Hello,
I need to renew my passport but am curious to know if anyone has/can take their own photo vs going to a drugstore.
Actually, my husband and I have been "debating" this issue. Between the two of us...we'll need 4 photos each (2 for passports and 2 for visas). It just so happened that both of our passports expire wtihin months of each others!
So, while I don't want to be a cheapskate -- I also don't mind trying to take the photos at home (thank goodness for digital cameras). If anyone has done this -- please tell me if it was a pain or not.

thanks!!!

We took our own passport photos last year with the digital camera. We followed the photo guidelines on the passport renewal application. It worked out well because I needed my sweetheart to retake and retake for that "perfect" picture. So much better than the one-shot-only driver's license photo at DMV!
Go for it!

OK, if you think you can follow "the guidelines" and then don't spend a lot of time worrying that you have followed them after you send off the pictures, go ahead and be what you don;t want to be: a cheapskate.

Otherwise spend a few bucks at the local Motophoto (or equivalne) store and avoid a lot of worrying..OR get Janeyre's sweetheart to do it for you.

Good luck.

Do you print your own photos? Many photo printing programs have a "passport" size among the choices of sizes you can print. If it does then printing your own is easy. I do it for friends all the time. If you have to "size" it yourself it can be more difficult (to get the size of the face correct" but still possible. Just play around with it. Why spend $10-15 for something you can do for yourself for a few cents.

Yes, we used a digital camera for two family members. The hardest part was finding a white background in the house for the photo background! No problem with either passport submission. Paying for the photo isn't the problem; it's the "one shot and that's what you get" that bothers me.

In case it doesn't work out, Walgreens will do them for about $8./pp

Go for it! We did it a few months ago and it worked out well. DH played around with printing it out a bit. Best passport photo I've ever had!

No problem--we had to renew this year and did ours at home in front of a white wall--used the digital and printed them at home.

Our passports needed renewing and I was thrilled to finally get rid of the scary photo of myself.
On the renewal form, it says not to use "booth" photos so we went to a Kinkos copy place that takes passport photos. Awful!
So we went to a professional photographer who does passport photos. We took pictures until I was completely happy. I will use this photo until I am well into my 90's..who is to say that I will not look exactly the same in years to come ??

AAA also does passport photos for members either free or very inexpensive. Got mine there. Check their website for locations & $ www.aaa.com

I don't really care about what ID photos look like, but there are lots of places with digital cameras that produce them professionally where you can continue getting a new shot if you don't like the results.

I got mine at a local Motophoto for only about $8 (for 2), and I didn't have to accept the first shot if I didn't like it. I wouldn't ever fool around with that stuff myself just to be cheap as you are going to cause yourself lots of problems if they reject them and you aren't going to know that for a while and then have to re-submit. You do all this by mail and it takes weeks even when things go smoothly.

I also took our passport photos last year with a digital camera. Just be sure to follow the guidelines and you should be fine. If you have ample time, do it this way. Get the picture you want and best of all it's free. Even if there was an issue, you would still have time to correct the problem(s).

I just did this and have a few tips to offer. After taking several shots at home (making sure there were no shadows on my face) I took the digital pictures to develop at the store, pictures printed at home may fade before the ten years are up. At the store, I asked for two copies of the 2-3 shots I liked best, that saved me a second trip to the store. To cut them, I used one of those paper cutters with a blade instead of scissors to crop the pictures to the right size. I put the pictures one on top of the other and held them tight while I cut, that way the two pictures had identical measurements. The entire process took about two hours and cost about $3. I just got my passport in the mail and it looks fine.

It is allowable if the background is a clean white, or cream color. My sister took her baby's photo with her camera and got duplicates made in the required small size. However, for adults, I would just go to your local auto club office where they charge ~$8 for 2 photos that can be submitted with your -passport application.

Do it yourself, the passport size is 2 in. by 2 in. Anywhere that charges $6-8 is going to use a $200 3 mega-pixel camera and charge you prices set in the old days when pictures were developed by chemicals. Everyone today uses digital. Just use this criteria:
*clean white background
*2x2 inches
*crop it so the head size is the same as your existing passport photo
*print on photo paper only
*print on high quality printer or take soft copy to any store with a Kodak self-operated printing station and print there

Scarlett,
There are professional photographers who do passport photos? That is definitely a classy way to go! Kudos!
I'm pretty sure my dad has done this... I don't see why it's cheapskate - just a different way to do it. I hate sitting in those little booths grinning at a sheet of plastic.
But be warned junkgalore - if you start getting fussy with just which picture you're going to use and end up printing more than once or twice the costs will add up - once you take into account decent paper, ink etc.

Yes, the photographer even told my husband over the phone that if we didn't like the photo, he would take another. He used a digital camera, with the right white background, took 2 photos each for us to choose from.
It might have cost a couple of dollars more than Kinkos, but it was well worth it to me, Scarlett the Vain