A baby can't sit up on command, hold a neutral expression or look at a lens — yet the photo still has to meet the same compliance rules as an adult's. The good news: countries relax a few rules for infants, and a plain white sheet plus a phone is all you need. Here's how to do it without a studio.
What's relaxed for babies — and what isn't
- Expression: a neutral face is ideal, but a closed-mouth baby who isn't crying is usually fine. Eyes should be open where possible (very young newborns are often excused).
- Still required: plain, uniform background; no other people, hands, toys, pacifiers or straps visible; even lighting and no shadows; the face fully visible and roughly centred.
The lay-down method
The easiest setup: lay the baby on their back on a plain white sheet or blanket, with no patterns. Photograph straight down from above, keeping the phone parallel to the baby so the face isn't distorted. A white sheet doubles as the background, which removes the hardest part.
- Smooth out wrinkles and crumbs in the sheet — they count as a busy background.
- Use soft daylight; turn off flash to avoid shadows and red-eye.
- Support the head if needed, but keep hands out of frame.
- Take many shots and pick the one with open eyes and a calm face.
For an older infant who can sit
Sit the baby against a plain wall in a car seat or on a parent's lap draped with a plain white cloth (the parent must not be visible). Get down to their eye level and snap when they look toward the lens.
Crop and clean it up
Babies move, so you'll rarely frame it perfectly in-camera. Upload your best shot to the passport photo maker, choose your country, and it crops to the correct head size and sets the right background — see the exact rules on your country page, such as US, India or UK. If a stray shadow or off-white sheet shows, the white background tool cleans it up.
Then size it for the portal
For online applications, compress the final image to the upload limit with resize to 50 KB or a custom target. As always, the photo stays on your device.