How IDPhoto.now works

The six steps

1. Choose your document

   Photo rules differ by document, and sometimes by how you apply. A US passport, for example, has one set of rules for the paper forms and another for online renewal. Pick the document and the route you are applying with.

2. Upload your photo

   You do not need an account. Use the original file from your camera. A screenshot or a copy sent through a messaging app loses detail and the file information the check reads.

3. We check the photo and fit it to your document

   The check reads the file (format, size, dimensions), the picture (colour, exposure, sharpness, background) and the file information (capture date, editing software). It also finds your face, counts the faces in the picture and measures your head from the chin to the top of your hair. An image model looks at the finished photo for open eyes, a closed mouth and glasses. The check also flags clear shine on the skin of your face. Weaker shine, and shine we could not read, get no row, so a report without one says nothing about shine. If a rule could not be measured, the report says so.

   Then we frame the photo on your face at the size your document requires, using only pixels that are already in your photo. For Polish, Spanish, French, Mexican and Argentine documents and the Colombian online passport we also replace the background with a plain colour, if the photo lets us separate you from it cleanly. Where the authority bans edited photos, we replace the background or correct the brightness or contrast only if you ask for it and confirm that the authority may reject such a photo. For a paper UK passport application we may correct the brightness or the contrast once without asking, because HM Passport Office tells its examiners to accept that change. If the background was replaced, the report says so. For Polish, Spanish, French and Argentine documents we may also turn the whole photo to level a head tilted by 5 to 15 degrees. For those, Mexican passports and the Colombian online passport we may change the overall brightness once when the lighting fails the check. When it passes, we may instead raise the contrast once if, in the area from your hairline to your chin and from ear to ear, the range from dark to light is below the 50% that the ICAO portrait standard recommends. For the same documents we may reduce a colour cast from the light once for the whole photo, only when the wall behind you and the nearly white parts below your chin, such as a collar, show the same cast. For every document we prepare, we soften shine on the skin of your face only if you ask for it and confirm that the authority may reject such a photo. We never change your features or the shape of your face. The report says what we did. Head tilt, centring and eye position are judged on that finished photo, by the authority’s own number or, where it publishes none, by a named standard that the report names. If no photo can be framed, for example because your face is too close to an edge, the report says why and payment stays closed until you upload another one. Where the authority crops the photo in its own tool, as in US online renewal, we leave the file as it is.

4. Read the free report and see the preview

   The report is free, and so is the preview: your finished photo at the document’s size, with a watermark. Every rule gets one of four results:

   • Looks right Measured and within the published rule.
   • Needs fixing Measured and outside the rule. You see what to change. A failed rule blocks payment until you upload a photo that passes, and uploading again is free.
   • Needs a closer look Measured close to a limit, or not settled with confidence. Look at it yourself before you pay.
   • Not checked Not measured, and the report gives the reason. The authority may publish no limit, or the rule could not be checked automatically. It does not block payment unless we ask you to confirm the point before you pay.

   Where we measured a value, the report shows it next to the requirement, with a link to the authority’s page.

5. Pay once

   $9.90 for one person and one document. There is no subscription and you do not need an account. Any tax is added at checkout. Before you pay, you tick a confirmation for what only you can know: the age of the photo if the file has no capture date, a head covering and your clothing.

   Payments are in test mode. The checkout is connected to a test environment and cannot charge a card yet.

6. Download your files

   Once payment is confirmed you can download your files without the watermark. For a paper application you get your original file, the photo cropped to the print size and print sheets in two sizes, 4 x 6 in and 10 x 15 cm. For US online renewal you get your original file unchanged, the report and a walkthrough of the State Department’s crop tool.

   If you need a different photo after paying, uploading again is free and unlimited under the same order. A photo that passes is approved automatically.

How long we keep your photos

We delete the photos of an unpaid order after 24 hours and the photos of a paid order after 30 days. You can delete them sooner.

• Delete your photos and data
• Privacy policy

Limits of the service

Check my photo