I used to cringe every time I saw a CVS photo specialist take a passport photo in direct flash and white projector screen; police stations take better mugshots.
I decided to take my sister’s passport photo for her Japanese transit visa. I looked up the passport photo requirements on the Japanese embassy website. She needed a 2x2in photo attached to her visa application so here’s what I did:
The setup was simple. One flash on high power to overexpose the backdrop; one flash for soft light bounced off the ceiling while the subject held a reflector to fill in the shadow.
However, if you don’t have flashes, you can use a light tube fixture to achieve similar result.
Once I took the photo, I adjusted the exposure and contrast in Photoshop, uploaded it to this passport template website, it spit out a ready-to-print 4x6in file that I could print on regular photo paper.
And the last step was to cut out the 2x2in squares.
The whole setup took me about 30 minutes. I could be more picky and fix her collar but I was rushing and I didn’t think it would be a problem for the purpose of obtaining her transit visa.
Mild Turbulence 