Passport ID photo app - does it work & reccomendations please

[bitesthedust]

Please recomendatons of an app or website for passort digital photos that will be accepted by the home office.

DD is 17, autistic and MH issues

Except from her birth certificate she has no ID atm. Passport is expired and lost. No learner’s drving license eitther

After about 2 years of trying today she finally managed to go to a photo studio to get them done. After 3 tries and not liking the result, plus the woman being what she perceived ‘rude’ she got the photos but is not happy and don’t want them used. Today was a big deal as she is agoraphobic and almost never leaves the house.

I was there and encouraged her to keep trying but she got embarassed, frustrated, shut down etc so any more help from me would make things worse

I don’t want to wait until she is ready to go to a studio again. I just think doing things from home would be easier if it works.

I just used my phone camera at home. Make sure you have a white background, good lighting, no shadows. I had to take a few, some were rejected, but if you are applying online, it tells you straight away when the photo is rejected, and you just upload a different one. Saves having to leave the house, pay money for another photo studio etc

The online passport application links you to the app they want you to use. You do it as part of the application process. You just need good light and a white background. It will give you a green light if the photo is acceptable, and upload to the application or a red light with reason why I.e. not enough light, eyes not wide open enough, too close or too far from subject, etc you can then retake the photo.

I have autism and so do my DC and we make a game of how a passport photo should look how you would after 24hrs of travel because that is what the AI at the gates will see. So we go for the tired, deer in headlights, meh-faced look in a hoodie with hair a bit messy.

We took photos at home using our phones. Morning light, white background, you can use a sheet or tablecloth if you don't have anything white to take it against or a pale background. Take 25 shots with her moving her head ever so slightly each time so you are not getting the exact same photo again and again. Get her to choose which one she likes. We did use the phone filter to improve the light source a bit and warm Ds's skin tone up slightly. Delete all the other photos she doesn't like and then use the photo she does like using the online passport application. WIth Ds it rejected the photo but I had to fill in the comments box to say he is ridiculously pale, with pale blonde hair, pale blue eyes. Hopefully the same person doing mine did his because I too am so pale I am like milk.

Once you get the passport sorted you can apply for her driving license using the passport info, plus easier to carry around in your purse/back of your phone.

This! I put a mattress against the wall with a white sheet over it and me and my sons actually laughed a lot trying not to laugh. Hope it's not too painful an experience, I just needed some patience

You can use you phone against a plain light background, it's built into the passport office programme

Standing a bit forwards from the wall rather than directly against it can help to reduce shadows in the background.

A couple of tips for home photos.
Turn the flash off on your phone so you don’t get a dark shadow behind.
Position your daughter about 6 inches away from your background (like in a Photo Booth) again to stop a shadow being thrown.
If you can’t get enough light, use a big sheet of paper or a sheet of aluminium foil to reflect more light onto her face.
Good luck 😊

Wow
If I only knew you can now take photos from your phone directly during the application!
Thanks everyone!
I have a white wall that will be perfect on a day the sun is shining:)

Also just used a pale coloured wall in the house and used my phone as part of the application.

You can also upload a photo. So you can take it in advance, rather than doing it during the application iyswim. Plenty of time to retake, crop, select the best one.

Yes that is true Sengi. I had done a few in advance and all were rejected, so I did them again on the fly during the application. I am not very good at photography and I liked how it gave me instant feedback on why my photo was rejected so I could adjust until I got the green on one!