Newborn passport photos, your worst nightmare

For the last month I have been trying to take a suitable passport photo for my daughter’s British and Taiwanese passports. The British baby passport photo requirements aren’t as strict in terms of facial expressions and eyes being open, but they are very strict about the background of the photo being perfectly white with no shadows, and you can’t edit it with software. There are basically no exceptions to the rules for babies when taking Taiwanese passport photos, and every photo I have taken has had at least one issue, such as eyes not fully open, strange facial expression, mouth open, or not looking directly at the camera. Even going to a professional photo shop has not had successful results. I would love to know how others got their infant babies to perfectly pose for their passport photos. Taiwan’s requirements are so unreasonable.

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Is it that difficult to find a similar looking baby who can do the pose?

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We spent the better part of a day taking photos for our kid’s german passport. I printed the three most promising ones and let the clerk decide. No problems there.
We put our kiddo on a white bedsheet and collected every available lamp around it. If you’re using a dslr with flash, try a white plastic cup as makeshift softbox over it. Cut out the bottom of the cup in the desired size and you’re good to go.

There are several tools online to cut and position your photo accordingly.

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Very handsome :rofl:.

It may double as his mug shot years from now.

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We did using two different methods:

  1. Burst shooting;
  2. Recording a video and saving the best frame.
    In both times we hold the camera steady with the baby laying down on our bed over white sheets, while making funny faces and shaking a toy behind the camera.

BTW, we did that using our mobile phone, and it worked well enough!

Just one question, why do you need a passport now? Are you planning to travel with a baby during the pandemic?
If not, keep in mind that the duration of the baby’s passport is much shorter than the regular one, especially since you need the passport valid for 6 months when traveling (in general). It’s better to arrange it when you get closer to the travel date.

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I have doubts that anybody’s gonna put your photos through a picture editing detector. As long as it’s not botched Paint and it doesn’t look obvious, it works.

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I did the Canadian one a few years ago. Went to the shop and tried to hold him. They said you can’t edit it, modify in any way, etc in the government website. It didn’t work so I tried another shop. He said just lay the baby on a white towel at home and send him the digital files. He edited them and it got approved.

I think they’re pretty lenient for babies

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If they didn’t mention you can’t edit the photos they’d end up with people sending pics like that:

And yet all the official pics I’ve had to provide for the last 5 years I did them myself with a cellphone and edited them afterwards to make the background more even. It’s same as the no-smile policy: you can easily bring your lips to a horizontal without popping a grin, the pics look better and nobody will argue that you should retake them.

Picture the officials dealing with these pics as having six towers of files to cover in a day. If whatever you do on the pic is not something you can detect in 3s it’s fine.

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I am applying for the British passport as it is one of the only ways to register my daughter with the UK government from Taiwan. Consular birth registration is useless, and is actually even more hassle than getting a passport, as discussed in other posts, and I won’t be doing that. I am applying for the Taiwan passport, as it is a good supporting document for the UK passport, and because my daughter would need it to leave Taiwan. I think its irresponsible in this day and age to put her in a situation where she could potentially be stuck in Taiwan during a war or natural disaster.

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I finally managed to get a suitable photo last night. I made a tent with my legs, placed a white sheet over them and lay her down on the sheet. In between crying I managed to get a suitable photo. I used an app to make the background perfectly white and then went to Hi-Life to print it. I am now at the Household Registration Office, and have just applied for both her ID card and passport. ID card is in my hand now, but the passport won’t be that fast.

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Awww @meishijia I can feel the courage it must have taken you to hold back your tears and wield the camera.

image

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Exactly my thoughts!
Perhaps they were tears of joy for being able to finally get a good pic?

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Indeed.

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