Taking your own passport photograph

deandean

The online passport renewal system is great. You don't have to get your photographs signed at the local Garda station, etc.

So I had a passport renewal and I decided to take my own photograph, at home.

First I had to find a suitable background. It's hard in a modern house where there are very few clear walls. But I took down the Monet and I had a big-enough cream-coloured wall.

I set up my camera on a tripod. Selected 'portrait' mode. Set the zoom at 90mm to avoid the horrible wide-angle photo that you get in a lot of places.

Used the inbuilt flash. The result looked OK.

Uploaded to the passport website - fail.

Tried about 5 more times - all fail.

Looking closely at the photos, there were shadows below my ears.

Out with my Sunpak big external flash.

Another five efforts, all failed on the passport website.

Finally I got a photo that was accepted. Bounce flash off the ceiling. Max power. Over-exposed 1stp. No shadow.

A very accurate photo. Shoot I have aged since ten years ago!

Anyone else had experience with a DIY passport photo?

Zak Flaps

Took mine with my phone in the kitchen. Only two attempts to get accepted surprisingly!

Regarding the ageing.....me too unfortunately!

con747

Tried numerous times with the O/H taking the pictures and none were accepted. Magnolia background with no shadows, eyes open, and everything that's required, still no joy. Not going anywhere soon so will try again when I need to.

eggy81

Took it with the selfie camera in the bathroom against a cream wall on a summers day. Accepted first time

IrishHomer

I think it accepts iphone stuff more than others, I've just spent the past three hours uploading 20 various shots from my Android and then images uploaded to android from a high end Canon EOS R5 and all rejected.

IrishHomer

I'm going to try the same images now from a ipad and see what happens

HeidiHeidi

I had a bit of hassle a few years ago getting a picture accepted which was taken on my phone by a family member - we had to take quite a few before one was acceptable, but we got there in the end.

Did it again a couple of months ago, and a selfie taken by me at home was accepted first time. Android phone.

IrishHomer

Failed from Apple Ipad also

blackbox

I think its the brightness/darkness of the background that governs acceptability.

I used photoshop (shock horror) to adjust until I got it accepted.

zg3409

They are using photos for face recognition so they need good defined points with no shadows to load into database for later searching.

Lime Tree Farm

I have successfully used Irish passport photo in the past.

https://passport-photo.online/en-ie/irish-passport-photo-v2#gref

Idphoto have also got good press and is free

https://www.idphoto4you.com/

con747

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120906194#Comment_120906194

Had a go earlier with the exact same background but took a few selfies on android phone and it went through. I did crop the picture to even out the shoulders because of it being a selfie.

con747

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120968117#Comment_120968117

Got an email earlier saying the photo is not up to scratch ffs. Nice of them to take payment and then say that after 3 days. Couldn't just not accept it in the first place. Now to try again or just look for a refund which should be very interesting. Don't need a passport for now but just wanted to get it for "in case" scenarios.

...Ghost...

I use a passport photo APP on my phone. Paid a fiver to get the upgraded version which auto deletes the background and let's you choose type of passport pic. Have used many times for friends and family. Worth every cent.

con747

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120983909#Comment_120983909

Cropped the exact same photo a bit more and received the passport the next day. Must be a great job working there and picking and choosing what's acceptable.

retoos

Here are some additional tips for taking a DIY passport photo:

1. Use a plain, white or light-coloured background.
2. Make sure that there are no shadows on your face or the background.
3. Center your head and shoulders in the frame.
4. Look straight ahead at the camera with a neutral expression.
5. Keep your mouth closed and your eyes open.
6. Remove any hats, glasses, or other headwear.
7. Use natural lighting if possible.
8. If you must use a flash, bounce it off the ceiling or a wall to avoid harsh shadows.
9. Take a few practice shots and adjust your camera settings as needed.

Baba Yaga

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058306799/taking-your-own-passport-photograph

did the exact same thing except it was a picasso i had to move 😁 used a 50mm lens on a nikon 3500 on a tripod,natural light,took about 3or4 until i was happy,uploaded the best one and as if by magic i had my shiny new passport in 2days i think it was...

mickdw

Slightly different but I had to do a paper application last time and took the photo at home with phone and got them printed and was no issue.

Shoog

They extract biometric data from the photo so it has to meet a very exacting specification. Most chemist services check it for acceptability before submitting.