes because they are not reading the compositional requirements provided by the official federal bureaus of the country’s passport services they are applying to. And this poses a big rejection stamp on their passport application at the moment it goes under the inspection over the passport services offices of the respective country. An incorrect background of the passport photo is totally unacceptable. This mistake is usually bad but it is generally not encountered. It is very crucial to ensure whether the background color matches the specified color by the officials. Some people misunderstand the color descriptions and get over with the similar looking colors which is another blunder they do. Blurring the background to match the required color background is also not acceptable. Shadows on the background are another mistake found in the entrant’s photo. All the countries specifications clearly read that there should not be any kind of dark spots or shadows and refraction in the background of the passport photo.

6. Facial expression

The entrant face should be forward looking directly at the camera lens so that it is not tilted sideways or making any other gesture through the photo. The federal authorities of the passport services where you are applying are looking for a normal face recognizable of you. Trying to make funny, pitiful or squinting faces to acquire the attention of the viewer is not going to do any good. These are the common mistake or moreover thinking of the people which leads their passport application rejection. The passport services authorities doesn’t care how you look when you smile, frown or sad. So do not pretend to do so in any way.

7. Infants photos

All the requirements are similar to adults when it comes to shoot for the infants passport photo but these things confuse the guardians and leads to silly mistakes during their babies photo shoot. Parents try to support their baby while shooting for the passport photo in front of the background and make mistakes by showing their hands in the babies’ photo outline too. Any second person or other object that holds or supports the infant during the photo shoot are purely rejected in all of the passport services. Sometimes car seats are seen in the background which is too unacceptable.  So it is not good to neglect the idea that inspection is not strict to infants’ photos as it is for the adults. Once again the passport services officers are not obliged to take go soft looking the babies photos, they do their jobs well so you must do yours part.

8. Digital alterations

Any kind of digital alterations or Photoshop editing and effects are not allowed in the entrant’s photo so trying to look nice and classy with editing is bad decision for your passport photo. Nowadays the other mistake made by the naive entrants is misunderstanding the Selfie as the self-portrait can be submitted for the passport photo. This is not applicable at all because the Selfie mode of the camera doesn’t comply with the passport photo requirements at all and it is not built for the purpose too. It yields low resolution and most probably badly tilted photos. Cropping the body part of image, adding special effects to lighten up the face, softening dark spots and beautifying image for better looks are blunders. They must be avoided.

9. Camera settings

Cameras are manufactured according to various needs so to shoot a passport photo with right settings in any kind of camera can be totally troublesome task for any person without the proper knowledge of photography. Most commonly people making the passport photos tend to randomize the settings and convince themselves with the bad settings. People tend to be mistaken by the variety of vague settings in the camera and stuck on unwanted photo composition. If you cannot set the right settings in your high specs cameras then it is better recommended to ask help with professionals. Whereas applicants with DIY procedures and android smartphones, they can download the “Passport Photo ID Maker Studio” app from Play Store and continue with the preset settings. Using this app the entrants would not worry about the vague settings and be safe on these factors regarding the passport photos.

10. Being adamant with self

It may sound weird but it is true to higher extent in all of the newbies to pros. People get arrogant and believe that they know all. They lack the knowledge of detail specifications and requirements for the passport photos. This creates many minor to major mistakes that can be accounted due to lack of proper observance. Inspection of your passport photo strictly abides by the rules so it is better to exercise all the possible tips and helpful readings while you can. Regards for reading to the end.

10 Things You Should Know About DIY (Do it Yourself) Passport or ID Photos

It’s the time to say no to the expensive and unsatisfactory passport photographs. It is your choice to take a right decision with everything that you should know about what you can do by yourself. Yes, you can do it yourself with the Passport and Visa Photographs. And that also a multiple times until you are satisfied with your photograph because in the end the passport is going to show your identity in destinations you desire to visit later. Still many people are embarrassed about showing their passports at the airport checkpoints because they didn’t care about asking for the retake in front of the photographer at the time and ultimately ruined their better looking face. You should like to have control over your identity picture to show to world and so you should do it yourself after all your passport photo is going to last for around 10 years. Make it an awesome one no matter how many times you retake it.

Here are some 10 most vital points that every beginner or expert trying to DIY with passport photos should know and learn about:

1. Doing it yourself saves you money.

You won’t be paying any extra charges for the photographer or the professional. The expenses of hiring professionals, printing photo services,

delivery and of course the cost of multiple photographs are way too much if you compare with

doing yourself. You are building a confidence level to do it in the near future for your people so

you are making things easy for everyone around you who will be troubled with passport photos. In essence, you will be satisfied with your passport photo.

2. It doesn't take a lot of time.

If you are happy to spend for the convenience then it’s okay with the all the other options

available to printing passport photos. But if you are willing to do it yourself then you must be

glad to read that it is pretty easy to save money for it. So why increase your expenses when you can do it yourself until you are satisfied with your own home printers and personal smartphones. All it takes is a couple of your time and a thorough understanding ahead.

3. You can use the tools you have at your home.

There are some common things that you need before you proceed and they are a digital camera or a latest smartphone with high megapixels (at least 5MP), a decent color photo printer and a computer or laptop. Scissor to trim your photo into multiple pieces after you print the photographic paper to your size.

4. Find a Tripod for Still Shots.

Now after you have all what you need, you need to set up the shot. Get yourself a friend or a relative because you are going to need him/ her for procedures ahead if you opt to make photo for yourself. And if you cannot afford to have anyone then it is still fine because then you need to add a tall standing camera tripod in your tools to need list that will capture your shot. If you are using tripod then you surely need a self-timer capture feature on your camera or smartphone whatever camera device you are using to take photographs.

5. Setting up the right environment is a little bit tricky.

Be careful to attempt because you need to adhere to the specific requirements addressed by the federal authorities. For right background, you need to set up a white or plain off background color. For this you can use your white wall or poster board, or pin a large sheet of cloth, or a crease free bed sheet to wall, or outside in the daylight for the best results. Although wherever it is decided, the person to be photographed must stand a meter away from the background or so to avoid possible reflections and shadows. Other important things to remember, we are taking photograph in portrait orientation with no red eyes and perfect lighting. In short, a nice near natural daylight photo. Still a lot of minor specifications are important to keep in mind during the DIY procedures so you can look up in the internet at official US federal bureau’s site for extensive details.

6. Set your camera to highest quality and resolution.

Camera must be ensured to have its maximum possible highest resolution and its lowest compression settings so that there’s a best possible quality photo. You need to place your camera at eye level and at least 4 feet away from the person to be photographed. Obviously the background must be behind the person and the photo position is centered to person’s visage. It can be troublesome to do for the beginners and first timers so it is better to approximate the picture size via the LCD display panel on your digital camera or smartphone. Moreover using tripod is very much helpful and easier to complete the setting up task. After you set up for the right shot, the camera display must be including the upper body and space above head in field of view. Trying to capture as much as body space is not useless after all because we could crop the unwanted space later on but capturing little body space could result in lack and hence another shot would be required consuming more of your hassle and time.

7. Take a few shots and pick the best one.

Yes, it is more feasible to shoot a multiple shots. After all the setups, now you must be ready to click the snap button. If you are using self-timer feature then it is good to set a little more time and it is best recommended to flip your camera display panel to your side i.e. facing you so that you could see in it like a mirror. In today’s fancy terms; Selfie mode though it is not allowed to take selfies as your photo. Now remain calm and snap some 5 - 10 shots. Transfer it your computer/ laptop and save it to a folder so that you can work in an organized manner.

8. Edit and crop the photo to the exact dimensions and compositions.

For this you need to have internet connection and go to the US Dept. of State own photo editing tool link. There you get three options to work on. Choosing your photo to upload to their system, cropping the photo to resized dimensions and finally saving the cropped photo back onto your computer/ laptop. So it is easy steps to perform for any beginner. Just head to the site, choose a photo from you folder, resize with respect to the given outlines at site’s tool and save your final passport photo for later steps of printing. But if you find it hard to manage through these steps then there’s another awesome mobile app trending in Play Store for you convenience; Passport Photo ID Maker Studio. Download and install the app in you smartphone and it does all the cropping and saving task for you with its unlimited free editing tools. This way you won’t even need a computer/ laptop. Now you are ready to print in your own home photo color printers.

9. Know the app you are using.

The photo editing tool saves the photo as a 2-inch- by-2- inch photo which is the final print size required for your passport photos if you are trying for US and other nations passports. But some countries have a bit varying sizes so you need to set those print sizes to you printer settings. This can be hard for ones without technical knowledge so the aforementioned mobile app suits the best here too. The mobile app supports more than 100 countries and its official requirements.

10. Finally, Print the passport photo in high quality.

After the print size is ensured, you got to ensure that the photographic paper to be printed is of high quality, matte and glossy. Otherwise all the efforts would be in vain due to the poor prints. Now, if you intend to print over your own home printers, it must be a color photo printer in good conditions so that it doesn’t excrete bad spots. While printing if printer tries to resize or attempt any changes then ignore those changes and print the photo in 100% onscreen size. After you have printed your photo, ensure the photo sizes by measuring it using the ruler. When everything is right, take a scissor and start cutting the edges carefully to produce a perfect passport sized photo for your application.

Now that you have known everything about printing your passport or id photos yourself, time to take a shot.

How to Take Proper Passport or ID Photo - 10 Tips For A Perfect Pose

1. Unusual face

The entrant must avoid unusual facial expressions because it is not accepted by the federal authorities. The applicant must be depicting a naturally relaxed and calm mood. He/ she needs to show a neutral and normal face. It should not include squinting, making sad faces, smiling, frowning or any other moody behaviors.

2. Closed eyes

The entrant is required to open their eyes wide open. A closed or even a mildly opening view of eyes is not regarded as a correct for the passport photo. It is clearly stated in the photo requirements sections of all the countries that the entrant’s both eyes must be clearly visible and seen in his/ her passport photo to be submitted.

3. Double chin

Mostly over-weighed and sometimes even slender people faces are producing a double chin view on their close up shot of their passport photo because of the excessive/ insufficient amount of the body mass over their facial structures; no pun intended. So to avoid this weird problem, we suggest the entrant to try pressing his/ her tongue back inside the closed mouth so that the double chin area is not seen in the photos.

4. Head tilt

Tilted head structure is ought to be avoided during the passport photo shoot. The entrant must remain calm and straight for a while. Tilted head and face in the photo directly gets rejected so to avoid it ask your photographer whether the linearity is maintained or not. If you are DIY with tripod, then it’s a bit tough alone. However you can take a firm reference ahead and manage.

5. Open mouth

The entrant is not allowed to open their mouth in the photo. An open mouth showing teeth is directly rejected. Lips must be in normally relaxed state and both upper and lower lip area must be touched such that there is no any gap seen.

6. Eye contact

The entrant must be looking directly at the camera i.e. the eye level and camera level must be linear and straight. The entrant must be giving the straight eye contact towards the camera lens such that the entrant’s eyes are looking forward at equal level.

7. Extra Makeups

Putting up an extra makeup and beautifying products to enhance the look of the face is not recommended and thus needs to be avoided. If you usually wear makeup then put on usual amount of makeup so that it doesn’t reflect you differently than what you look in daily life.

8. Blinking

Avoid blinking your eyes while giving pose for the passport photo because it makes your photographer hard to capture the right shot with your eyes wide open. Blinking problem can be troublesome when it makes your shoot a lot repetitive. So relax your eyes, remain calm and don’t blink for some seconds.

9. Matching colors

Do not wear attires that match the color of background or even your skin tone. If the background color matches even mildly with the color of your apparel then it is producing a obscurity and hence rejected. If your skin tone is bright and background color is plain white then wear black clothing for instance.

10. Bad hairstyle

The entrants don’t take seriously about their hairstyles while posing for the shoot but it is also a important aspect that reflects your personality and moreover it helps you pose for the correct composition. Growing huge beards and long hairs is not recommended. Comb your hair and style them natural so that it looks professional and neat.