It was suggested to me that it was not a good idea to print your own passport photos because the quality might not be sufficient. However I am fairly sure I can do a good enough job.
Has anyone printed their own and had no problems?
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Printing your own passport photos
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Posted 4 months ago #
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Why would you risk it though?
...or is this one of your 'thought experiments'?
Posted 4 months ago # -
Stop being so tight! Have one less macchiato this week!
Posted 4 months ago # -
Yes
Posted 4 months ago # -
I did this last year. I figured I've got a good printer lets give it a go. There are a few guide on the net for numpties like me to get my head round resizing the photo. The only problem was my first attempt had a shadow behind my head. Photoshopped that out and job done.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Yes, but had them rejected the first time.
I don't think they accept dot-matrix printed ones. They have to be EXACTLY the same size, with a plain background.
I think I took the photos and had them printed by an online service in the end. Cost about £10**Not really.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Bloke I used to work with did his own.
He used to be a freelance photographer so had all the backdrops & other stuff to do it properly. The ones that come from the machines often look so bad, that you'd struggle to do a worse job, I would have thought.
Most important bit would be getting the size correct (of your head in the frame and the overall pic size).Posted 4 months ago # -
Im confused! Got to little kiosk. Stick in £4. Straight face. A few minutes later, job done. What's the problem? Are you bored?
The ones that come from the machines often look so bad, that you'd struggle to do a worse job, I would have thought.
Everyone I know uses these machines and no ones had a problem yet. Good enough for the passport office!
Posted 4 months ago # -
Max Spiellman (sp) on the High Street do them for £6 a pop and ready in 10 minutes so I really can't see the point in doing them myself.
(And that is for pictures taken by a person with a camera, not a booth - we are going tomorrow to get pics of our little girls for their passports as we didn't think we could get decent ones of them in a booth).
Posted 4 months ago # -
I did it a few weeks ago and it was accepted.
It's an utter faff as it needs to be EXACTLY the right size, eyes and head in right place, etc, etc, etc, etc. There are guides on tinterweb.
Worth the faff as it enabled me to choose the photo that made me least resemble an utter kn0b/convict, which I'd had to live with the previous 10 years.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Well I was thinking of two small kids. They are quite hard to do in a booth, so we had to go to Jessops and it cost £20.. which is irritating for something you can possibly do yourself.
They have hugely changed (or will do) in appearance of course having been babies when the pictures were taken.. and I am concerned that we might get into a bit of bother one of these days. You are supposed to get the photo changed if your appearance changes significantly.
Anyway, the question was "has anyone done this?" not "should I in your opinion?"
Posted 4 months ago # -
Just done some for a client.
Will be used for a blue badge.Took the photo with a dslr and had the printing done at Asda - 65 pence for 6!
No problems at all, perfectly passport compliant.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Ah, so Asda did the printing to spec from your own photo? Interesting.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Dead right its a faff, but you have spent '000s on camera, '000s on 'puter and software and a photo capable printer, so instead spend an hour traipsing into town to spend 20 getting someone else to do it.
At the same time you could pay someone to ride the bike you spent '0000s buying to save you that effort as well.
Posted 4 months ago # -
They don't accept dot matrix printed photos you say!
Posted 4 months ago # -
Yes.
I used a white sheet, a friend with a camera and a day with good light in a well-lit room.
6 mp res. photo, resized carefully and shadows/lines from the sheet removed in Photoshop, I managed to fit 9 photos on to a 6x4.
Printed at Jessops - 10 min (maybe 1 hr service but they had it done in 10 min) service was £1 for the single copy.
The quality was still a little off compared to a proper photo booth. It was probably the camera, but could have been the printing or the compression at some stage of the processing. Disappointingly blurry / grainy.
In the end I used the photos for less official photo documents (Thai visa and some ID cards) but went for a proper booth for the driving licence and passport.
Funnily enough, last time I did do some passport type photos, it was a little shop on the Oxford Cornmarket. They stood you up in front of a clear wall and used a compact digital so the're clearly nothing wrong with the concept
Posted 4 months ago # -
Molgrips, larger Asdas have specialist passport printers.
I resized the jpeg in photoshop, but I believe the machine does this automatically.
I just used a sheet as a backdrop and followed the guidelines.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Molgrips, larger Asdas have specialist passport printers.
Ah well, there's your answer!
Cos I don't think they accept d...
Posted 4 months ago # -
bobbyg81 - Member
Everyone I know uses these machines and no ones had a problem yet. Good enough for the passport office!I'm not saying that they will give you problems when getting an application in, but quite often the white balance will be off and they make you look like some kind of washed out zombie. The last ones I did had a really bad green colour cast. I used them for my driving licence as the pic is printed black & white, so the colour cast doesn't show. No way, I would have used them on a passport application though.
Posted 4 months ago # -
It's pretty simple to get it right, and print off at the right size, using the guides on the form or the web. Take the picture against a plain light coloured background. The only reason my photos failed was because I didn't use a separate light source on the background to remove the shadow from the flash.
Completely agree that the booth photos make you look like a criminal, and you're stuck with it for 10 years
Posted 4 months ago # -
Molgrips - see what I posted up there ^^^^^ we had exactly that scenario and Max Spiellman are £12 for two kids. Ready in 10 minutes and you choose from the camera rather than faff with a booth.
Posted 4 months ago # -
From the Max Headroom website...
Guaranteed Passport, Visa, Green Card, Driving Licence Buss Pass and ID Photos are available while you wait at over 200 Max Spielmann stores throughout the country.
No need to worry about what is required for a specific country, our store colleagues will advise you and make sure you have the correct sized photo with the required background needed.
Prices start from only £5.99 for 6 Passport or ID photos. Our experienced store colleagues will take time with you using professional lighting; backgrounds and cameras so you're Passport, Visa, Driving Licence, Buss Pass and ID Photos will be correctly taken and sized to meet the latest specifications from the home office, IPS, international Embassies and DVLA.
Posted 4 months ago # -
I've done my own for years now. Full family of passports and 2 driving licences.
Printer is nothing special (canon photo printer).I do make sure background is plain and light, and these days I use off-camera flash, but I just used to use daylight.
They are choosy on sizes, but it's not that complicated to get right.
Posted 4 months ago # -
I beleive that you still owe us some photos...
Posted 4 months ago # -
but you have spent '000s on camera, '000s on 'puter and software and a photo capable printer
And how much do you think Photo-Me spend on development of their machines?
Ours is in the post office, and they will check and process the application at the same time. What's not to like?
Posted 4 months ago # -
MF, we don't have a Max Spielman. Aren't they a northern thing? I'm not sure I've ever seen one down here.
Dead right its a faff, but you have spent '000s on camera, '000s on 'puter and software and a photo capable printer, so instead spend an hour traipsing into town to spend 20 getting someone else to do it
Don't be such an absolute pillock. I already own all those things. And none of them cost more than a grand either
Posted 4 months ago # -
My old boss did this, no problem at all. Was a good quality photo printer though.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Don't know where you are but I think they are national...
Posted 4 months ago # -
What AlexSimon said up there^
Don't forget to smile...like this
Posted 4 months ago # -
they don't accept dot-matrix printed pics
Dang - well there goes my plan of getting the old one down from the loft just to do the passport photos.
Posted 4 months ago # -
I've done it before but couldn't be arsed this time. £10 at a heel bar.
Posted 4 months ago # -
"dot matrix". I'm a right knobber me. 
Posted 4 months ago # -
I did my last passport ones myself. White sheet, bright room, someone else to take picture.
Can't remember which website I used, may have been http://www.epassportphoto.com/ which does the job - upload, drag the box around your face, rather than pay for them to print and post, click "no thanks" and you download a jpg which is the perfect size for 6x4 prints. Took it down to Boots, paid about 30p a print in one of their instant machines.
No problems with passport or any visa applications I've used them for. Need to redo the process for the silly square ones that India now require.
Posted 4 months ago #
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