Will my passport photo be rejected?
May 23, 2012, 4:46 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 2
Will my passport photo be rejected?
I'm a Canadian citizen currently living in the US (New Jersey). My passport has recently expired, so I need to renew ASAP. I've heard of many, many horror stories about rejected passport photos---the local photographer said she no longer offers refunds because her last 4/5 clients were rejected. The other local photographer has similar stories. There are a list of recommended photo studios on the embassy site, but the closest is 1 hours away, in Philadelphia.
Today, I went to Sears because I heard it was recommended. After several versions reprinted (head slightly too small, then mouth slightly agape), I thought I had one that would work.
…until I got home and realized that the lighting was not direct but was to the side.
Honestly, it's ridiculous because everything is well lit, and it seems everything else is perfect. But can someone comment on the likelihood that the photo will be rejected because the left side of my face is slightly darker than the right?
(Incredibly frustrated right now. I do not want to go back to Sears a third time)
Today, I went to Sears because I heard it was recommended. After several versions reprinted (head slightly too small, then mouth slightly agape), I thought I had one that would work.
…until I got home and realized that the lighting was not direct but was to the side.
Honestly, it's ridiculous because everything is well lit, and it seems everything else is perfect. But can someone comment on the likelihood that the photo will be rejected because the left side of my face is slightly darker than the right?
(Incredibly frustrated right now. I do not want to go back to Sears a third time)
May 25, 2012, 7:15 am
#2
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: YOW
Posts: 750
Passport Canada:
I'm guessng the shadows on your face will mean it iwll be rejected.
Requirements are different from country to country. Take a copy of the requirements with you, and make sure before you leave/pay.
Your photos must be:
•50 mm wide X 70 mm high (2 inches wide X 2 3/4 inches long).
•taken by a professional photographer.
•in colour or in black and white.
•taken with uniform lighting and not show shadows, glare or flash reflections.
•centered and taken straight on, with face and shoulders centered and squared to the camera.
•taken with a neutral facial expression (eyes open and clearly visible, mouth closed, no smiling).
•clear, sharp and in focus.
•taken in front of a plain white or light-coloured background with a clear difference between your face and the background. Photos must reflect/represent natural skin tones.
•sized so the height of the face measures between 31 mm (1 1/4 inches) and 36 mm (1 7/16 inches) from chin to crown of head (natural top of head).
•reflect your current appearance (taken within the last 12 months).
•original photos that are not digitally altered or taken from an existing photo.
•professionally printed on plain, high quality photographic paper (photos printed at home and photos printed on heavy weight paper are not acceptable).
On the back of one photo
•The name and address of the photographer or studio and the date the photo was taken must be provided directly on the back of one photo (see illustration above). The photographer may use a stamp or handwrite this information. Stick-on labels are unacceptable.
•Your guarantor must clearly write on the back of one (1) photo: "I certify this to be a true likeness of (applicant's name)" and sign his or her name (unless you are applying to renew a passport, as no guarantor is necessary for renewals).
Extra details
•Glasses, including tinted prescription glasses, may be worn in photos as long as the eyes are clearly visible and there is no glare in the glasses. Sunglasses and red eyes are unacceptable.
•There must be no reflection or glare on the face or glasses.
•Hats and head coverings must not be worn, unless it is worn daily for religious beliefs or medical reasons. However, your full face must be clearly visible and the head covering must not cast any shadows on your face.
•Your hair can be down.
•Shadows are not acceptable. Lighting must be uniform to avoid shadows across the face or shoulders, around the ears or in the background.
•50 mm wide X 70 mm high (2 inches wide X 2 3/4 inches long).
•taken by a professional photographer.
•in colour or in black and white.
•taken with uniform lighting and not show shadows, glare or flash reflections.
•centered and taken straight on, with face and shoulders centered and squared to the camera.
•taken with a neutral facial expression (eyes open and clearly visible, mouth closed, no smiling).
•clear, sharp and in focus.
•taken in front of a plain white or light-coloured background with a clear difference between your face and the background. Photos must reflect/represent natural skin tones.
•sized so the height of the face measures between 31 mm (1 1/4 inches) and 36 mm (1 7/16 inches) from chin to crown of head (natural top of head).
•reflect your current appearance (taken within the last 12 months).
•original photos that are not digitally altered or taken from an existing photo.
•professionally printed on plain, high quality photographic paper (photos printed at home and photos printed on heavy weight paper are not acceptable).
On the back of one photo
•The name and address of the photographer or studio and the date the photo was taken must be provided directly on the back of one photo (see illustration above). The photographer may use a stamp or handwrite this information. Stick-on labels are unacceptable.
•Your guarantor must clearly write on the back of one (1) photo: "I certify this to be a true likeness of (applicant's name)" and sign his or her name (unless you are applying to renew a passport, as no guarantor is necessary for renewals).
Extra details
•Glasses, including tinted prescription glasses, may be worn in photos as long as the eyes are clearly visible and there is no glare in the glasses. Sunglasses and red eyes are unacceptable.
•There must be no reflection or glare on the face or glasses.
•Hats and head coverings must not be worn, unless it is worn daily for religious beliefs or medical reasons. However, your full face must be clearly visible and the head covering must not cast any shadows on your face.
•Your hair can be down.
•Shadows are not acceptable. Lighting must be uniform to avoid shadows across the face or shoulders, around the ears or in the background.
Requirements are different from country to country. Take a copy of the requirements with you, and make sure before you leave/pay.
May 25, 2012, 4:56 pm
#4
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Northfield, MN (MSP)
Programs: UA
Posts: 383
I have had many painful experiences getting my Canadian passport renewed because they are so particular about the picture - a big pain if you are not in the country either. I think it will be rejected, I'm sorry to say.
May 26, 2012, 10:01 pm
#5
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Singapore, Warsaw, Surfers Paradise
Programs: KrisFlyer Gold>>>Silver>>>Blue, Finnair Silver, Royal Caribbean Diamond
Posts: 5,174
I'd just get one of these Sony photo printers and do them at home. Or at least be able to move stuff around in the original photo if you get it done at a studio, so that all the specs involving size/position are met.
May 27, 2012, 12:07 am
#6
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 1
Those are pretty major shadows, so that would be a no-go, I think.
Re: the 4/5 rejections photographer, that is ridiculous. Somebody needs a new technique for taking the photos.
I worked for over a year, part-time, at a Walmart portrait studio and must have done well over a hundred passport photos, and to my knowledge, none came back with a complaint from any of my shifts (and only a couple from my colleagues), so you might want to try a Walmart portrait studio if you have one around. We used a special digital camera that has guides for the photo within the viewer, plus had the lights set up to avoid these kinds of shadows (somewhat depending on the photographer's skill at seeing the lighting on the camera, of course). The setup was really similar when I got my passport at another Walmart last summer. From my experience, I rejected a couple of the shots the photographer showed me on the screen that seemed a little shiny (to my trained eye
), so even then you might not find someone sufficiently experienced. I replied particularly because the previous comment contains invalid advice -- you can't take the photo yourself, but have to have your photo done by a professional somewhere.
Re: the 4/5 rejections photographer, that is ridiculous. Somebody needs a new technique for taking the photos.
I worked for over a year, part-time, at a Walmart portrait studio and must have done well over a hundred passport photos, and to my knowledge, none came back with a complaint from any of my shifts (and only a couple from my colleagues), so you might want to try a Walmart portrait studio if you have one around. We used a special digital camera that has guides for the photo within the viewer, plus had the lights set up to avoid these kinds of shadows (somewhat depending on the photographer's skill at seeing the lighting on the camera, of course). The setup was really similar when I got my passport at another Walmart last summer. From my experience, I rejected a couple of the shots the photographer showed me on the screen that seemed a little shiny (to my trained eye
), so even then you might not find someone sufficiently experienced. I replied particularly because the previous comment contains invalid advice -- you can't take the photo yourself, but have to have your photo done by a professional somewhere.
Jun 6, 2012, 3:26 pm
#7
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 1
ePassportPhoto
TSGM,
I'm with ePassportPhoto, a website that allows you to take the passport photo yourself. We have trained professionals who review the photo and make sure it meets the passport requirements. I am one of those professionals, and unfortunately, this picture will get rejected because the shadow on your face. However, you will find that it is not hard to set up some of the lights in your house to get even lighting. After we review your photo, all you need to do is crop the picture with our cropping tool -- we take care of the formatting (based on country). You can then either have the photo shipped to your local CVS, Target, Walgreens, or DUANEreade, or print it at home for free. Hope this helps!
- Mike
I'm with ePassportPhoto, a website that allows you to take the passport photo yourself. We have trained professionals who review the photo and make sure it meets the passport requirements. I am one of those professionals, and unfortunately, this picture will get rejected because the shadow on your face. However, you will find that it is not hard to set up some of the lights in your house to get even lighting. After we review your photo, all you need to do is crop the picture with our cropping tool -- we take care of the formatting (based on country). You can then either have the photo shipped to your local CVS, Target, Walgreens, or DUANEreade, or print it at home for free. Hope this helps!
- Mike
Jun 6, 2012, 6:52 pm
#8
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: London, Ontario
Posts: 5,210
I think in addition to the shadow on the left side of the face, the slight glare on the forehead will reject it as well. That's what happened to me. Of course, my wife's was accepted and she was more smile than neutral.
Jun 14, 2012, 12:38 pm
#9
Moderator: Budget Travel forum & Credit Card Programs, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: YYJ/YVR and back on Van Isle ....... for now
Programs: UA lifetime MM / *A Gold
Posts: 14,429
Kind of frustrating for me as a professional photographer working without a studio.
EmailKid
Mar 16, 2016, 3:11 pm
#10
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 1
I think this is ridiculous. My photo got rejected due to a slight angle of my head, and my bangs covering one of my ears. It's clearly me on that photo. Some of the stories I heard are so stupid as to why they got photos rejected. I believe this is discriminatory. Other people are getting away with saying Canada's oath while having their face covered. I'm a Canadian citizens for 40 years for goodness sakes. Now I have to go get the guarantor to sign my photos again, as if he isn't busy enough.
Mar 16, 2016, 4:10 pm
#11
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: トロント
Programs: IHG Gold
Posts: 4,820
I think this is ridiculous. My photo got rejected due to a slight angle of my head, and my bangs covering one of my ears. It's clearly me on that photo. Some of the stories I heard are so stupid as to why they got photos rejected. I believe this is discriminatory. Other people are getting away with saying Canada's oath while having their face covered. I'm a Canadian citizens for 40 years for goodness sakes. Now I have to go get the guarantor to sign my photos again, as if he isn't busy enough.
Mar 17, 2016, 11:16 am
#12
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 13,573
When I had my Canadian passport taken, the photographer made me turn my sweater inside out - the sweater (black) had some black sequins on it, and she told me that Passport Canada would reject a photo if the light reflected off the sequins on my top!
Mar 17, 2016, 6:39 pm
#13
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Earth. Residency:HKG formerly:YYZ
Programs: CX, DL, Nexus/GE, APEC
Posts: 10,688
I think this is ridiculous. My photo got rejected due to a slight angle of my head, and my bangs covering one of my ears. It's clearly me on that photo. Some of the stories I heard are so stupid as to why they got photos rejected. I believe this is discriminatory. Other people are getting away with saying Canada's oath while having their face covered. I'm a Canadian citizens for 40 years for goodness sakes. Now I have to go get the guarantor to sign my photos again, as if he isn't busy enough.
You are allowed to say the oath of citizenship in Canada with your head crooked and One ear cover if you so desire.
Mar 17, 2016, 7:51 pm
#14
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 306
Yep, they're quite particular. If you're physically in Canada, I recommend Shoppers Drug Mart. Their pricing is surprisingly reasonable and from my experience their staff are very well trained and very familiar with the requirements. They spent 45 minutes with my dad and I to perfect the photos and they even had makeup powder on hand to reduce glare.
I haven't looked into their policy, but I wouldn't be surprised if they would re-do your photos for free in the event it got rejected.
I haven't looked into their policy, but I wouldn't be surprised if they would re-do your photos for free in the event it got rejected.