How to Take a Photo of a Passport or ID Card with an iPhone or iPad

This tutorial shows you how to take a studio-style portrait photo on your iPhone or iPad and edit it for use on your ID card, job application, passport, and more.

Step 1: Take a photo with a solid background.

1. Stand in front of a wall, a green screen, or preferably a solid background, such as a solid color curtain.
2. Make sure the room or area is well lit.
3. Open the Camera app on your iPhone or iPad and have someone take a close-up photo of your face up to your chest (or as needed). If no one is around, put your iPhone on a tripod and use the timer function. In addition, you can remotely control the iPhone camera to take a photo. As a last resort, you can take a selfie.

Tip: Be sure to follow the necessary recommendations. For example, if you are taking a photo for a US passport application , remove your glasses, keep your eyes open and your mouth closed.

Step 2 Optional: Increase the brightness of the photo.

Go to the Photos app and open an image. If the image is not bright enough, tap Edit and adjust using the brightness slider. Keep yourself from any other major adjustments.

Step 3: Get your face out of the photo

1. Open the image in the Photos app.
2. Touch and hold the main subject of the image (your face) until you see a white line going through it.
3. Touch Copy. This will remove your face from the background of the image and copy it to your clipboard.

Step 4: Create the final image

1) Download and open a photo editing app like Studio on your iPhone or iPad.

2) Click the plus button and select “Transparent”.

3) Select a size and tap the checkmark.

You will need to figure out the exact guidelines based on your use case. For example, a US passport requires a square photo (2″x 2″). So, choose Square (1:1). If you’re planning to use it for something else, such as an ID card, then a portrait (3:4) might work.

4) Click once on a blank canvas and select Paste. The copied subject (your face) will be pasted here.

5) Touch the transparent area behind the image and select Edit.

6) Select Color and select white, blue or any other background as recommended where you will be using this photo.

7) Now move and zoom out or enlarge the image slightly to adjust it.

8) When you’re done, tap on the export icon and hit save. The final image is saved in the Photos app.

Step 5: Digitally Use It or Print It Out

Use digitally

The final image is ready for use on websites, online forms, PDFs, and more.

Keep in mind that many sites have precise image file size and dimensions requirements. For example, you can specify that the size of a photo should not exceed 120 KB, or that the image size should be 640 x 640.

Take the physical seal

If you need to use this photo in a physical application, use your printer to print it on photo-quality matte or glossy paper.