The government provides us with pretty much the same rules as for the other types of official document pictures. This means that these official photo guidelines and patterns are quite straightforward and easy to follow. Here’s a short yet complete list of the UK driving licence photo requirements. These specifications should be very helpful for those who have just finished their driving lessons and want to take their shot themselves:
The British driving licence photo size for printed shots is 35×45 millimetres, with your head taking up no less than 29 and no more than 34 mm in the frame. The proportions for digital shots stay the same.
The driver’s whole head, shoulders and a part of the upper body must be fully visible in the frame.
No matter whether you’re applying for a full or provisional licence: in the UK, you need to provide coloured photos (submitting black and white images is one of the most common mistakes; these will be rejected instantly). The photograph must be perfectly clear and have a sharp contrast and focus (also, no red-eye effect), so use a high-quality camera. Finally, your snapshot can’t have been altered in any way.
As for the printing quality, your picture has to be printed on high-quality photo paper and have no tears or creases. Such paper used in most places that do printing. If you’re printing at home, remember that you can’t use the usual paper.
According to the regulations, your new driving licence photo must have a uniform background of light cream colour: it can’t have textures, patterns or include any other objects (otherwise, it’ll make an unsuitable background).
If you’re taking your images in a photo booth or a studio, you’ll hardly need to worry about that (as a rule, their lighting is okay). However, if you’re taking your UK driving licence picture at home, make sure that the light seems natural and your face is lit completely. Any shadows are strictly forbidden: the requirements clearly state that lighting must be soft and even.”
As you’d do in any official snapshot, make sure to maintain a strictly neutral facial expression—no smiling, mouth closed, eyes open, look straight into the camera. And if makeup is your thing, it’s best to keep it natural and lowkey (no heavy makeup).
In the UK, facial piercings are generally allowed in the photograph for your driving licence but there shouldn’t be any glare whatsoever. So, if a facial piercing shines, remove it if possible or adjust the lighting.
One more thing about your facial appearance—your photograph must be taken within the last 30 days (i.e. the last month) to match your current appearance and thus be valid. In other words, take your picutre as soon as you get the driving test pass certificate. Don’t take too long: one of the most commonly made mistakes is to use an old shot.
Make sure your hair doesn’t cover your face. If it normally obscures your facial features, try tucking it behind your ears or use an invisible hair clip. In fact, you can’t wear anything that’s not transparent (like headbands and so on).
Hats are not accepted in a UK driving licence photo. Headwear is allowed for religious purposes only (but it can’t cover, hide or obscure your facial features anyway). As for accessories, make sure not to wear any (like head covering, decorative glasses and so on; lowkey jewellery is allowed).
As for usual glasses, they’re acceptable to wear only if you can’t see properly without them (but any glare or reflections are unacceptable). Also, their frames cannot obscure your appearance and their shape should be neutral (avoid wearing star-shaped glasses, for instance).
As for clothes, try to wear something business-like that won’t match the background colour.
As you see, these requirements are not so strict. Following these pieces of advice, drivers shouldn’t have any trouble submitting their photocard driving licence application form.
Get a UK driving licence photo online without almost any effort. This is how it works: take a usual picture (with your iPhone or Android smartphone, digital camera or webcam), upload it here and our service will automatically crop, edit and convert it into a 100% valid official image. Then, you can save its digital version, a print-ready template or a photo code.
Get pictures 100% compliant with the licence photo guidelines in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland—our certified expert will check that your photo meets the rules. You can easily use shots made here for your British driving licence (to drive a car in the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area) or other documents.
Crop and prepare a print-ready 6×4 template with several copies of your perfect biometric photo. Then, have it printed online (say, at the Max Spielmann page www.maxphoto.co.uk/photo-printing.html) for £0.59, pick up your printout in 20 minutes and use it to update an existing licence or get a new one.
Our certified expert will thoroughly double-check your biometric image—it’ll have the correct UK driving licence photo size, background of light-grey colour, etc. Thanks to this expert verification, your new photo will be 100% suitable for the official application (by post or on the online submission page).
If you decide to use another image for your new document but don’t have a biometric residence permit and aren’t a resident of an EEA country, you’ll need to have your photo signed. You can print it and ask another citizen of the United Kingdom with enough authority to sign the back of your printout and thus verify it and confirm your identity.
This signature serves as a kind of certificate: it documents that the signing person has known you at least for two years and ensures that it is really you shown in that photo. Sadly, you can’t just ask your friend to do it. Here’s the list of people who can sign the photo for your UK driving licence:
The person who signs your photo must fill in section 8 of your DL1 application form.
Once you’ve found your countersignatory (see the previous question), ask them to sign your photograph. It’s not enough for them to simply put a signature on it—any printed shot must be signed as follows:
I certify that this is a true likeness of [title and full name]
Under these words, you guarantor should put their signature and today date.
You can change your picture when you:
Whatever the reason, any citizen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland should be able to update their photo online via the DVLA website or a postal services office (provided that they’ve passed the driving test, of course).
Should you choose the former option, the total price will amount to £14, while renewal via a post branch will cost you at least £17. The first option will be most efficient for you: by taking a shot for your documents at home, you’ll save money and time.
The first way is to do it online right at the government licensing agency’s website. Once you’re there, go through the list of online submission rules (e.g. you must have a valid UK passport and your National insurance number, be a resident, etc.). When you’ve looked through all the important information and made sure you meet the UK driving licence photo requirements, you need to send your new headshot in. All in all, the website’s instructions are pretty clear, so you shouldn’t have any trouble there.
This same page also has information on the other, more traditional way. Basically, you just need to fill out the submission form, attach your printed photo, a copy of your current driving permit (and a cheque for £17 to it) and head to the nearest post office to have your documents sent.
No matter what option you choose, PhotoBooth Online can help you with either one. You can use practically any photograph to make it into a compliant headshot (just make sure it’s taken within the last month, it’s one of those requirements each photo must follow).
The total cost can be broken down into two. First, there’s the processing fee. Offline application renewal via a postal service costs £17, but the online application for a driving permit is a little cheaper (£14). Here, you can’t possibly reduce the price (although it’s still worth it: once you get the document it can be used as a European driving licence as well!).
However, when it comes to taking a headshot for your document, there’s this money-saving trick: you don’t have to take your photo in a store, studio or a special machine, just make it online! The available options are numerous, although some are paid and others are non-compliant (and still others are both). By contrast, PhotoBooth Online will make you a biometric photo in seconds!
Whether you need to renew your UK driving licence online or offline (or get a new one), this option is very much worth considering. Get a cheap biometric image here and print it for less than a pound! However, please mind the above-mentioned fee for the update procedure.
No matter what part of England you live in, there should always be several places where you can get a photo:
Here’s how to take a picture at home with a digital camera or mobile device:
If you’ve taken a bad-quality headshot (with a red-eye effect, for example), just retake it. Don’t use retouch or any selfie editing apps, or photo editing computer software like PhotoShop.