Uploading Passport Photo Issue

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#1849740 21-Aug-2017 11:40

Behodar:

It seems that this is a common problem! Meanwhile I took my own photo and it was accepted the first time, and worked with the Smart Gate when I came back home. What are you lot all doing wrong?

I did a home studio with self timer, reflector and 45deg over softbox. Needless to say they couldn't process it fast enough :P (Did parents same way leaving glasses on and still worked since no reflections with that method)

trig42

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#1849744 21-Aug-2017 11:49

When I renewed my passport last year, I went to the Post Office for a photo, and they tried but couldn't get the system to accept it (they check it before charging you).

That was with the Canon DSLR at the counter. They suggested I go down to the local Fujifilm photo lab, and the owner there took one for me with a small point and shoot against the white wall in her shop. Accepted fine.

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#1849745 21-Aug-2017 11:50

I've had good redults with DIY photos, using a Lumix G6. A few points:

- as someone said above, use a mild telephoto for good perspective (you should always do this for portraits anyway unless you like people with big noses)

- in conjunction with above, using a large aperture will ensure the background is blurred if you don't have a perfectly smooth backdrop

- I used Picasa to edit the photo before uploading, it has preset aspect ratios which give you the exact aspect required

Linuxluver

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#1849749 21-Aug-2017 11:53

allan:

My wife decided she didn't like the photo she had taken by a pharmacy to renew her passport, so I said I would take one. Used a Canon Powershot SX30, which saves as jpg's, but every resolution I took and she tried to upload, failed with an error of not meeting the 4:3 aspect ratio. That can't be the actual reason, because all of the supported resolutions that it takes are a 4:3 ratio - it has to be some other aspect of the image that it actually doesn't like.

Anyone else has struck a similar issue or have any ideas?

Often it's the white of the eyes. I had to open them comically wide so the whites around the iris would be visible, then it accepted the photo. Like "OMG is that really a tiger about to bite my face off!"-wide. Wider than wide open.

If the software doing the evaluation can't see the whites of the eyes, it rejects the photo.

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kryptonjohn

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#1849755 21-Aug-2017 12:01

Linuxluver:

allan:

My wife decided she didn't like the photo she had taken by a pharmacy to renew her passport, so I said I would take one. Used a Canon Powershot SX30, which saves as jpg's, but every resolution I took and she tried to upload, failed with an error of not meeting the 4:3 aspect ratio. That can't be the actual reason, because all of the supported resolutions that it takes are a 4:3 ratio - it has to be some other aspect of the image that it actually doesn't like.

Anyone else has struck a similar issue or have any ideas?

Often it's the white of the eyes. I had to open them comically wide so the whites around the iris would be visible, then it accepted the photo. Like "OMG is that really a tiger about to bite my face off!"-wide. Wider than wide open.

If the software doing the evaluation can't see the whites of the eyes, it rejects the photo.

I'm tempted to ask how my Asian friends could ever comply, but better avoid...

Bung

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#1849770 21-Aug-2017 12:30

If the image doesn't end up looking tired and grumpy the Immigration control will take longer recognizing that you are the same person.

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dryburn

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#1849818 21-Aug-2017 13:19

I had the same issue, use 3:4 ratio, that fixed the issue.

Also there was previously an issue for people of Asian origins where they ask them to open their eyes....

Fred99

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#1849821 21-Aug-2017 13:22

I've had no problems getting photos accepted - following the instructions. I used bounce-flash so no shadows on wall behind from direct flash, 105mm focal length at f2.8, cropped and resized. The passports work in smart gate no problem.

Instructions for NZ passports are here.

Photo-checker is here.

As well as the possibility of problems with incorrect sizing, there's also a potential problem with how orientation is stored in jpeg metadata and whether the software used for editing and displaying the image recognises the orientation tag.

The most evil feature ever conceived: the Exif Orientation Tag

Rickles

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#1849933 21-Aug-2017 17:40

No woman likes their passport photo ... my wife recently went to 3 different photo shops, paid $60 total, and went with the first one in the end !!! Arghhhhh!

kiwiharry

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#1849957 21-Aug-2017 18:43

Behodar:
It seems that this is a common problem! Meanwhile I took my own photo and it was accepted the first time, and worked with the Smart Gate when I came back home. What are you lot all doing wrong?

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gedc

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#1851760 24-Aug-2017 10:21

so had this a few months back..Took photo, loaded into photo editor, resized and cropped to correct pixel size etc then submitted and it kept getting rejected. Was driving me batty.

Then had a look through the camera menus and lo and behold - had to change the ratios on the camera itself then it worked perfectly first time.

It would appear there is some metadata being generated by the camera that physically resizing etc within software doesn't amend.

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kryptonjohn

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#1851765 24-Aug-2017 10:27

Yep - can confirm there are settings on my Samsung to set it to 4:3 instead of 16:9.

Fred99

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#1853339 27-Aug-2017 17:47

Rickles:

No woman likes their passport photo ... my wife recently went to 3 different photo shops, paid $60 total, and went with the first one in the end !!! Arghhhhh!

I did another passport photo yesterday for a 20YO friend of my son. There's obvious limits to what you can do creatively to a front on portrait where you've got to have a neutral expression, but lighting (I use indirect bounce flash), low saturation, low contrast, low sharpening. I used a full-frame camera with fast 105mm lens for shallow depth of field. The result was pretty good, she was happy (probably not ecstatic though) and the image went through the passport photo checker system first go. I've done a couple of others like this, with shallow DOF. So long as the eyes and face features are sharp enough, the "smart gate" biometric scanners at the airport have no problem with the passports. Use a digital camera set to default or even worse, a landscape scene mode etc, and the high saturation / contrast shows every tiny pore on the skin. Stuff nobody needs to see. Some cameras may have a "portrait" scene mode. Probably some of the newer dual camera phones can do a pretty reasonable job too.

Fred99

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#1853342 27-Aug-2017 17:54

gedc:

It would appear there is some metadata being generated by the camera that physically resizing etc within software doesn't amend.

Not sure if it's related, but I tend to strip metadata when saving as jpeg for purposes like that. It's not needed and could lead to complications, especially with orientation and rotation tags.

If you don't have a photo editor that can strip the jpeg data, then copy the image in the photo editor window, paste as a "new image", then save as jpeg. AFAIK (and IIRC the Windows API), the windows clipboard holds the copied image as a bitmap, all exif metadata is lost.

ANglEAUT

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#1853350 27-Aug-2017 18:26

Fred99: ... If you don't have a photo editor that can strip the jpeg data, ...

Open your image and save it again in MS Paint. Annoyingly, it too strips the meta data.

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