Make a US passport photo from a phone selfie for an online renewal

Steps

1. Stand about half a metre in front of a plain light door, face a window so both sides of your face get similar light, remove glasses, and take a straight-on selfie at arm's length with a relaxed, neutral expression.
2. Open the passport photo tool, pick the United States 2 by 2 inch preset, and nudge your head inside the guide overlay until the chin-to-crown height sits between the two marked lines.
3. Swap the door background for flat white, look once behind each ear for leftover shadow, then export the digital file and, if you also need paper copies, a 4 by 6 inch print sheet.

Worked example

Input file

selfie-doorway.png — head-and-shoulders selfie against a white bedroom door at 9 in the morning, hair tied back, dark navy crew-neck top, faint shadow on one cheek.

Settings

United States preset, 600 by 600 pixel digital export, background replaced with even white, head height aligned to the guide band, no skin retouching and no filters.

Expected result

A square portrait, face centred and evenly lit on flat white, shoulders cropped by the frame edge, ready to upload to the renewal form or to print four copies on a single 4 by 6 sheet.

Illustrative example: this sample selfie and its settings teach the preparation steps; acceptance always depends on the current official requirements, so compare your export with those before submitting.

Common mistakes

• Wearing a white or cream top. Your shoulders melt into the pale background and the portrait loses its outline, so choose a darker colour that separates you from the wall behind.
• Shooting in portrait mode or with a beauty filter. Blurred ears and smoothed skin can make a document photo unusable, so use the standard camera mode with every effect switched off.

Frequently asked question

Does the tool decide whether my photo gets accepted?

No. The tool sizes the frame, centres the head and cleans the background. The passport authority makes the acceptance decision against its own current rules, so treat the export as a carefully prepared file and do the last check on the official requirements page.