Updated: 2021-07-12
Passport photos are important documentation of your identity and your travels. If you are like many travelers, you may have found yourself in a situation where you need to take your passport photos with you on your travels, but you don’t want to carry the expensive photo paper that is required for standard passport photos.
For that reason, you may have opted to use a 4X6 photo paper to create your passport photos. The 4×6 paper is a good choice, it is common with printers and is available at the majority of retail outlets. In addition, it is usually cheap and easy to find.
Standard passport photo requirements
- Passports are official documents, they don’t need to be fancy. The role of a passport is to act as a proof of our identity. When it comes to passports, you should not use a photo where you are holding a bottle of beer in a party or anything that can be considered suspicious by the custom officers.
- The image you should choose should be one in which you appear to be trustworthy and honest.
- You should also avoid using anything that can be easily associated with you. Avoid your photos with family members, friends, places you like to visit, or anything else that will give an indication of your personality.
- Try to be as neutral as possible.
- Use only recent color photo not older than 6 months.
- It is recommended that you do not use the popular social media filters.
- There is a reason why selfies are for Instagram, not for passports. You should have someone else take your picture for you.
- Take off your eyeglasses before taking your photo.
How do I print passport photos on a 4×6 paper?
- In order for you to start printing your passport photos, you will need to create a 4 x 6 inch 300 DPI canvas (102 x 152 mm, 1200 x 1800 pixels) in an image editor, such as GIMP or Photoshop.
- Then you import a (front side) photo of yourself and place it in the middle of the canvas.
- Next, you crop the photo so it is just your face in the photo, and remove any unwanted background. Make sure there is nothing in the photo that will distract from your face.
- Please alter the size of the photo to fit the passport size (35*45 mm, which translates to 413*531 pixels, or 1.37*1.77 inches).
- Place the pictures next to each other on the canvas.
- It should be printed at 100% (not borderless, not sized to fit on one page).
- It is recommended that you use a matte finish paper so that there are fewer glares and reflections from light sources. Do not use any kind of glossy photo paper; it may cause the photo to appear shiny and blurry, and may also cause the color to run.
- Make sure that the paper is not wrinkled, folded, or torn.
- Do not use photo paper that has been recycled, as it may have scratches, dirt, or other foreign objects on it. Do not use any kind of photo paper over 60 lb. (100g/m2).
