How to prepare a passport photo

What software can fix

Every authority sets file rules, and they differ enough to matter. The UK publishes its own on gov.uk: at least 600 pixels wide by 750 tall, a file between 50KB and 10MB, in colour. Figures for India and the United States are harder to come by - the portals themselves could not be read directly, so the pages here take numbers that independent specialist references agree on and say exactly that on the page rather than presenting them as the authority's own.

That distinction is worth carrying with you. A published figure you can check is a different thing from a widely repeated one, and any site that presents both in the same confident voice is telling you less than it appears to.

What causes most rejections

Not the file. The common causes are all about the photograph:

1. 1Background. Plain and light, with your face clearly separated from it. A white wall photographs grey, and a shadow cast behind you is a fail.
2. 2Shadows. On the face or behind it. Even, front-on light, and no flash pointed straight at you.
3. 3Expression. Neutral, mouth closed, both eyes open and visible.
4. 4Obstruction. No hair across the eyes, no heavy frames, no head covering unless it is worn for religious or medical reasons and the face stays fully visible.
5. 5Recency. Most authorities ask for a photograph taken within the last six months.
6. 6Retouching. No filters, no smoothing, no beautifying. This is the one people trip over without realising, because some phone cameras apply it by default.

The order that works

Take the photograph properly first. Fixing a file is a minute's work; fixing a shadow is another photo session.

1. 1Stand about a metre in front of a plain light wall, facing a window.
2. 2Have somebody else take it, at eye level, from a metre and a half away. An arm's length selfie distorts a face.
3. 3Check it full-screen for shadows, expression and stray hair before going any further.
4. 4Open the page for your authority, drop it in, and let it crop and compress to the published rules.
5. 5Download that copy and upload it.

On editing

Several authorities ask for a photograph that has not been altered by computer software. That wording is about appearance - retouching, reshaping, filters - rather than about file preparation, but none of them publishes a definition, so it is worth being clear about what you are doing.

Resizing, cropping to a frame and compressing to a byte range change the file. They do not change how you look. Where an authority's rules are stricter than that, or where its own specification could not be read, the pages here say so rather than leaving you to assume somebody checked.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use a selfie for a passport photo?

Technically often yes, practically usually no. The problem is distance: a phone held at arm's length exaggerates whatever is nearest the lens, which is your nose, and several authorities reject photographs that distort the face. Have somebody else take it from a metre or more away.

Why does the file size have a minimum as well as a maximum?

Because a file below the minimum has almost certainly been compressed or scaled past the point where a face can be judged. The band is the authority saying it needs enough data to work with, and no more than its system will carry.

Which is more likely to get my photo rejected, the file or the photograph?

The photograph, by a wide margin. File rules are arithmetic and a tool can measure whether they are met. Background, shadow, expression and retouching are judged by a person, cannot be measured from the file, and are where the large majority of rejections happen.