For a digital application, a photo taken at home with a phone will pass perfectly well, provided you avoid about six specific mistakes. None of them require equipment. Most of them are about where you stand.
This guide covers taking the photograph. For the numbers, pixel dimensions, file size limits, head proportions, see the requirements database, which has them per portal.
Before you start
Two minutes of preparation saves a lot of retaking:
- Find a plain wall. No pictures, no switches, no radiators, no textured wallpaper. A plain painted wall or the back of a door works. Colour depends on the country, see below.
- Wait for daylight. Artificial light is uneven and tinted, and the tint is difficult to correct convincingly. Daylight is free and better.
- Find someone to hold the phone. A selfie at arm's length is too close and distorts facial proportions, noses look larger, ears smaller. If you are alone, prop the phone up and use a timer.
- Wear something with a defined edge. A white top against a white wall makes your shoulders disappear, which looks odd and can fail review.
Setting up
Stand away from the wall
Half a metre to a metre. This is the mistake that ruins the most photos. Standing right against the wall casts a hard shadow behind your head, and a shadow makes the background two-toned, which reads as a patterned background and gets rejected.
Face a window
Not next to it, not with your back to it, facing it. Window light is soft, even and front-on, which is exactly what these photos need. Side light produces one bright cheek and one dark one. Back light produces a silhouette.
Overcast days are better than bright sun, which creates harsh shadows and makes people squint.
Camera at eye level, about a metre away
Held higher, you look down and your forehead dominates. Held lower, you look up the nose. Eye level, roughly a metre back, using the rear camera rather than the selfie camera, rear cameras are sharper and less prone to distortion.
If a metre feels too far to fill the frame, that is correct. Shoot wider than you need. Include your whole head and shoulders with plenty of room around them, then crop afterwards. You can always crop in; you can never crop back out.
No flash
Flash produces a hard shadow on the wall behind you, flattens your face, and reflects off glasses. Daylight makes it unnecessary.
The photo itself
- Look straight at the lens. Head square, not tilted, not turned.
- Neutral expression, mouth closed. Some countries allow a natural smile; none allow a broad one. Neutral is always safe.
- Both eyes open and clearly visible. No hair across the eyes.
- Remove glasses. The US, UK and many others now refuse photos with glasses entirely, glare or not. This is a relatively recent change and catches out anyone who last applied years ago.
- No hats or head coverings except worn daily for religious or medical reasons, and even then the face must be fully visible from the bottom of the chin to the top of the forehead.
- Both ears visible where the requirement asks for it, which several do.
- Nothing else in the frame. No other people, no hands, no pets.
Take a dozen. Storage is free and it is far easier to pick a good one than to reshoot.
Background colour is not universal
This surprises people, and it causes real rejections:
| Country | Background |
|---|---|
| United States | Plain white or off-white |
| United Kingdom | Light grey or cream, pure white is discouraged |
| Schengen area | Light grey or light blue |
| India | Plain white |
| China | Pure white |
Check yours before you choose a wall. It is a small detail with a large cost if you get it wrong.
Why not to use background-removal tools
There is no shortage of apps offering to swap your background for a perfect white. They are tempting and they are a bad idea.
Automatic segmentation is very good at torsos and unreliable at hair and ears, which is exactly where a reviewer looks. The result is a faint halo or a chewed-looking hairline. Beyond that, several authorities treat a digitally altered background as grounds for rejection in itself, the photo is supposed to be an unretouched record of your appearance.
Photograph yourself against a suitable wall. It takes less time than finding an app.
Turning the photo into a compliant file
Once you have a good photograph, the technical side is mechanical:
- Check the format. If you used an iPhone, it is probably HEIC and will be refused. Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible fixes this for future photos.
- Crop to the required ratio with the head at the required proportion of the frame.
- Resize to the required pixel dimensions.
- Compress to fit the size window, remembering some portals have a minimum.
The photo maker does all four from a single requirement, and draws guides showing where the top of your head and your chin should sit. Everything happens in your browser, so the photograph never leaves your device, which matters rather a lot for an identity document.
A final check
Before submitting, look at the finished photo and ask:
- Is the background genuinely even, with no shadow?
- Is my face centred and square to the camera?
- Are both eyes clearly visible, with no glasses?
- Is the file the right format and inside the size window?
- Does it look like me, today?
If all five are yes, submit it. If you are unsure about one, retake it, a rejected application costs far more than five more minutes by the window.