How to take a UK passport photo at home (that gets accepted)

The rules for a UK digital passport photo are strict but simple, and almost every rejection comes down to the same few things: a shadow, a busy background, a smile, glasses glare, or a photo that’s been edited. Get those right at home and your own photo works just as well as one from a booth.

Booth, shop or your own phone?

When you apply online, GOV.UK gives you two ways to add a digital photo:

• A photo booth or shop. Before you start, get a digital photo and choose the option to get a photo code. You type the code into your application and the photo is added for you. GOV.UK says these photos are more likely to be approved.
• Your own device. You add the photo during the application, and GOV.UK says you’ll need someone to help you take it. It’s free and you can retake it as many times as you like.

Paper application forms still need two printed photos, which GOV.UK says must be printed to a professional standard. Home printers rarely manage that, so for a paper form a booth or shop is usually the easier route.

What you need

• A helper. Someone else holds the phone. An arm’s-length selfie tilts your head and distorts your face, and GOV.UK expects someone to help you.
• A plain, light-coloured wall. White, cream or light grey, with nothing on it: no pictures, clocks, light switches, shelves or door frames in the shot.
• Daylight. A window in front of you, ideally on a bright but overcast day, gives the softest, most even light.
• Any modern phone. GOV.UK needs at least 600 × 750 pixels and a file between 50KB and 10MB. Every phone camera from the last decade is well above that, so the original photo almost always passes.

Step by step

1. Set up the wall. Stand about half a metre in front of it. Too close and your shadow lands on the wall right behind your head; too far and the wall gets darker and less even.
2. Face the light. Turn so the window is in front of you, slightly behind the person taking the photo. Turn off overhead lights if they cast shadows under your eyes, and never use the flash: it causes glare, red eye and a hard shadow on the wall.
3. Get the phone ready. Use the back camera in the plain Photo mode. Turn off portrait mode (it blurs the background), beauty or skin-smoothing settings, and any filter. GOV.UK says the photo must not be altered by software.
4. Position the camera. Your helper holds the phone at your eye level, about 1.5 metres away, straight on rather than tilted up or down. Leave space above your head and include your head, shoulders and upper body. Don’t zoom in tightly or crop afterwards: GOV.UK crops the photo itself.
5. Get the pose right. Face the camera straight on, shoulders square, head level. Look into the lens with your eyes open, keep a plain expression with your mouth closed, and move any hair away from your eyes.
6. Take several and pick the best. Take a few in a row so you can choose one where you haven’t blinked. Check the photo is sharp when you zoom in on your eyes.
7. Check it before you apply. Use the Passport Photo Checker on the photo you plan to use, or open its live camera and let the checklist tick off each rule while your helper lines you up.

The GOV.UK rules, and what they mean at home

Why home photos get rejected, and how to avoid it

• A shadow behind your head. The most common one. Move further from the wall and make sure the main light is in front of you, not to one side.
• Uneven light on your face. One cheek darker than the other usually means a window or lamp to the side. Turn to face the light.
• Something on the wall. A clock or picture just beside your head is easy to miss on a phone screen. Look at the whole frame, not just your face. (Altto’s checker looks at the whole wall round your head for exactly this.)
• A smile. Even a small one can count. Aim for a neutral, relaxed face with your lips together.
• Glasses. GOV.UK says to avoid wearing them unless you have to. If you do, make sure there’s no glare or reflection over your eyes and the frames don’t cover them. Sunglasses and tinted lenses aren’t allowed.
• Portrait mode or a beauty filter. Many phones switch these on by default. A blurred background or smoothed skin counts as altered.
• Too close or cropped. Leave room above your head and keep your shoulders in. GOV.UK does the cropping.

Glasses, hats and head coverings

Head coverings aren’t allowed unless they’re worn for religious or medical reasons, and nothing can cover your face. If you can take your glasses off for the photo, do: it removes the most common cause of glare. If you need them, tilt the frames very slightly downwards or move the light source to stop reflections in the lenses.

Photos of babies and children

GOV.UK relaxes some rules for young children:

• The child must be alone in the picture, and babies can’t hold toys or use a dummy.
• Children under 6 don’t have to look directly at the camera or have a plain expression.
• Babies under 1 don’t need their eyes open. You can support their head with your hand, but your hand mustn’t be visible.

For a baby, GOV.UK suggests laying them on a plain, light-coloured sheet and taking the photo from above. Natural light from a window again gives the most even result, and it’s easiest with one person settling the baby and another holding the phone.

Checking your photo before you apply

A rejected photo delays your application, so it’s worth a minute to check it first. Altto’s Passport Photo Checker runs in your browser and never uploads the photo. It checks:

• the size in pixels, file size and colour against the GOV.UK numbers;
• that there’s one face, with your head straight, eyes open and a plain expression;
• that the light on your face is even and the photo is sharp;
• that the wall around your head is plain and light, with nothing on it;
• whether the file was saved by an editing app.

Its live camera option shows the same checklist while your helper lines you up, with a hint for the next thing to fix, so you can take the photo the moment everything is ticked. The automatic checks are a guide rather than a guarantee: HM Passport Office makes the final decision.

Common questions