How to take a passport photo at home

Ask someone else to take the photo — selfies distort the face and rarely have the head straight. Stand half a metre to a metre in front of a plain wall, facing a window, with the camera 1.5–2 m away at your eye level.

India, the United States, Canada and China require a plain white background; the UK accepts light grey or cream; Schengen and Australia accept any plain light colour. A white or off-white wall, a door, or a bedsheet pulled flat all work.

The best light is soft daylight from a window in front of you. It lights both sides of the face evenly and avoids shadows under the eyes and on the wall.

• Use the rear camera at 1× or 2× — never the ultra-wide lens, and avoid digital zoom.
• Hold the phone upright at eye level, parallel to the face — not tilted up or down.
• Frame the head and shoulders with generous space all round; the tool does the cropping. The face should not fill the frame.
• Switch off portrait mode, beauty filters, HDR “enhance” and any skin smoothing. Retouched photos are rejected.
• Tap the face to focus, keep still, and take several shots.
• Send the original file to your computer — messaging apps compress photos and lower the resolution.

The Indian specification asks for coloured attire — for example a medium blue shirt — that is not patterned, textured or pure white. A solid mid-to-dark colour gives a clean edge against the white background.

Wear

• Medium blue
• Navy
• Maroon
• Forest green
• Charcoal
• Teal

Avoid

• Pure white
• Cream / ivory
• Very pale pastels
• Busy patterns
• Neon / reflective
• Uniforms & camouflage

Wear everyday clothes with a normal neckline. Avoid strapless tops (you may look unclothed in the crop), large jewellery that reflects light, headphones and wireless earbuds.

• Glasses: no tinted or dark lenses. If you keep clear glasses on, the frames must not cover the eyes and there must be no glare — tilt your head very slightly down to remove reflections. The United States does not allow glasses at all.
• Head coverings are permitted only for religious reasons. The face must be fully visible from the bottom of the chin to the top of the forehead, including both edges of the face, with no shadow cast on it.
• No hats, caps, hairbands that cover the forehead, or sunglasses pushed up on the head.

Rules are relaxed for children under ten — head size and eye position may fall outside the usual range — and babies under one year need not have their eyes open. Tick “Child under 10” in the photo maker.

• Lay a baby on a plain white sheet and photograph from directly above, or seat them in a car seat covered with a white sheet.
• The child must be alone in the picture: no hands, toys, dummies, chair backs or other people.
• Face towards the camera, mouth closed if possible. Take many shots and pick the calmest.

1. Download the 4 × 6 inch print sheet. It holds six 2 × 2 inch photos with grey cut lines.
2. Print on 4 × 6 in (10 × 15 cm) photo paper, matte or glossy — at home, at a pharmacy kiosk or an online lab.
3. Choose 100% / actual size. Turn off “fit to page”, “fill page” and borderless expansion, which rescale the photo.
4. Measure one printed photo with a ruler: it should be exactly 51 mm wide with the head between 25 and 35 mm.
5. Cut along the grey lines with scissors or a paper trimmer. Don't staple, fold or write on the front.

The print should have continuous tone with no visible dots or pixels. Files are exported at 600 dpi, well above what any lab needs.

• ✓Taken in the last six months
• ✓Colour photo, sharp, no filters
• ✓Plain white background, no shadows
• ✓Head centred, top of hair to chin visible
• ✓Facing the camera, head not tilted
• ✓Eyes open and visible, mouth closed
• ✓Even light on both sides of the face
• ✓Coloured, plain top — not white
• ✓No tinted glasses, glare, hat or earbuds
• ✓Printed at 100% on photo paper, 51 × 51 mm

See good and bad examples or check the exact numbers on the requirements page.