licence / passport photo

propertyrental

Am moving home soon after 26 years (still got the old fashioned green driving licence - be sad to see that go!)

So it's been a while. What the best way to get a new passport style photo for new licence?

jefaz07

Via the website? A change of address is free I’m sure. 

olgadapolga

jefaz07 said:

Via the website? A change of address is free I’m sure. 

Not if you're applying for a photocard when you've currently got a paper licence.

propertyrental said:

Am moving home soon after 26 years (still got the old fashioned green driving licence - be sad to see that go!)

So it's been a while. What the best way to get a new passport style photo for new licence?

If you apply online, they can use your passport photo if you have a current passport. Otherwise (or if you don't want to use your passport photo) you can still apply online but you'd need to send in a photo by post. They tell you what to do at the end of the online application.

As for how to get a photo, there are lots of places that charge to take your photo. The government website just says that it needs to be "a colour passport-type photograph" so you could do it yourself if you have the facilities? 

Bigphil1474

OP, I did my passport and photo card licence last year - just took a pic on my phone for the passport first. You need to do it against a plain background, no shadows etc. so took us a couple of weeks to get the right conditions in the summer (not joking), but eventually found one wall in our house that was plain enough and didn't have too many shadows. You can then upload your photo when applying on line. Better than bothering with snail mail. 

After I'd done my passport, I did the driving licence app online and they used the same photo. 

Grey_Critic

I use this programme

https://www.persofoto.com/en

user1977

olgadapolga said:

jefaz07 said:

Via the website? A change of address is free I’m sure. 

Not if you're applying for a photocard when you've currently got a paper licence.

propertyrental said:

Am moving home soon after 26 years (still got the old fashioned green driving licence - be sad to see that go!)

So it's been a while. What the best way to get a new passport style photo for new licence?

If you apply online, they can use your passport photo if you have a current passport. Otherwise (or if you don't want to use your passport photo) you can still apply online but you'd need to send in a photo by post. They tell you what to do at the end of the online application.

As for how to get a photo, there are lots of places that charge to take your photo. The government website just says that it needs to be "a colour passport-type photograph" so you could do it yourself if you have the facilities? 

No fancy "facilities" needed, you just need to be able to take a compliant selfie and print it.

Bluebell1000

We took our own photos, having discovered that the best spot with a plain wall is standing in the bath 😅 no repainting the bathroom a different colour here! Anyway, we resized it to the correct dimensions on the computer, and put all the photos we needed (including spares to fill the space) onto a I think 6x4" size sheet. Then sent this to the local photo shop for them to print onto photography paper. Cost us about 50p.

facade

When I renewed my passport I couldn't find a plain background at home that didn't produce massive shadows, so I went to Tescos and used the photo booth to take a photo.

Unbelievable trouble. It checks for compliance, and rejects every attempt, finally forcing me to accept the (failed the check again) last one or lose my money. So I went to the Post Office, and did it again there.

The point is, photo booths give you a code that you just type into the online application and they upload the photo for you, the driving licence should be the same.

Anyway, I did the application, and gave the Post Office code- and the passport site rejected it as non-compliant as said my mouth was hanging open in slack jawed style! (But when I look at it there I am artificially tight lipped in a neutral expression)

So with nothing to lose, I tried the Tesco code (remember that was definitely non-compliant in the first place) and it was accepted.

How I laughed after all that money and trouble when I told people and they all replied "I just took mine myself in the garden with my 'phone in my hand"

mgfvvc

I did my daughter's passport photo myself against a bathroom wall. I had to try a couple of locations, but it was quite simple. Trying to use the same location for my passport photo, I could not produce an acceptable photo, so there's no consistently easy way to do it at home (unless you have a studio at home). You may be lucky, you may not.

Bluebell1000

Having a couple of helpers who can position an extra lamp / torch to help reduce shadows can be useful!