How to make a passport photo at home for free
Updated 2026-06-21
You can make a passport photo at home from a normal phone selfie: take a well-lit, front-facing shot against a plain wall, then crop it to the required size and swap the background to a clean, even color. The ID & Profile Photo Maker does the sizing, cropping and background cleanup in your browser — no studio visit, no upload.
Take a usable photo first
The tool can only work with what your camera captures, so start with a good source image:
- Face the camera straight on, with a neutral expression and eyes open.
- Use soft, even light from the front — daylight near a window is ideal. Avoid harsh shadows on your face or behind your head.
- Stand a foot or two away from a plain, light wall so it can be replaced cleanly.
- Remove hats and tinted glasses. Most passport rules forbid headwear and glare on lenses.
A slightly imperfect background is fine — that is what the background step is for. What matters most is sharp focus and flat, shadow-free lighting on your face.
Size and crop it correctly
Passport and ID photos are defined by exact dimensions, and the rules differ by country:
- US passport — 2 × 2 inches (51 × 51 mm), square.
- UK / EU / Schengen — 35 × 45 mm, portrait.
- Profile / avatar use — a square crop, often 600 × 600 px or larger.
Beyond the outer size, most authorities also specify how much of the frame your head should fill — typically the head from chin to crown sits around 50–69% of the height, centered. In the ID & Profile Photo Maker you pick the target size, then drag and zoom your face inside the crop guide until your head and eyes line up with the overlay. Getting the head proportion right is the single most common reason home photos get rejected, so use the guide rather than eyeballing it.
Clean up the background
A passport photo needs a plain, uniform background — usually white or light gray. The maker removes your original background locally and drops in a flat color, so a busy room or an uneven wall becomes an even backdrop. For a profile picture you have more freedom; a soft neutral tone reads well on most platforms.
After replacing the background, check the edges around your hair and shoulders look natural, and that the color is consistent with no gradient or shadow.
Export and use it
When the crop and background look right, export the finished image. Use it for an online application, print it at the exact size on photo paper, or set it as a profile picture.
Because everything runs on your device, your face never leaves your browser — nothing is uploaded to a server. That privacy matters for a document photo tied to your identity.
Ready to make yours? Open the ID & Profile Photo Maker and turn a selfie into a properly sized, clean-background ID or profile photo in a couple of minutes.