How to Make a Passport Photo at Home (Save $15)
Drugstores charge $15 for passport photos. You can make one at home for free with your phone and a white wall. Includes templates for US, UK, EU.
My local CVS charges $16.99 for a passport photo. Walgreens wants $16.50. I needed photos for three family members when we applied for passports last spring, which would have run me about 50 bucks. Instead I took them at home with my phone and a free online tool. They got accepted on the first try.
The whole process took about 15 minutes per person. If you have a decent phone camera and a plain white wall, you can do this too.
Passport photo requirements by country
Different countries want different sizes. Here are the specs for the most common ones:
| Country | Print size | Digital size | Head size | Background |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 2 x 2 in | 600 x 600 px min | 1 to 1-3/8 in | White |
| United Kingdom | 35 x 45 mm | 900 x 1200 px min | 29-34 mm | Light gray |
| Canada | 50 x 70 mm | Variable | 31-36 mm | White |
| European Union | 35 x 45 mm | Variable | 32-36 mm | Light gray/white |
The US spec is the strictest. Your photo has to be exactly 2 by 2 inches with a white background and your head taking up a specific percentage of the frame. Too much space above your head? Rejected. Background slightly off-white? Rejected.
Before you take the photo, double check which spec applies to you. Most government websites list their requirements clearly.
Step 1: Take the photo
You need someone to help with this part. Selfies will not work. The angle is wrong and the distance is too short.
Find a white wall. Stand about 4 feet in front of it. Have your friend stand about 4 feet in front of you, holding the phone at your eye level in portrait mode.
Lighting matters more than the camera. The biggest reason passport photos get rejected is shadows on the face or background. Stand facing a window with natural light. If the light is behind you, your face will be dark and the background will be bright. That gets rejected every time.
Avoid overhead lights if you can. They cast shadows under your eyes and nose. Morning or late afternoon window light works best because it is soft and even.
Expression rules. For US passports, keep a neutral face. Mouth closed. Eyes open. No smiling. The UK and Canada allow a slight smile but no teeth showing. Look straight at the camera. No tilting your head.
Take at least 10 shots so you have options. I took about 15 of my wife before we got one where her eyes were fully open, her head was straight, and the lighting was even. It is harder than it sounds to look natural while staring at a phone.
What to wear. No glasses for US passports since 2016. No hats or head coverings unless religious. Avoid white shirts since they blend into the background. A dark colored top works well.
Step 2: Crop to the correct size
Open the crop tool and upload your best shot.
For a US passport photo, you need a square image. Set the aspect ratio to 1:1 using the preset button. Then position the crop area so your head fills the right amount of the frame.
The US requires your head to be between 1 inch and 1-3/8 inches from the bottom of your chin to the top of your head. On a 2x2 inch print, that means your face should take up roughly 70% of the vertical space.
Leave about half an inch of space above the top of your head. I messed this up the first time by cropping too tight. The photo had almost no space above my forehead and would have been rejected.
After cropping, download the result.
Step 3: Resize to the required pixel dimensions
US passport photos need to be at least 600 x 600 pixels for online applications. Go to the resize tool and set your cropped image to 600 x 600 pixels.
If you are printing at a drugstore photo kiosk, higher resolution is better. I resize mine to 1200 x 1200 pixels, which gives you a crisp 2x2 print at 600 DPI. That is overkill, but photo kiosks sometimes do weird things with lower resolution files.
For the UK, resize to 900 x 1200 pixels minimum. For Canada and EU countries, check the specific pixel requirements on the government website.
Step 4: Compress to meet file size limits
The US State Department accepts photos up to 10 MB for online applications. Most phone photos are well under that. But if you are submitting through a government portal that has a smaller limit, or if the website is being picky about upload size, head to the compress tool.
My cropped and resized passport photo was 420 KB. I compressed it to about 120 KB at 85% quality. The difference was invisible, and the smaller file uploaded instantly.
Do not over-compress. If the quality drops below what the government considers acceptable, they will reject it. Stay above 70% quality and you will be fine.
Why passport photos get rejected
I looked through the State Department’s rejection data and forums where people share their experiences. These are the most common reasons:
The background is not pure white. A slightly cream or gray wall will look white to your eyes but not to the reviewer. Hold a piece of white printer paper next to your wall to compare. If the wall looks even slightly yellow or blue, find a different spot.
Your head is the wrong size in the frame. Too small means too much background. Too large means your head gets cut off at the top. Use the crop tool and measure carefully.
Shadows on the background. If you stand too close to the wall, your body casts a shadow. Stand at least 3 feet from the wall and make sure the light is hitting you from the front, not from the side.
The expression is wrong. Smiling with teeth, squinting, raised eyebrows, tilted head. Any of these will get your photo sent back. Look straight ahead with a relaxed, neutral face.
The file is too large or the wrong format. Upload a JPG between 600x600 and 1200x1200 pixels and under 10 MB. The system does not accept PNG files for US passports.
How to print your passport photo
You do not need to print it on special paper. A regular 4x6 photo print works.
The trick is to put multiple copies of your 2x2 photo onto one 4x6 sheet. Open a blank 4x6 canvas in any image editor and arrange your passport photo in a 2x3 grid. That gives you six copies on one print. You only need two for the application. The extras are backups in case something goes wrong.
I printed mine at a CVS photo kiosk for $0.37. Yes, thirty-seven cents. Compare that to $16.99 for their passport photo service. The kiosk prints on the same photo paper either way.
You can also print at home on glossy photo paper. Use your printer’s highest quality setting. Plain printer paper works in a pinch but the colors will look washed out and some agents have rejected them for looking “unofficial.” Photo paper is safer.
Tools you need for this
Here are the links in order:
- Crop your photo to a square with the right framing
- Resize to the correct dimensions for your country’s requirements
- Compress the file if the upload portal has a size limit
All three run in your browser. Nothing uploads to a server. Your photo stays on your device the entire time, which is probably better than handing your passport photo to a random CVS employee who sticks it in a folder behind the counter.