Just wondering if anyone has advice on taking your own passport photos. My husband and I were trying to take them today with his digital camera. Will they be a high enough quality if we print them on our home printer (hpdeskjet, nothing special). When i was reading the specifications for pics on the passport application, it says pics have to withstand very high temperatures when they are being processed. Will normal printer ink and photo paper be o.k.?
Also, does anyone know where you can get passport photos fairly cheap? Last time I got them at Kinkos, but they cost $12! (Have to get new ones since I got married and name has changed).

Sorry not "very high" but "high." Don't want to be too dramatic!

Walgreens - six photos for under $5

A passport lasts for 10 years. I have serious doubts about a picture printed from your own printer for that purpose.

At CVS (store like Walgreens in the east)last week it was $10 to get passport photos. It didn't seem that much to me to have the assurance that it complies w/the rules. At least you don't seem to need an expedited passport. That is when the money starts getting a lot more serious.

do you belong to AAA...they are free once per year....for member only...two pics...

any camera store can do it or have it done in bkk for cheap...

printer paper is not heavy enough....so what's $15 in comparison to what you will spend on this trip??

if you are using the pics for visa application then just pay the money. The photos also need to be exactly perfect, no smiling, the eyes looking in the right direction (its more precise than you'd think) etc etc so I'd just pay the money instead of having your application rejected because the photos were not acceptable.

Author: artmarth
Date: 01/31/2006, 01:40 am
Most big shopping malls should have those photo booths. We took visa photos there and got our visas back from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos & Myanmar with no problems. The photos were six for $3.
Don't know where you're going, but keep in mind, the above four countries require a visa, with one or more photos.

I recommend, as others have, that you bite the bullet and get the right kind of passport photo to use in your passport. Your passport is both an identity document and proof of citizenship and it will be useful for 10 years, so get the good quality photo.

Visa photos are a different matter. Those photos are going to get pasted on a card and put into a file in an embassy or sent over to the country that issues the visa and gets filed. Maybe some countries will accept visa apps with a deskjet printed photo, but that doesn't mean that a different (or the same) country will at a later date and it says nothing about the acceptability of the use of the photo in a passport.

A real passport photo is the best thing to use for a passport (hence the name) and they are the standard for visa photos.

I agree. It's worth paying the money so that I won't worry. Thanks for the input!!

Hey, Bob, that's good info about AAA. I didn't know that.

Not all AAA are the same nation wide. My passport was due to expire this year so I went to AAA (California) and was charged $8 plus tax for 2 photos.

bronco....what would you expect it's CA

When we have needed passport or visa photos, our TA has taken then, as part of their service. Since the agencies usually tack on a fee for booking, etc. I imagine the photos are part of that. I do agree with the above comments,tho, that getting the appropriate type of photo is a good idea--better safe than late with the passport/visa if the pic is returned. Just my opinion. mhm