How to print passport photos at home
Once the crop is right, printing is the cheap part. A single 10 × 15 cm photo print — the standard postcard size available from every print kiosk, pharmacy and online lab — holds several passport photos at once and costs a fraction of a studio sitting. The only things that can still go wrong are scaling and resolution.
Why 10 × 15 cm is the right sheet
10 × 15 cm, also sold as 6 × 4 inches, is the most widely available and cheapest photographic print in the world. Photo paper holds ink better than office paper, the lab prints at a known size, and a 35 × 45 mm photo tiles onto it several times over. ID Photo lays the sheet out for you at 300 DPI, repeats the approved crop and adds cutting guides between the copies. Take the file to any kiosk or upload it to a print service and ask for a standard 10 × 15 print with no cropping and no auto-enhance.
Print at 100 per cent, never “fit to page”
Every millimetre of the layout is calculated, so any rescaling at the printer breaks it. In the print dialog choose actual size, 100 per cent or no scaling, and switch off borderless printing and any automatic fitting. If the lab asks whether to crop to fill, say no. After printing, measure one photo with a ruler: if a 35 × 45 mm photo comes out 34 mm wide, the driver scaled it and everything on that sheet is out of spec.
Resolution: what 300 DPI actually means here
300 dots per inch is the print standard. For a 35 × 45 mm photo that works out to about 413 × 531 pixels in the final crop; for a 2 × 2 inch US photo, 600 × 600. What matters is not the size of the original file but how many pixels survive the crop to the head. ID Photo calculates the effective DPI for your specific crop and warns below 300 — that is the honest number, and it is why a photo taken from too far away can pass every geometric check and still print soft.
The A4 option, and cutting
The app can also lay the photos onto A4 for a home printer. It works, but use photo paper rather than plain paper, set the printer to its best photo quality, and expect colours to be less consistent than a lab print — some authorities are strict about paper quality. Either way, cut with a craft knife against a metal ruler rather than scissors: the cutting guides are printed between the photos, and a wobbly edge on an otherwise perfect photo is a needless risk.
Frequently asked questions
How many passport photos fit on a 10 × 15 cm print?
It depends on the size of the photo. A 35 × 45 mm photo tiles several times onto a 10 × 15 sheet with room for cutting guides; larger formats such as the Canadian 50 × 70 mm fit fewer. The app lays out as many as fit and shows the result before you export.
Can I print passport photos on a normal home printer?
Yes, on photo paper and at the printer's highest photo quality. An inkjet on plain office paper produces a matte, colour-shifted result that some offices refuse.
What print size should I ask for at the kiosk?
A standard 10 × 15 cm (6 × 4 in) print, with cropping and auto-enhance turned off. Auto-enhance can shift skin tone and brighten the background unevenly.
Why does my printed photo measure slightly wrong?
Almost always because the print dialog scaled it. Choose 100 per cent or actual size, turn off fit-to-page and borderless mode, then check with a ruler.
Glossy or matte paper?
Either is normally accepted; matte is easier to write on and does not reflect under an office light. If the authority specifies a finish, follow it.
Do I need to leave a white border around each photo?
No. Cut on the guides so the photo is exactly the specified size. Some offices trim photos themselves, which is another reason not to add margin of your own.
Measure the photo before the counter does. ID Photo opens your picture in the browser, measures head height and eye line against the official spec of the country you pick, and lays out a print sheet. The image is processed on your device.
Measure a photo in the browser