How to take a passport photo at home and print it at the right size

Guides · Updated 12 October 2026 · By Tiago Santos

A photo booth or a high-street shop charges for something a phone and a plain wall can do. The photo has to follow strict rules, though, so it’s worth knowing them before you start. They differ by country and change from time to time: always read the official page of the country that issues your document.

Take the photo

• Background: a plain, light wall with nothing behind you. Stand about half a metre away from it so you don’t cast a shadow on it.
• Light: face a window in daylight, or have even light from the front. No shadows on the face, no bright spot on one side.
• Camera: ask someone to take it, or use a timer, with the phone at eye level about 1 to 1.5 metres away. Selfies held at arm’s length distort the face and usually get rejected.
• You: look straight at the camera with a neutral expression, mouth closed and eyes open. Hair away from the eyes. The United States and many other countries no longer accept glasses.
• Leave space: take it with your shoulders and some room above your head. You crop it to size afterwards.

Know your size

The two you’ll see most:

• 35 × 45 mm: the EU, the UK, Australia, India and many other countries. The UK, for example, wants the head (chin to crown) between 29 and 34 mm.
• 2 × 2 inch (51 × 51 mm): the United States, with the head between 1 and 1⅜ inch.

Canada uses 50 × 70 mm and China 33 × 48 mm. Visas sometimes use a different size from the passport of the same country, so check the form you’re filling in.

Crop it to size

Passport photo maker crops to the exact shape, with an oval that shows where the face goes: chin at the bottom of the oval, top of the head near its top. It runs in your browser, so a photo of your face never goes to anyone’s server. It warns you if the part you picked is too small to print sharply.

Print copies for a few cents

Save the print sheet: a standard 10 × 15 cm (4 × 6 inch) photo with as many copies as fit, six for a 2 × 2 inch photo and eight for 35 × 45 mm. Any photo kiosk, pharmacy or online print service prints that size for very little. At home, print on photo paper.

The one rule: print at 100% or “actual size”. “Fit to page” or “fill” changes the size, and the photo will be wrong. The file says it’s 300 dpi, so services that respect it keep the size exact. Cut along the thin grey lines.

Upload it to an online form

For online applications, save the single photo instead. It’s made at 600 dpi, so a 35 × 45 mm photo is 827 × 1063 pixels, above the UK’s 600 × 750 minimum. Some forms limit the file size: the US visa form (DS-160), for example, takes JPEGs up to 240 KB. If yours is bigger, Compress image with a 200 KB target brings it under without changing its pixel size much.

Photos from a phone can also carry the exact place they were taken. Forms usually ignore it, but you can remove it first with Remove photo location.

Will it be accepted?

A tool can get the size and framing right; it can’t judge lighting, focus or expression for an official office. If the guidance on your country’s official page says anything different from this guide, follow the official page.