+ Post New Thread
Results 1 to 14 of 14
General Chat Thread, Printing your own passport photos? in General; Passport is up for renewel, and while Im not tight, paying £4+ for some photos doesnt make much sense when ...
  1. #1

    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    London
    Posts
    2,489
    Thank Post
    111
    Thanked 99 Times in 80 Posts
    Rep Power
    31

    Printing your own passport photos?

    Passport is up for renewel, and while Im not tight, paying £4+ for some photos doesnt make much sense when Ive got a decent camera and printer.
    But the documentation and several websites say that the passport photo must be 'professionally printed'
    Does this mean nothing printed on an inkjet, however high quality, will be rejected?

    Hoping for kind of 'yes ive done it and it was fine' or 'no definately not' answers rather than 'probably be ok' - need it to be right to avoid it getting rejected, happy to pay the money for photos if I have to

  2. #2

    FN-GM's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Brisbane, Australia
    Posts
    11,185
    Blog Entries
    3
    Thank Post
    537
    Thanked 924 Times in 835 Posts
    Rep Power
    196
    We uncle did one for my brother about 10 years ago. He touched it up in photoshop to get rid of thr background. They sent it back. I am not sure if they sent it back because of the edits or becuase it was printed or could be both. I would ring them - 0300 222 0000

  3. #3
    Dickens's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Posts
    12
    Thank Post
    1
    Thanked 2 Times in 1 Post
    Rep Power
    5
    Yes I've done it and it was fine.

    I renewed mine and my children's passports about 4 years ago and printed the photos out on 6*4 photo cards and cut them to the appropriate size. These were accepted without any issues at all. Unless something has changed in the last 4 years with the newer biometric passports you should be fine. As far as I could see, my photos were of no less quality then anythign the little booths produce.

    You just need to ensure that you follow the guidance notes about having a white background and how big the face is in the photo etc.

  4. #4

    AngryTechnician's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Posts
    2,429
    Thank Post
    442
    Thanked 740 Times in 448 Posts
    Rep Power
    232
    They have made the restrictions tighter in the last few years. The guidelines specifically preclude photos that have been digitally altered, and they expect it to see it on proper photographic paper.

    That said, if you do a good job wth any image clean up, and send them to Bonusprint instead of printing them yourself (or take your USB stick into a high street self service machine in Jessops or Boots, for example), they won't be able to tell the difference. It won't be a complete DIY-job, but it will still be cheaper.

  5. #5

    witch's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Dorset
    Posts
    6,403
    Thank Post
    387
    Thanked 980 Times in 716 Posts
    Rep Power
    312
    Our whole family have the new biometric passports, and mrwITch and I printed our own pics using our epson photo printer with no problems at all. We just followed the instructions really really carefully. We didn't need to do any digital alterations, which IMHO is just asking for trouble, and were amazed that they went through (all 5) first time

  6. #6
    mossj's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Leicester
    Posts
    1,466
    Thank Post
    157
    Thanked 189 Times in 174 Posts
    Rep Power
    46
    Stand against a white door and follow the guidelines, buy some 'proper' photo paper and you should be fine.

  7. #7
    Batman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Northampton
    Posts
    941
    Thank Post
    115
    Thanked 118 Times in 74 Posts
    Rep Power
    34
    If it's just you I wouldn't bother personally. I'm not sure the time it would take me to do it properly would really warrant a saving of £4, I'd rather just sit in the box and have it done for me!

  8. #8

    witch's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Dorset
    Posts
    6,403
    Thank Post
    387
    Thanked 980 Times in 716 Posts
    Rep Power
    312
    Quote Originally Posted by Batman View Post
    If it's just you I wouldn't bother personally. I'm not sure the time it would take me to do it properly would really warrant a saving of £4, I'd rather just sit in the box and have it done for me!
    But even then a lot get rejected- so much so that the local post office has a man come in on a Saturday to help people get the picture right in terms of background, positioning, etc

  9. #9

    tech_guy's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    That little bit in the middle of Little England
    Posts
    6,996
    Blog Entries
    3
    Thank Post
    1,484
    Thanked 1,034 Times in 575 Posts
    Rep Power
    254
    Here's some humour:





    Last edited by tech_guy; 4th February 2010 at 02:01 PM.

  10. #10

    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    London
    Posts
    2,489
    Thank Post
    111
    Thanked 99 Times in 80 Posts
    Rep Power
    31
    Quote Originally Posted by Batman View Post
    If it's just you I wouldn't bother personally. I'm not sure the time it would take me to do it properly would really warrant a saving of £4, I'd rather just sit in the box and have it done for me!
    lol to be fair I was thinking the same after making the effort to type my post (though I think the rest of the family need them done too)

    But as said the machines arnt perfect, and even if the photo is acceptable, it doesnt guarantee it will be in any way flattering in those 3/4 attempts (after 10 years of a dreadful photo of a 16 year old me with braces, bad skin and the worst haircut in history, its important to me )

    Might go with the suggestion of taking it myself and getting it printed at Boots. I assume those machines are set up for 6x4 prints? So making an image that size with say 3 pictures on and white space to make up the image size is an ok way to do it?

  11. #11
    dwhyte85's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Berkshire
    Posts
    1,112
    Thank Post
    137
    Thanked 136 Times in 123 Posts
    Rep Power
    66
    The last picture is AWESOME!

  12. #12
    CAM
    CAM is offline
    CAM's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Burgh Heath
    Posts
    1,510
    Blog Entries
    54
    Thank Post
    348
    Thanked 92 Times in 80 Posts
    Rep Power
    39
    Quote Originally Posted by mossj View Post
    Stand against a white door and follow the guidelines, buy some 'proper' photo paper and you should be fine.
    Could also use an Interactive Whiteboard at work. If anyone asks, school ID cards.

  13. #13
    ICT_GUY's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Weymouth
    Posts
    2,217
    Thank Post
    592
    Thanked 278 Times in 199 Posts
    Rep Power
    98
    Photographic paper is a must, go to your local print shop and pay 40P.

    I have studio lighting in school and home, I should do passport photos for staff.

  14. #14

    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Rochdale
    Posts
    144
    Thank Post
    8
    Thanked 18 Times in 18 Posts
    Rep Power
    13
    Dont personally know about Passports, but I printed up my own photo for my Driving licence renewal and that was accepted no problem.

SHARE:
+ Post New Thread

Similar Threads

  1. [Gentoo] lsusb doesnt show WD Passport external HD
    By RabbieBurns in forum *nix
    Replies: 16
    Last Post: 1st February 2010, 09:55 AM
  2. Printing photos
    By AlexPilot in forum General Chat
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: 1st December 2009, 06:52 PM
  3. Photos
    By leco in forum General Chat
    Replies: 18
    Last Post: 16th October 2009, 02:58 PM
  4. printing photos
    By chrbb in forum How do you do....it?
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: 12th November 2008, 12:22 PM
  5. Is my passport valid?
    By ranj in forum General Chat
    Replies: 20
    Last Post: 14th August 2008, 07:59 PM

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •