Taking your own passport or visa photo is realistic with a modern phone. Most rejections come from the picture, not the camera: shadows on the face or background, tilted heads, glare on glasses, or a photo that is cropped wrong. You can fix all of those at home.
Check the rules first
Every country sets its own size, head height, background colour and rules about expression, glasses and head coverings. Sizes are often 35 × 45 mm or 2 × 2 inches, but they differ, and rules change. Look up your document in the list of passport and visa photo sizes and then confirm on the official government page before you submit. Do that first, because it changes how you frame the photo.
Light: soft, even and from the front
- Stand facing a large window in daylight, or use two lamps of the same strength on either side of the camera. The aim is even light across the face with no strong shadows.
- Avoid light from one side only. It makes half of the face darker.
- Do not use the phone flash. It creates glare, shiny skin and a hard shadow on the wall behind you.
- Avoid direct sun. It creates squint lines and harsh shadows under the nose and chin.
Background: plain and a little way behind you
Use a plain, light wall or a sheet pinned flat. Stand a step or two in front of it so your own shadow does not fall on the wall. Even small wrinkles, pictures and door frames show up behind you, so move them out of frame. If you cannot find a clean wall, take the picture anyway and replace the background afterwards. DocPro can do this on your device.
Camera: eye level and a little distance
Hold the phone at eye height, not looking up or down. Ask someone to take it, or prop the phone on a stack of books and use the timer. Stand about a couple of metres back and zoom in slightly, rather than holding the camera close with a wide lens, which stretches the nose and distorts the face. Use the rear camera if you can, because it is sharper than the selfie camera. Landscape or portrait both work; you will crop later.
Posture and face
- Stand or sit straight, with shoulders square to the camera and your head level, not tilted or turned.
- Look straight into the lens with both eyes open.
- Keep a neutral expression with your mouth closed unless the rules say otherwise.
- Pull hair back from the face and eyes.
- Wear a plain top that contrasts with the background. A white shirt against a white wall disappears.
- Skip filters and retouching. They can get a photo rejected.
Size and crop with DocPro
- Open Passport photo and choose your photo.
- Pick your country or document in the Size box. The guides adjust to its head height.
- Drag and zoom so the top of the head touches the top line and the chin falls in the green band. Auto-place head can make a first guess; always check it.
- If you need a different background, choose a colour to replace it, then check the edges of hair.
- Download a digital JPEG, with a maximum file size in KB if the website sets one, or a print sheet on 4 × 6 inch or A4 paper.
Passport photo is a Pro tool on the web. You can load your photo and set everything up first; the final download asks you to sign in to DocPro Pro. Your photo is not uploaded.
Printing
Print the sheet at 100 percent, also called actual size, with no “fit to page” option. Otherwise the photos come out the wrong size. Use proper photo paper if the office wants a print. Measure the result with a ruler against the required size before you cut. Thin cutting lines on the sheet help.
Rules change: always check the official government page before you submit.
If the first attempt is rejected, the reason is almost always light, background or head size. Fix that one thing and try again.