Utilizing Passport Photo Programs: The Advanced Travellers Guide

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Avatar of Linda Hohnholz
Written by Linda Hohnholz

Are you going to travel and you need a photo program to help you create some high-quality passport photos? Find out in this quick guide.

In the past 30 years, the share of U.S. citizens having a passport increased dramatically. Last year, over 21.4 million passports were made in the US. If weโ€™re putting that number in perspective, only 6.3 million was created back in 1997.

In 1997, only 15% of Americans had a passport, though it’s more than in 1990 when it was at 4%. This number increased in 2007, due to U.S. citizens traveling through air between the U.S., Mexico, Canada, South/Central America, was required of having a passport.

Previously, it was possible for citizens to enter countries without a passport, but this law changed after 9/11. Congress created the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Act which required all foreign nationals entering the U.S. to have an official passport. The plan was announced in 2005 before being placed in effect in 2007.

What does this mean for you? Due to the increasing demands of U.S. passports, itโ€™s important that you have one when traveling overseas. And in this post, weโ€™ll display the two methods on how to get your passport created with ease.

So letโ€™s get started!

Capture & Print the Photos at Home

Do you have photo paper, inkjet paper, or a digital camera? Save yourself the time and money by printing out your passport photo at home. After all, you’re taking the same photo that most pharmacies do, but you can take some time to take the photo you like.

Make sure that the photo is thoroughly exposed (the photo isn’t too dark or too bright), and your subject is facing ahead, eyes opened. You will have to adjust the lighting if a shadow is present and reshoot the photo.

Keep in mind, even if youโ€™re a professional photographer, you should not get fancy with the lighting setup. Use an even, flat light that shows your entire face in the photo.

Make sure to keep the spacing of the sides and the top of the image. You can crop the image to the right dimensions later. Your photo needs to be 2 x2 inches, and your head has to be around 1- 1 โ…œ inches tall. While the State Department has a tool on its website to crop an image, but this is an older tool that will need Adobe Flash Player.

Using a Passport Photo Program

There is a myriad of passport photo apps that are available for Android and iOS users. For instance, you can use Passport Photo Creator to make a quick image using your smartphone’s camera.

To get the best out of these programs, make sure that your images fit the passport agency’s dimensions. Once the program takes the photo, it will then send the final result to your phoneโ€™s photo selection where you can print it out and use it for your passport application.

The cool part about these photo programs is their compliance checks, which has facial time recognition. The program will tell you what problem areas need to be fixed and the location of the problem areas.

Conclusion

Overall, having a passport photo program will save you time in the long run. You’ll find it easier to travel to foreign countries and be viewed as a verified U.S. citizen. Thus, we suggest that you get a passport photo to ensure that you can travel quickly and safely.

 

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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