Take a biometric passport photo yourself: how it works

In this article we explain how you can easily take a biometric passport photo yourself.

Requirements for a biometric passport photo

• You need a neutral background: if you have a white wardrobe, this can serve as a background. Otherwise, a plain white wall is enough. Make sure that there is nothing in the background that could distract from the photo, as this is not permitted.
• A camera: Nowadays you can get very good image results with digital cameras. Alternatively, you can borrow a reflex camera from the store. Usually the fee for a day is not particularly high.
• Bundesdruckerei has a so-called passport photo template online, which you can use to edit the image to check whether your image is biometric or not.
• Also ensure that there is sufficient lighting, because nothing is more unprofessional than a photo that is too dark or overexposed. When photographing in the evening, you should either set up soft boxes or lamps.
• Adhere to the regulations specified by Bundesdruckerei. You can read them here. To summarize briefly: The picture must have the dimensions 3.5 x 4.5 cm, be sufficiently illuminated, have a neutral background and be of good quality. The person being photographed should have a neutral facial expression, keep his head straight, keep his eyes open and wear no headgear.
• You can edit your image on special pages and then adjust it according to the biometric specifications. You can then order the finished product directly from many of these pages. However, if you do not want to do this and would rather print out the picture yourself, you should at least take a look at how the picture was edited so that it is biometric. If necessary, please also take a screenshot as a comparison picture. Then open your image in either Gimp, Photoshop or even Paint and trim it accordingly.
• Take the highest quality available and change the image just by cropping it. If you change the photo to passport size before editing, there will be a very high loss of image quality and your photo will show a lot of image noise.

How to print the biometric passport photo

There are various ways of printing out the passport photo.

• You can print the picture at home. However, you need very high quality photo paper and of course a printer with full cartridges.
• If you don't mind having to pay a little money, you can of course also order the passport photo on the above page if you already have it in your shopping cart after processing. In addition to this page, there are of course plenty of other providers where you can have pictures printed out relatively cheaply.
• If you are not pressed for time, you can also order the picture online. You can also have the finished picture printed out in a drugstore or in general in a shop in your city.