Passport Screen:

We recommend using a matte / rough screen, (like the old OHP projector or slide movie screens). A smooth glossy surface attenuates shadows, whilst a rougher screen will tend to scatter the shadow making it less obvious. Contact us if you need details on what is best.

Distances:

If you are experiencing lighting difficulties, try getting your subject to stand as close to the passport screen as possible. This helps reduce shadow behind the head, and especially below the ears (a common reason for passport rejection). Depending on your lighting and other equipment you should stand 3-4 m away from the subject and use the OPTICAL zoom feature on the camera to size the head in the picture. This distance is especially important if you are using the camera's flash to compensate for bad store lighting. If you use a flash and stand too close to the subject you will white-out (overexpose) their face (eg. a bald forehead will bee too shiny to see details).

Map out your sites optimum distances and mark the area for staff.

Store lighting:

Fluorescent lighting creates a characteristic green-yellow colour to the area, and digital cameras often auto-compensate for this. If the store has fluorescent images can appear magenta in colour when printed (the camera LCD will display a perfect image as it thinks it's compensated correctly) - Change your store fluorescent to some used by marine aquarists - the 6500 Kelvin tubes from the local marine petstore for lighting sensitive corals are cheaper than messing around with store lighting. (It's only a pity that sodium and incandescent lighting were as easy to fix.)

• Ensure the light source is overhead.
• Do NOT have the light source to one side of the subject
• Do Not take photos with the subject standing in front of a strong light (eg the shop window!)
  

Flash:

Flash helps correct unsatisfactory store lighting, so use the camera's flash when taking passports. (remember to ensure you are not standing too close)

If you need to get rid of shadows a triggered flash unit can be placed to flash behind the subjects head and so destroy the shadows.

Camera:

Some sites are fortunate, a cheap sub$200 camera yields great results. But what kind of impression does the consumer have when you whip out a instant camera and hit them up for $20 for your services. Admittedly a Digital SLR is a big investment - (IMO worth every cent), but at least your passport camera should have:

• a good optical zoom
• a flash directly above the lense (not to one side!)
• take at least a 2Mb photo (3-6 megapixel camera)
• have a fast response when the button is pressed

Needless to say even with Compact Digitals, this means you are buying the top of the range.
Give us a call (09 415 6373) if you would like to know which camera models we have found best, we will also be able to suggest the cheapest place to purchase these.

Staff:

Whilst some people have a photographic eye, passport photos are not supposed to be creative works of art. They follow simple rules, and anyone can take them, staff tend to avoid what they are not confident in, and that is where training is vital.