I Built a Passport Photo Maker Because a Visa Photo Took Me Two Hours

Leon Hardman — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 04:07:04 +0000

A few months ago, I was preparing for a New Year trip to Vietnam.

The flight was booked. The hotel was booked. The only thing I had left until the last minute was the visa.

I thought it would be a quick online form. So I went to a coffee shop, opened my laptop, and expected to finish everything in one sitting.

Then the photo upload step stopped me for almost two hours.

The e-visa photo had all the usual requirements: the right size, the right file dimensions, the right background, the right head position, the right crop. I am not a Photoshop person, so I kept asking AI for help, adjusting the image, exporting it, uploading it, failing, and trying again.

When it finally worked, I wrote a note to myself in flomo: this was so hard it felt like one of the hardest things in the world.

Obviously, that was dramatic. But the frustration was real.

So I built Passport Size Photo:

https://passportsizephoto.net

It is a web app for creating passport and visa photos online, with country-specific presets, in-browser previews, and digital or 4x6 print-ready exports.

Why this problem is annoying

Passport photos look simple from the outside. It is just a face on a plain background.

But the moment you try to make one yourself, the details start piling up:

Different countries use different photo sizes.
Some documents need 2x2 inches, others need 35x45 mm, 33x48 mm, 50x70 mm, or another format.
The background needs to be clean, often white or light grey.
The head needs to be centered.
The eyes need to be visible.
The photo needs enough resolution for printing or digital upload.
If you need physical photos, you probably want a 4x6 sheet so you can print it cheaply at a kiosk or photo printer.

You can solve all of this with a professional photo studio, but that usually means traveling somewhere, waiting, and paying more than the task feels worth.

You can also solve it with Photoshop, Canva, or a generic image editor, but then you have to research the exact requirements and manually apply them.

The actual job people want done is much simpler:

I already have a photo. Please make it the correct official format.

That is the product.

What Passport Size Photo does

The current flow is intentionally straightforward:

Choose a passport or visa preset.
Upload a clear photo.
Preview the crop, background, and face position.
Export the result as a digital image or a 4x6 print sheet.

The app is built around the mistakes that usually cause rejection or rework:

Wrong outer dimensions
Wrong aspect ratio
Bad crop
Background issues
Face position problems
Missing print layout

For example, a user can choose a U.S. 2x2 passport photo, a UK 35x45 mm photo, a China 33x48 mm visa photo, or another country preset without manually calculating the crop.

The output is designed for practical use:

A digital file for online forms
A 300 DPI export for print quality
A 4x6 print sheet for pharmacies, kiosks, or home printers

I do not want the tool to feel like a photo editor. I want it to feel like a checklist that quietly handles the image rules for you.

The most important product decision

The most important decision was to make the preview useful before payment.

When people prepare official document photos, the stressful part is uncertainty. They are not asking, "Can I make this image prettier?" They are asking, "Will this format work?"

So the product needs to show the crop and background clearly before the user commits to exporting.

That changed the way I thought about the UI. It should not be a gallery, a design canvas, or a creative editing tool. It should be a focused workspace:

Select the document type
Select the country
Upload the photo
Review the result
Download only when it looks right

Small utilities win by removing decisions.

Who I built it for

I started with my own visa problem, but the use cases expanded quickly:

Travelers and expats who need different country formats
International students applying under deadline pressure
Parents taking passport photos for babies or children at home
Remote workers who need document photos while living abroad
Anyone who needs a photo at night when studios are closed

The baby passport photo use case is especially interesting. Going to a studio with a baby is hard. Taking many photos at home and choosing the best one is much less stressful.

What I learned while building it

The biggest lesson is that "simple" tools are often simple only after the product makes many decisions for the user.

For this product, the complexity is hidden in things like:

Country-specific dimensions
Background color expectations
File size and resolution constraints
Crop ratios
Print layouts
Accepted and rejected example guidance

None of those pieces are exciting on their own. But together they turn a frustrating task into a predictable flow.

I also learned that small real-world problems make good products because the pain is easy to remember. I did not have to invent a persona or imagine a fake workflow. I had the exact moment: sitting in a coffee shop, trying to upload a visa photo, wondering why this tiny task was consuming my afternoon.

That memory kept the product focused.

What is next

I am still improving Passport Size Photo.

Some things I want to make better:

More country and document presets
Clearer guidance for common rejection reasons
Better support for babies and children
Faster background handling
More localized pages for different markets

The goal is not to make a heavy image editor. The goal is to make official photo preparation feel boring in the best way: predictable, fast, and hard to mess up.

If you ever need a passport or visa photo, you can try it here: