Get a UK Passport Photo Near You Right Now!

Passport Photos Close to You: Frequently Asked Questions

1. Where can I get a passport photo taken near me?

   No matter what part of the country you live in, there have to be a lot of options in all of the UK cities and many towns. Whether you reside in Birmingham, Bristol or Coventry, there should always be plenty of local stores, photo booths and other places close by you can visit to make and print passport photos. Here’s a short generalised list of such places:
    

   1. You can try visiting a passport photo booth near you. Say, one of your local retail chains will likely have one. Whatever location you choose, it should have a website with a digital store locator which you can use to find the address of your nearest store branch where you can have your photo taken.
       
      While being pretty widespread, this option is hardly the best: UK photo machines are going out of date and can’t achieve perfect quality. To top it off, you can’t control the process in your closest passport photo booths—once the countdown finishes, they take your image, whether you’re ready or not. And if you hate the printed picture, each retake is paid (and it goes without saying there won’t be any money-back guarantee like in most stores).
       
   2. A local post office where you can get your passport photo taken by an employee. This one can be considerably better than a photo booth in terms of control and convenience with postal employees giving you prompts and directions. Once your image is taken, you can also use their photo printing services.
       
      Also, many post offices in the UK offer the Check and Send option—with this great service, you can take passport photos to them (even if they were taken somewhere else; in a close-by photo booth or a store, for example), and the employees will verify them for compliance and then submit them to the passport office for you.
       
      Still, there are some drawbacks here as well. For instance, these offices work only at set hours. And even if you come to take passport photos during these, you may have to wait in line, anyway. Sure, it will not take up your entire day, but it’s still not too time-efficient, is it?
       
   3. Professional photographer’s studio near you (Snappy Snapps, for example). This is the most convenient and efficient in comparison to the other out-of-home passport photo options like local photo booths and stores. Such a studio will have all equipment required for a high-quality photo. Plus, when taking shots for passports or other popular documents, most photographers give you directions before they even take a photo itself to help you look your best (this is especially useful with a woman passport photo).
       
      Once the session is over, the photographer will also retouch your image a little before having it printed. They will remove blemishes and any temporary imperfections you might have (yet another thing no in-store passport photo machine can do).
       
      All of this, however, comes at a cost: in comparison to the first two close-by options, this is the most expensive one. To top it off, some UK businesses might not have any money-back guarantee for printed shots (although more respectable places like Snappy Snaps do have one).
       

   So, we’ve got three out-of-home and non-digital passport photo options, and, as you see, none of them is perfect. Whatever you choose, you’d have to put up with drawbacks, be it poor quality, long waiting time, high prices or a far-away address.
    
   Luckily, today’s technologies have offered us a decent alternative: take a digital passport photo right at home! From London and Manchester to Bradford and Newcastle: our online service is available UK-wide for free. All you need for that is a camera-equipped smartphone or a digital camera (both are closer to your than any nearest store). Just use our simple online application and take pictures to be printed and submitted to the passport office!

2. What is it like to have your passport photos taken out of home?

   The answer to such frequently asked questions depends on the method you use.
    
   Some of the stores in your neighbourhood may have automatic passport photo booths that will take images and make their printouts. For instance, your local Tesco or Asda may well have one—whatever UK chain it is, use its online store locator or phone ahead to make sure they do have a passport photo booth. These useful machines will provide you with easy-to-follow instructions on how to take proper passport photos. You just pay the fee and sit in front of the camera—the photo booth will take your picture automatically once the countdown ends. Pretty convenient, isn’t it?
    
   Although not really if you need pictures for a baby passport—if so, this is the least preferable method. This option implies some other major flaws as well. First of all, it’s likely most of your closest UK passport photo booths are in dire need of maintenance, hence the shabbiness which may make you uncomfortable. To top it off, their printing mechanisms might make your passport photo a bit fuzzy. The price is around £8 per set of photographs, but please note that it varies from brand to brand (depending on the store, it can go as high as £14).
    
   You can also find your nearest passport photo studio with a photographer available (with such services, prices start roughly at £10 and go much higher than that). A good specialist will set up proper lighting, adjust your position and make other due preparations before taking a shot. Once it’s done, they can retouch your future passport photo if necessary (for instance, they will remove minor temporary imperfections). In addition to that, they will also make sure that the newly-done headshot meets all the standards effective for United Kingdom passports and other documents.
    
   At the same time, not every photographer is, in fact, a photographer by trade. In every other location in your neighbourhood (say, in many stores), taking passport photos is just a collateral duty for the employees. As understandable as it may be, they are often reluctant and impatient when it comes to taking your image. And even a professional photographer may grow impatient when taking baby passport photos.
    
   Also, some of us feel uncomfortable when photographed by a stranger (or even a photo booth with its robot voice), so that’s yet another reason to find an alternative.

3. Is there any other way to get a passport photo near me?

   Of course, there is! If you want to save time and get it done more quickly, use the benefits of our digital age. As opposed to a close-at-hand photo booth or a shop found via a store locator, making your passport photo online may well be the fastest option. After all, you only need a device with a camera and a few seconds to do that. And you don’t even have to look for a wall to make background colour in passport photos light grey (as per the UK government’s rules).
    
   Our online service doesn’t have any regional limitations—whether you’re in Bristol, Coventry or Edinburgh, you’ll be able to use it to get a perfectly compliant passport photo in mere seconds.
    
   On this very page, you can upload your photo taken with practically any background, and our tool will remove it automatically. Also, your picture doesn’t have to be shoulder-length, as our tool can also crop it to the extent required for a British passport photo.
    
   All you have to do is to make sure you look straight at the camera and keep your head and shoulders level, mouth closed, and eyes open. A couple of other things to bear in mind when taking a passport photo: make sure that your face isn’t obscured by anything and that there are no shadows (and if you wear glasses, you want to take them off; no tinted glasses either). As for hair and head covering, it’s allowed for religious reasons only. Finally, apply some cosmetics if that’s your thing (just make sure you know all you need about makeup in passport photos).
    
   That’s all there is to the appearance criteria! Simply follow these rules to get your perfect biometric photo without any significant effort.
    
   We understand that all these guidelines may seem overwhelming for an unprepared and inexperienced user. That’s why our tool has an integrated checker that helps you verify your passport photo against the current UK regulations (with the last update taken into account). We guarantee that HMPO will be satisfied!

4. How exactly do I use PhotoBooth Online?

   First of all, you’re already on the right webpage! Once you’ve accessed our professional service, it will only take you a couple of simple steps to get a British passport photo taken nearly instantly. Here’s what you need to do:
    

   1. Assuming you’ve already taken your shot to process it here, check if you’re not doing anything we can’t change. For example, make sure you’re facing the objective lens directly, there is no shadow on your face and you keep a neutral facial expression (you can’t smile in printed or digital passport photos). Remember to check all this before uploading, not afterwards!
   2. Find one of the photo upload buttons (for instance, you can just scroll back to the very top of this page) and click (or tap) it
   3. Pushing the button will open a menu where you need to pick a previously-made shot that you want to turn into a compliant photo
   4. As soon as the photo upload stage is complete, you’ll need to wait just a few seconds—in this short period of time our web app will cut, crop and process your shot into a fully compliant passport photo
   5. Once the progress bar reaches 100%, you’ll be redirected to the download page. At this point, you can go two ways. If you want to apply for your UK passport online, select Get Digital Photo and download the JPG image file. in case you want to submit printed passport photos offline (by post, for example), select Get Printable Photo. Either way, you’ll get a perfect biometric photo conveniently! If you’re unsure whether to apply online or in person, just save both printable and digital version of your headshot and store them on your device

    
   That’s pretty much it! Our processing algorithms verify your shot per the latest passport photo regulations—this means there’s no need for any further modifications. Apply online or in a UK passport office: we give you an acceptance guarantee in any case!

5. What do I do after I get my passport photo in PhotoBooth Online?

   Once you’ve completed the photo-upload-and-processing stage and got yourself a perfect picture for your new document, you have two options. Many go the old way and have their digital photos printed at the nearest store that provides picture printing services. In that case, the printout price will likely be under £1. Then you can cut each passport photo out and use them to submit a new application.
    
   While seemingly the safest, this tried-and-true method is not too efficient in terms of time. For one, you’ll have to spend at least an hour finding a place where you can get a correct printout of your passport photo. Once this stage is done, you’ll also need to go to a passport office in person to submit your application with the printed pictures.
    
   In case you want to avoid that and don’t feel like going someplace only to get a small printed passport photo (even if the place is close by), you should really consider online submission. This option is available in many different countries, the United Kingdom included. The good news here is that you submit an online passport application with a digital photo attached. In case you decide to apply for a passport online, you’ll save both time and money (it’ll be about 16 pounds cheaper). After all, British passport renewal is expensive enough, which makes online submission a preferable option. In fact, HMPO itself already calls this method of submitting your passport photo and application ‘the standard service’.