How to Make a Passport Photo at Home (Free, Correct Size)

Photo booths charge a lot for six tiny prints, and half of online applications reject them anyway for being the wrong pixel size. With a phone camera, a plain wall, and a browser, you can produce a compliant passport photo at home in five minutes.

Step 1: Take a usable source photo

Get this part right and everything else is mechanical:

• Face the camera straight on, neutral expression, both eyes open, mouth closed.
• Even, front-facing light — stand facing a window. Avoid overhead light (eye shadows) and side light (half-dark face).
• Plain, light background. A white or off-white wall works. Stand half a meter in front of it so you don't cast a shadow on it.
• No hats, no sunglasses; ordinary glasses are banned in many countries' photos now — safest to remove them.
• Have someone else take it (or use the self-timer) from about 1.5–2 meters away. Selfie-arm distance distorts facial proportions.

Step 2: Crop and size it to the official format

Different countries want different geometry — US passports use a square 2×2 inch photo, most of Europe uses 35×45 mm, and head height within the frame is specified too.

The Passport Photo Maker handles the formatting: upload your shot, pick the target format, and it crops and sizes the image to the standard. No ruler math, no guessing what 35×45 mm is in pixels.

Step 3: Meet the file-size rules

Online application portals almost always add a byte-size rule on top — "JPEG between 10 KB and 100 KB" is typical. If your formatted photo is over the cap, run it through MB to kB with the exact target the portal states. (We wrote a full guide on hitting exact file sizes.)

Step 4 (optional): Print a sheet

Need physical prints too? Arrange several copies of the finished photo on one sheet with the Collage Maker, print it at a normal photo kiosk as a single 4×6, and cut them out — the classic money-saver.

The compliance checklist

Before you submit, verify:

• ✅ Correct dimensions for the destination country's format
• ✅ Face centered, head height within the specified band
• ✅ Plain light background, no shadows behind the head
• ✅ Neutral expression, eyes open and visible
• ✅ Recent — most authorities require the photo be taken within 6 months
• ✅ File size within the portal's stated limits

Privacy matters here

A passport photo is identity data. Files uploaded to our tools are processed in memory and discarded the moment your download is served — never stored, viewed, or shared. See the privacy policy for the details.

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Make yours now: take the shot against a plain wall, open the Passport Photo Maker, and download a compliant photo without leaving the house.