Printing your own passport photos online
A few months ago we were planning to go to India for a family holiday. As it was a family holiday we needed 3 visas for India which meant we had to have 3 sets of visa photos. One particular thing about applying for Indian visa is that the Indian embassy requires you to send 2” x 2” photos which sometimes can be difficult to obtain using the self-service passport kiosks. In such situation you would need to go to digital photo places where they take your photo and print it.
We chose to go to Truprint as they were nearby located and after the photos were taken we realised that it was an expensive mistake! We had to fork out about £10 for each set of two photos printed on a sheet of 6” x 4”. Moreover, the photos were not even cut in 2” x 2” size. The overall money we were charged at Trueprint was £30 and for what? 3 pairs of photos printed on 6” x 4” sheets. If you print off from digital media at any digital lab in the UK it should not cost more than 30-40p each. When asked why they wouldn’t cut the photos to the required size, their answer was “we don’t want to mess them up and if you want us to cut them in 2” x 2”, that would cost you £14.99 each!”
Well, that was the last time I ever went to Truprint. However, since then I have tried to take the photo myself at home, edit using Photoshop, print them off on a 6” x 4” paper and then cut them to size. The only problem is that it takes time and results can often be disappointing as while the photos look fine on your screen, the size and print out can be quite different once you have printed them.
“There must be an easy way to do this”, which initiated me to search the net and presto I have found a few good websites which can actually be economical to use and moreover, print your id or passport photos you may in fact like!
Following are my list of sites I found on the net. Once you have decided which photo you want to use for your id or as passport photo, give them a try.
www.oddprints.com allows you to upload a photo, select the required size and then send it for printing. The site charges £3.49 (including delivery) for a set of 2 to 8 photos printed on a “6 x 4” sheet. Or you can download the sized photo to your computer and print it yourself. Printing a “6 x 4” does not cost more than 50p.
www.idphoto4you.com takes you one step further and has an easy to follow step by step guide on how you can print your id, visa or passport photos yourself. Simply upload your photo and then select the right frame for it. The website even has a face detection template which you can use for your photo to bring out the correct photo size. Once your photos is ready, download it and either print it at home or take it to a digital photo kiosk.
www.online-passport-photo.com is pretty much similar to above sites. It feels and loads quite uncluttered and fast. Once the photo is loaded and right size is chosen, download to your computer and print.