How to Take a Passport Photo at Home

Updated 2026-09-25 · 6 min read

You do not need a studio. A plain wall, daylight from a window and a second person holding the phone will get you a photo that passes. The editor can fix the crop, the background and the pixel size afterwards; it cannot fix blur, closed eyes or a shadow across half the face. So spend your effort on the light and the pose.

1. Pick the spot

Stand half a metre in front of a plain, light wall - close enough that the wall is evenly lit, far enough that your head does not cast a shadow onto it. If the wall is not the right colour, do not worry: background removal replaces it. What matters is that it is plain, so the cut-out has a clean edge.

2. Get the light right

Face a window during the day, with the sun not shining directly in. The light should hit your face straight on, so both cheeks are equally bright. Turn off overhead lights, which throw shadows under the eyes and nose.

Avoid the phone's flash. It flattens the face, reflects off skin and glasses and produces red eyes. If you must use artificial light, put a lamp on each side, at head height.

3. Camera distance and height

This is where most home photos go wrong. A phone held at arm's length distorts the face - the nose gets bigger and the ears disappear. Instead:

• Have someone else hold the phone about 1.2 to 1.5 metres away, using the normal (1×) lens rather than wide-angle.
• Hold it at eye level, not above or below.
• Include your shoulders and some space above your head. The editor crops; it cannot add what is not in the picture.

If you are alone, prop the phone on a shelf at eye level and use the timer.

4. The pose

• Face the camera squarely. Shoulders straight, head not tilted or turned.
• Neutral expression, mouth closed. A slight natural look is fine; a smile showing teeth usually is not.
• Both eyes open and looking into the lens.
• Hair off the face, glasses off.

Take ten photos, not one. Pick the sharpest where the eyes are fully open.

5. Crop it to the rules

Open the passport photo editor, choose your country and document, and add the photo. The editor finds your face and scales the crop so the head fits the chin-to-crown range, then puts the eye line where the template asks for it. Press Remove background to replace the wall with the exact colour the document requires. The head size checker shows the measured head height in millimetres so you can adjust the zoom if needed.

What software can and cannot fix