Make Perfect U.S. Baby Passport Photo in 3s

Infant and Baby Passport Photos

If you are planning to fly to a foreign country with your family, you and your family members will require valid US passports, regardless of your ages.

Making passport photos for children is often difficult for most parents, especially if the children are very young. We will therefore provide you with some useful tips and tricks on how to take perfect baby passport photos at home.

It is crucial to note that infant passport photo requirements are much less stringent than those for adults or older children. For example, closed eyes and open mouths are permitted for infants in their passport photos, as well as non-neutral facial expressions. That said, please keep in mind that the baby’s face should not be covered by toys, hands or other objects.

US Baby Passport Photo Requirements

A US baby passport photo must meet similar requirements to regular passport photos:

• The photo must be in color.
• The photo should be of good quality.
• The photo should be sharp, with no single pixels.
• The photo must be recent, taken within the last six months.
• The baby’s face should be shown in a frontal view.
• The baby’s face should occupy 70-80% of the picture.
• The baby’s face should reflect the natural color of their skin tone.
• The baby’s face should be evenly lit on both sides.
• The photo’s size should be 2 x 2 in, or 51 x 51 mm.
• The photo’s resolution requires 301 dpi.
• The photo’s background color should be white only.
• There should be no objects or other people in the picture.

Tips for Photographing an Infant or Very Young Child

Now that you know the basic rules of baby passport requirements, you can take passport photos of your baby quickly and easily in your own home. The following are some things you should be aware of when taking a passport photo for young children:

• Positioning: One of the simplest ways to take a perfect baby passport photo is to lay your baby on the back of a white sheet, make sure there are no shadows on the baby’s face and to photograph the baby as quickly as possible.
• Time: The best time of day to take a baby’s passport photo is obviously during the day. Newborns baby passport photos may be taken when the baby is asleep, so it is permitted for their eyes and mouths to be closed.
• Place: Pick a room that your young child is familiar with, which will greatly help in allowing you to take a satisfactory photograph.
• Lighting: All passport photos should be taken using natural lighting. If a room’s light is too bright, you can lower the lighting by drawing the curtains, making it softer and less intense.
• Clothes and Hair: It is advised that you dress your child in colorful clothes, which will provide a good contrast in the picture. Any hairstyle is fine as long as the child’s hair does not cover their face in any way.
• Camera Positioning: The camera must be parallel to your baby’s face, meaning that you must leave some space for the baby’s head. Your camera should not be placed at an angle, and the baby should be in the middle of the photo with their face fully forward.

What Are the Most Common Mistakes in Baby Passport Photos?

People often make common mistakes when taking US passport photos of their newborns and children. When taking a photo at home, there are important rules you can follow to take a good baby passport photo by yourself:

• Unacceptable Background: The most common cause for the rejection of a baby passport photo is usually having an incorrect background, or not even having a background at all. The background of your photo must be plain white. 
• Wrong Dimensions and Low Quality: Incorrect size, low resolution and bad picture quality are common reasons a baby passport photo might be rejected. Bear in mind that the photo should follow all requirements mentioned above.
• Shadows: Any passport photo with shadows on the baby’s face or in the background will not be accepted, so please make sure the photo is evenly lit. 
• Not Looking Straight at the Camera: This is the most common mistake on baby passport photos. If a newborn does not look directly at the camera, the passport application will be rejected.

How to Take US Baby Passport Photos on Your Own

Now that you know the basic requirements for infant passport photos, you can take high-quality and standard passport photos of your baby without leaving your home! Taking or editing the baby photo online can save you time and money, and you won’t need to wait in lines with your little one at the photo booth. Take a closer look at how to take a perfect US baby passport photo with the following steps:

1. Select the Place: Select a room in your house that your infant is familiar with, which will increase your chance of taking a successful photo.

2. Look at The Camera: When people take baby photos, they typically smile, shake things and make faces. While this is appropriate for candid photos, for infant passport photos the baby should have a neutral expression. Therefore, try using another way to get the baby to focus on the camera, rather than playful tricks.

3. Set up the Picture: Usually, the easiest way to take baby passport photos is to lay babies flat with their heads facing up, taking the photo from above. However, if your baby is a newborn they are not likely to have enough head control for this position. In this case, you can spread a white sheet on a car or bath seat, setting the baby on top of the seat and taking the photo.

4. Upload Passport Photos Online: The AiPassportPhotos service lets you know whether your photo meets all compliance requirements, sending your digital photos directly to your email inbox.

Printing Baby Photos for US Passports

Now there is only one step left in the entire process: printing the baby passport photo you have successfully taken yourself! If you need to print out baby photos for your US passport, you can use our photo tool to get your digital images sent directly to your email, printing them later at any drugstore or photo printing center near you.

If you have decided to print the photo yourself, you must ensure that the photo is printed on high-quality photo paper and is of the appropriate size dimensions. To avoid errors, you can prepare a 4 x 6 in photo template with AiPassportPhotos’s online passport photo maker, then print your pictures at any photo department, store or studio for a cheaper price.