Take a Passport Photo Online with AI (2026)

August 26, 2026 · 5 min read

Passport photo rules are strict, and booths and pharmacies charge a surprising amount for a photo you could take better yourself. AI has made the DIY route genuinely safe: it handles the two things that get home-shot photos rejected — the background and the exact crop — while you handle the part only you can do: standing in decent light with a neutral face. Here's how to get a compliant photo in minutes.

The rules your photo has to pass

Requirements vary slightly by country, but the core rules are near-universal across the US, UK and EU:

• Plain light background. White or off-white, no patterns, no objects, no shadows.
• Neutral expression. Mouth closed, eyes open and visible, looking straight at the camera. No smile for most countries.
• Even lighting. No shadows on the face or background, no red-eye, no glare.
• Head size and position. Face centred, head filling roughly 50–70% of the frame height (US: 1–1⅜ in from chin to crown).
• No glasses (required in the US, recommended everywhere), no head coverings except religious ones worn daily, and no heavy filters or retouching.
• Recent. Taken within the last six months, reflecting your current appearance.

The sizes, decoded

The two presets you'll need cover most of the world. The US passport photo is 2×2 inches — 600×600 pixels at 300 DPI for printing. The EU and UK standard is 35×45 mm — 413×531 pixels at 300 DPI. Visas and ID cards for other countries typically use one of these two, or a close variant; always confirm against the official requirements for your specific document before printing.

How to make yours online with Hermosso

1. Take the photo. Stand about a metre in front of a plain wall, facing a window for soft, even light. Camera at eye level, head-and-shoulders framing, neutral expression. A friend with a phone beats a selfie — arm's-length shots distort your face.
2. Upload it to the Hermosso passport photo tool.
3. Pick your preset. US 2×2 inch or EU/UK 35×45 mm. The tool removes your background, composites a compliant white one, and crops to the exact official dimensions and head size.
4. Download and print. You get a 300-DPI file — 600×600 px (US) or 413×531 px (EU/UK) — ready for the online application or a local print shop. The whole run costs 50 credits, and new accounts get 750 free.

Tips for a first-time pass

• Light is everything. Face a window, never a lamp behind you. If one side of your face is darker, turn slightly toward the light source until it's even.
• Wear what you'd wear on a normal day — but avoid white tops, which merge into the white background.
• Take a dozen shots. Blinkers and half-smiles are easier to avoid by taking extras than by retaking later.
• Don't over-edit. Authorities reject retouched photos. Fix the light at the source, not in an editor.
• Check your document's exact spec. Some countries add quirks — the UK's rules on expression and India's different dimensions, for instance — so skim the official page before you print.