How to Create a Passport Photo With

Photoshop Elements
By Kyle Cavnett, eHow Contributor
updated: January 11, 2010

Passport photos can be pricey if you have them taken by a professional photographer or at a
passport-issuing agency. While these professionals typically use a specially designed passport
photography camera, you can make your own passport photos with your own photograph and
Photoshop Elements. The most important thing is to produce a photograph that meets the legal
requirements of passport photos, including the size of the photograph, the size of the subject's
face and the color of the background.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions
1. 1

Open the photograph you want to make into a passport photo in Photoshop Elements by
clicking on the "File" menu and choosing "Open." Find the photograph you want to edit
in the explorer menu, highlight it and click "Open."

2. 2

Click the "Lasso Tool" and trace a selection carefully around the subject's head. Select
the entire background as it appears above and to the left and right of the subject's head.

3. 3

Open the "Select" menu and choose "Modify" and then "Feather." Apply a feathering of
about 30 pixels to soften the selection around your subject's head and avoid the photo
appearing as if you cut out the person's head.

4. 4

Access the "Image" menu and choose "Adjustment" and then "Brightness/Contrast."
Move the Brightness slider all the way to the right until the background turns blank
white.

5. 5

Click the "Ruler" tool and click and drag a selection from the top of the person's head to
the bottom of her chin. Note the vertical distance (in pixels) Photoshop Elements reports.
 6. 6

Divide the vertical distance by 1.1 (because passport photos need to feature a face
between 1 and 1 3/8 inches tall) to find the DPI (dots per inch) of your image. For
example, if the height of your subject's face was 660, divide 660 by 1.1 to arrive at 600
DPI.

7. 7

Multiply your DPI value by 2 (because the final photo must be 2 inches by 2 inches) to
find your resolution. For example, if your DPI was 600, your resolution will be 1200
pixels by 1200 pixels.

8. 8

Click the "Marquee Selection Tool" from the toolbar and click on "Fixed Size" in the
"Style" drop down menu. Enter the resolution value you calculated in the height and
width boxes.

9. 9

Drag the selection box until your subject's nose is directly in the center of the box. There
will be a cross shape in the middle of the selection box to help you.

10. 10

Open the "Edit" menu and choose "Copy."

11. 11

Open a new file in Photoshop Elements by clicking on the "File" menu and choosing
"New." Set the dimensions to 4 inches wide and 6 inches tall.

12. 12

Go to the "Edit" menu and choose "Paste." Drag the photo you pasted to the middle of the
bottom half of the image. Go to the "Edit" menu and choose "Paste" and drag the
additional photo to the middle of the top half of the image. This will let you print two
passport photos on the same 4-inch-by-6-inch photograph.

Read more: How to Create a Passport Photo With Photoshop Elements | eHow.com
http://www.ehow.com/how_5854772_create-passport-photo-photoshop-
elements.html#ixzz12hcxAI3K