Passport Photo Maker

What the two presets actually produce

The 35 x 45 mm preset writes a 413 x 531 pixel JPEG. Those numbers are not arbitrary: 35 mm at 300 dots per inch is 413.4 pixels and 45 mm is 531.5, so this is the smallest file that prints at full quality on a standard lab printer. That size is used by Australia, the United Kingdom, the Schengen countries, India and a long list of others for passports and most visa applications.

The second preset writes 600 x 600 pixels, which is 2 x 2 inches at the same 300 dpi. That square is the United States standard and is also accepted by a handful of other countries for visa photographs.

In both cases the canvas is painted solid white, then your portrait is scaled to cover the frame from its centre and cropped to fit. That fill guarantees no transparent pixels or grey letterbox bars survive into the final JPEG.

Do your framing before you drop the file in

There is no drag, zoom or reposition control here. The crop is taken from the exact centre of whatever you supply. That means the framing decision is made before you arrive, not after.

A phone portrait held at arm's length is usually far too wide, and dropping it straight in leaves the head filling perhaps a third of the frame with a lot of torso below. Open the crop tool first, choose the custom ratio option and enter 35 and 45 (or pick 1:1 for the US square), then drag the box tightly around the head and the top of the shoulders.

The guide lines and their assumptions

With the guide switched on, a dashed line is drawn at 12 per cent from the top and another at 88 per cent, plus a vertical line through the centre. The gap between them represents 76 per cent of the frame height, and the guides appear on the preview only. They are never burned into the downloaded file.

For the 35 x 45 mm size, 76 per cent of 531 pixels is about 404 pixels, which prints as roughly 34 mm from crown to chin. Australia and most European authorities ask for 32 to 36 mm, so that sits comfortably inside the range. The United Kingdom specifies 29 to 34 mm, which puts the guide right at the upper edge, so British applicants should keep the chin a few pixels inside the lower line rather than resting on it.

For the United States square, the guides are deliberately generous and you should not follow them literally. American requirements put the head between 1 inch and 1 and 3 eighths of an inch from chin to crown, which on a 600 pixel frame is roughly 300 to 412 pixels, or half to two thirds of the height. Aim to have the crown sit about a quarter of the way down the square rather than at the 12 per cent line, with the eyes a little above the middle. The vertical centre line is the reliable part: the nose should sit on it, with the head square to the camera and not tilted.

What this tool does not do

It does not remove or replace a background. The white fill only covers areas where there is no photo, so a beige wall stays beige. The honest fix is to reshoot against a plain, evenly lit, pale wall, standing far enough forward to cast no shadow on it. If that is impossible, remove background can cut the subject out automatically, but be aware that automatic matting leaves rough edges around hair and glasses, and visibly edited photos are a common reason for rejection.

It does not detect faces, rotate, straighten, or build a print sheet, so a lab wanting six copies on a 6 x 4 inch print needs that layout done elsewhere. It also makes no judgement about expression, glasses, head coverings, shadows or how recent the photograph is. Those rules vary by country and change over time, so read the current guidance from the authority you are applying to.

File size for print and for online forms

The JPEG is written at a quality of 0.92, and if the result somehow exceeds 1 MB the quality is stepped down until it fits. At 413 x 531 that safeguard will essentially never trigger: files at that size normally land under 100 KB, which is plenty for both printing and emailing.

Online applications often impose their own much tighter cap, sometimes 20 KB or 50 KB. Squeeze the finished photo with compress to 20 KB and check it still looks clean, since heavy compression on a face is very visible. There is more detail in the guide on compressing photos for online forms.

Questions

How many pixels is a 35 x 45 mm passport photo?

413 by 531 pixels at 300 dpi, which is what this preset outputs. Some portals ask for 600 x 600 or larger instead, so check the specification before you print or upload.

Can I move the crop up or down?

No. The frame is filled from the centre of your source image with no adjustment available. Crop to the right shape and framing first, then use this page to land on the exact output size.

Will it put a white background behind me?

Only where there is no photograph to draw. Your real background is untouched, so the original needs to be shot against a plain light wall to meet the usual requirement.

Do the dashed guide lines end up in the printed photo?

No. They are drawn on the preview canvas only. The download is rendered separately with just your photograph on the white frame.

Is a home-made photo accepted for a passport?

Many authorities accept a self-supplied digital photograph provided it meets every rule on size, background, lighting and expression. Others require a professional or in-person capture, particularly for a first application. Check your own authority's current position before relying on a photo you made yourself.