Printing your own passport photos?

[sidewinder]

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

[FN-GM]

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

[Dickens]

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.

[AngryTechnician]

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.

[witch]

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

[mossj]

Stand against a white door and follow the guidelines, buy some 'proper' photo paper and you should be fine.

[Batman]

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!

[witch]

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

[tech_guy]

Here's some humour:

 

http://andsoiwasthinking.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/funny-pictures-kitten-bad-passport-photo.jpg?w=300&h=224

 

http://208.106.250.72/_media/imgs/contrib/c5546.jpg

 

http://208.106.250.72/_media/imgs/articles/a318_c5.jpg

Edited February 4, 2010 by tech_guy

[sidewinder]

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?

[dwhyte85]

The last picture is AWESOME!

[CAM]

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.

[ICT_GUY]

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.

[Chris_Jones]

Dont personally know about Passports, but I printed up my own photo for my Driving licence renewal and that was accepted no problem.