A year and a half ago, I wrote a post about how to fashion your own passport photos for under a dollar. It seemed that I wrote it at the dawn of the popularization of online passport picture organizations. Now, the process for making your own passport pictures on the cheap is much easier.

Below are four online passport photo companies, each offering varying levels of service (with corresponding costs). Wise Bread readers attest to their happiness with the first two organizations, and any readers who have tried the other two are welcome to chime in with comments.

ePassportPhoto.com

Basics

Upload a digital photo, use their sizing assistance to crop and position the shot, and they arrange six shots onto a 4x6 photo as a jpeg file for you to print (or get printed).

Cost

The basic service above is free.

For $6, you can select the Premium service, which includes a professional compliance verification to ensure your photo will be approved with the passport application’s latest standards (99% approval rate), printing on high-quality paper, and shipping to any address (either US or international).

Countries Covered

ePassportPhoto makes a huge range of international passport photos available (more than 60), as well as visa and citizenship photos for some countries.

Delivery

Because it is largely an online service, anybody anywhere can use ePassportPhoto. Users in the States will also appreciate same-day availability for pick up at Walgreens.

Tips

Follow the guidelines for how to take a good passport photo carefully. There is no editing available; only self-serve cropping with cross-checks to ensure your photo will be compliant.

PassportPictures.org / PassportPhotosOnline.com

Basics

Upload a digital photo, they will edit it as necessary to eliminate background flaws, shadows, and adjust lighting, and then they will produce passport pictures for you in a variety of formats depending on your location and preference.

Note: PassportPictures.org was launched in 2007, and the recently launched PassportPhotosOnline.com is an affiliate carrier. The services are the same between the two sites.

Cost

At $15 for 6 photos, it is not the cheapest service around, but the post-processing service may be worthwhile if you are struggling to take the perfect passport picture at home.

Countries Covered

Passport photos can be produced for any country in the world (except Canada, where the the photographer is required to sign the back of the photo). Travel visa and citizenship photos are also provided for a variety of countries.

Delivery

Completed passport pictures can be emailed to the user for printing. Pictures can also be mailed to a US address, or made available for same-day pick up at Walgreens.

Tips

Despite the editing services, certain requirements must be met in order to produce a valid passport photo. The photo must be good enough to begin with that the subject (ie: you) does not need altering or modification.

This service also boasts a customer support phone number which connects you to a representative who can answer your questions as necessary.

OnlinePassportphoto.com

Basics

Upload your digital photo, they will edit it for background, exposure, and lighting/shadow flaws, and they will produce passport photos for you in a number of formats depending on your location and preference.

Cost

$6 will get you 6 passport photos. In other countries, they will produce up to eight photos for $6.95.

Countries Covered

Although not fully comprehensive, the list of countries for which passport and (some) visa photos can be produced for is not bad, and they will make every attempt to fulfill your request if the country you need is not on their list.

Delivery

The final product can be emailed to any address, mailed to US residents, or made available in as little as 24 hours at a local Walgreens or CVS store.

Tips

Since not all digital photos will suffice for compliance purposes (even with editing), they recommend that you email them your photos for pre-approval. Once they receive a photo that they believe is usable, they will email you an invoice through Paypal.

If the photos are rejected for any reason, OnlinePassportPhoto will either give you a refund or provide another set of photos at no cost.

portraitbooth.com

Basics

Upload your photo, crop it, and make a jpeg sheet that you can download and print (or have printed).

Cost

Free.

Countries Covered

Only US passports are truly covered, but there are a few sizing options which may suit the country’s passport or visa requirements that you are after.

Delivery

Being a fully online service, you could be anywhere to download and print your spiffy new passport photos.

Tips

There is no editing service available shy of self-serve cropping, so pay special attention to taking a picture that heeds the specific requirements for your passport photo (ie: background, lighting, proportions, etc).

These are but four of what could be many online passport picture services out there. Does anybody have experience with these four companies above, or any others you would like to mention?