US Lottery Photo Requirements

yhwh

Am applying for the 2010 US lottery for green cards but am having problems trying to get an appropriate photo for my application. From reading the rules on the website they are pretty strict on the requirements for the photo and if it's not up to spec they will cancel your application without informing you.

It has to be a specific size and colour and there can't be any shadows or over exposure. Tried taking a few pics with a digital camera but they always have something wrong with them, i.e. a shadow on the face or missing part of the shoulders etc.

Was thinking of getting a photo done in a photo booth and have it scanned or maybe professionally so that it meets the required standard (It has to be digital so that I can send it with the application from my pc) . Anyone any ideas where to get this done or if anyone who has applied for the lottery could tell me what they did to get their pic's.

Thanks.

Faith

If it's anything like the J1 visa photo requirements, it has to be 2"x2", which is a different size to the ones in our photo booths. I got mine done in the pharmacy across the road from the American Embassy in Dublin. Where are you based?

yhwh

Hi Faith,

I think they might be stricter than the requirements for the J1. The photo has to be 24bit and 600x600 in size. The face has to cover more than 50% of the photo and shadows are not allowed. It has to be on a neutral background and in focus.

I'm in Dublin so no problem's there. Whats the name of the chemist. I'd say 2x2 would be ok as I can always resize it if I need to. Do they make digital copies

p.s. Here's a link to the photo requirements from the USGov website -

http://www.dvlottery.state.gov/photo.aspx

Faith

I can't remember the name, but if you're walking towards the embassy so that it's on your left and you're on the right hand side of the road, go a little past it, cross a road while staying on the right hand side of the road, and it's a little pharmacy there. They're well used to doing visa photos in there, so tell them the requirements and they should be able to sort you out. Not sure if they do digital copies, but ask them.

Faith

Okay, I just looked at that link and it's completely different to a non-immigrant visa. Still try asking in the pharmacy, but it does seem like it's just as easy to take the picture yourself. If you're not familiar with image resizing and stuff, you could probably just take a normal picture and ask someone in the photography forum to resize it for you (not stretching it).

yhwh

Hi Faith,

Yes I would have thought it was easy just to take the photo myself but after trying a couple of times it did'nt quite turn out that way. I have no problem resizing images for the correct proportions but the problem is in lighting as all my photos have either too much shadow or do not show enough of the face (more than 50%) or the measurements from the eyes and nose on the photo are incorrect. I have been told that they can be fairly strict on the measurements and if you are out by even a couple of pixels they will disqualify you.

Figured that I would get it done in a photo booth, digitise it and resize to the correct proportions unless someone knows of an easier way.?

2Scoops

Take the picture in a well-lit room. Use photoshop to crop the image to the correct size/pixel density, but don't stretch or distort the photo itself. Otherwise use a professional like the pharmacy. Don't use a scanner, if you can avoid it. Don't use a photobooth.