Tips, guides, and advice to help you get the perfect passport or ID photo every time.
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A UK passport photo needs a plain expression with your mouth closed. But HM Passport Office's internal guidance is more forgiving than the public rule suggests — a relaxed mouth with teeth showing can pass. Here is the actual line.
Read moreShadows are the most common reason a home passport photo fails, and almost every shadow has the same cause: you are standing too close to the wall. A practical lighting guide with no equipment required.
Read moreA hijab, turban, kippah or medical head covering is permitted in a UK passport photo. A hat is not. The line HM Passport Office draws is about the face, not the head — here is exactly where it falls.
Read moreYou can, but HM Passport Office would rather you did not. The official wording is 'do not wear glasses unless you have to' — here is what that means in practice, and the three failures that catch spectacle wearers.
Read moreAt least 600 x 750 pixels, between 50KB and 10MB, in colour, unaltered by software. The 50KB floor is the one that catches people, and messaging apps are usually to blame.
Read morePrinted UK passport photos need a plain cream or light grey background. Digital ones need a plain light-coloured background. Pure white is riskier than most people assume, and here is why.
Read moreYour photo must have been taken in the last month when you submit it. Once HM Passport Office has it, examiner guidance gives it 12 months for an adult and 6 for a child. Two different clocks, often confused.
Read moreFrom 70 you renew every three years instead of every ten, and it is free. There is no test and no automatic medical. What there is, is a photo — and a three-yearly cycle that catches people out.
Read moreA photocard licence must be renewed every 10 years. It costs GBP 14 online and GBP 17 by post, and driving on an expired photocard can attract a fine of up to GBP 1,000. Here is the process and the photo standard.
Read moreA photo code is a reference number a booth or shop gives you so HM Passport Office can retrieve your photo directly. It is one of three ways to supply a photo online — and it is not the only one.
Read moreThe passport photo rules change twice in a child's life: at their first birthday and at their sixth. Under 6, they need not look at the camera or hold a plain expression. From 6, the adult standard applies in full.
Read moreBabies under one do not need their eyes open, and GOV.UK officially recommends laying them on a plain light-coloured sheet and shooting from above. Every relaxation, every rule that still applies, and how to actually get the shot.
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