Passport Photos - apps or DIY?

sexymouse

Hello all,

All 4 of us (2 adults and 1 child passport renewal and 1 child brand new passport) need new passports, and I was wondering what the cheapest or best option would be for the passport photos?

I vaguely remember taking our own photos on my phone for our last passports, but this was over 10 years ago, and I know there are many more technologies etc to use now.

Has anyone had any experiences they'd like to share - if it is still better to take your own, or take it via an app or something I've not thought of?

I know that applying for passports online is the cheapest option, so not sure that I want to go down the Post Office Check and Send service, as I believe this adds quite a considerable cost to the applications if we're doing 4 of them. 

Thanks in advance for your reponses.

la531983

Really not sure why people pay extra for that service anyway, especially on a renewal which can easily be done online and the ability to do it wrong is totally reduced by the design of the web form.

Ayr_Rage

I renewed last April and did a few "selfies" against an appropriately coloured wall in my local hospital after reading the requirements on the website.

I was getting too many shadows at home, so tried in a hospital corridor with good even lighting whilst waiting for a friend to be discharged.

It is easy to renew online, you can upload the photos and get them analysed in real time and then pick the one that gets the best rating.

sexymouse

Thank you - that's really helpful. I will try to find an appropriate spot to take the photos myself then. 

MyRealNameToo

Check and Send is no better than the scam websites that do the application for you for a variety of things and just charge you excessive fees. The only thing they reimburse if they get it wrong is the cost of the postage and not the cost of the service they didnt perform correctly, which tells you all you need to know. 

DIY is fine and not hard to do. Certainly getting the right light can be tricky, if you have a ring light it's easier. The online service does check the photo for you before you submit it though seems to work better with fair skin colours than dark. The online system rejected a couple of photos of the wife but eventually said to submit anyway as I couldn't see any problems with it and they accepted. 

The other option is to use one of the photo booths, most of them these days give you a code and you just type that into the online application and they retrieve your photo for you so no having to stick it to paper applications or scanning the photo in anymore. Not cheap but cheaper than the post office check and send.

Exodi

Did mine last year - just stood against a white wall and took a couple of pictures.

First one submitted was accepted.

I certainly wouldn't rush to fork out ££ at a passport photo booth or one of these online companies which essentially just crop your photos for you.

It's honestly not hard to do at all, the main difficulty is finding a white wall in your house where the light isn't casting a shadow on your face.

sexymouse

That's good to know that the online form checks the photos there and then for you too. Thank you. 

XzavierWalnut

Renewed mine  online on 30 December using the photo booths which cost £10. Received passport within 2 weeks.

beckstar1975

I did mine (renewal) and kids (x 3 first passports) at home in front of my white wardrobe as it's next to a window that gets sun in the afternoon - biggest issue was waiting for a sunny day! And actually telling them not to smile - there's some corkers of them looking dead miserable as they were so scared to look happy

Emmia

I used a photo booth for mine a couple of years ago, got the code to add to the application and was also able to download the photo as well as getting 4 printed ones - the download was helpful as I needed to provide a new photo for a work pass, so just used my passport photo.

Skiddaw1

We renewed ours a couple of years back and went for the DIY route with no problems.