How to Take a Passport Photo at Home: Light, Distance and Background That Get Approved

A passport photo taken at home costs nothing and takes ten minutes — when it works. When it doesn’t, you lose a week to a rejected application. The difference is almost always the same four things: light, distance, background and editing. Here is how to get each one right, using what the issuing authorities themselves publish.

Step 1: Get the light right

Stand facing a window with daylight coming from the front, not from the side and not from behind. The rule you are following, in the words of the authorities, is “uniform lighting” (India), “no shadows on your face or behind you” (UK), “no shadows, glare or flash reflections” (Canada) and “even and free of shadows” (Australia). Practical consequences:

• Do not use the flash: it creates reflections on the skin and red-eye, which India lists by name.
• Do not stand in direct sun: hard light draws shadows under the nose and chin.
• If one side of the face is darker, turn toward the window or hang a white sheet on the dark side to bounce light.

Step 2: Choose the wall

A smooth, unpatterned wall works. Curtains with folds, wallpaper and door frames show up as texture or lines. Stand about a metre away from the wall so your head does not cast a shadow onto it.

Step 3: Set the distance and the camera

• Distance: Australia’s official camera-operator guidance lists a minimum camera-to-subject distance of 1.2 metres; India’s Passport Seva says 1.5 metres. Choose 1.5 m and you satisfy both.
• Who takes it: the Australian embassy in the US advises that another person take the picture, with no selfies. A selfie is too close and distorts the face.
• Height: put the camera at eye level, on a tripod or a stack of books, and use the back camera.
• Zoom: shoot wide enough to include head and shoulders with space above the head; you will crop afterwards.

Step 4: Pose and face

1. Look straight into the lens, head centred and level.
2. Eyes open and visible, hair away from the eyes.
3. Neutral expression with the mouth closed (a natural smile is accepted only by the US).
4. Glasses off if you can; see our comparison of glasses, smiling and head-covering rules.
5. Take a dozen frames and pick the sharpest.

Step 5: Do not edit

The UK requires a photo “unaltered by computer software”, and India’s guidelines say the same. That rules out beauty filters, skin smoothing, background swaps that leave a halo and generative “enhancements” that change the face. The only edits that belong here are cropping and resizing to the country’s format.

Step 6: Check size, age and format

• Size: UK 35 x 45 mm print or at least 600 x 750 px digital; US 2 x 2 in; India 630 x 810 px; Canada 50 x 70 mm; Australia 35–40 x 45–50 mm.
• Age: the UK needs a photo from the last month; the US, Canada and Australia accept up to 6 months.
• Printing: Australia requires dye-sublimation prints on heavy glossy paper, so a home inkjet print won’t do there.

When home photos do not work

Germany accepts only digital photos captured at the citizen office or by a registered photographer for its passports and ID cards, and Canada’s passport office asks for photos from a commercial photographer. In those cases, use your home practice photo only to learn how the light and distance look — the official photo has to come from the sanctioned route.

For everything else, our photo tool takes your home portrait and returns it framed to the exact country and document specification.