How to Look Good in Passport Photos: 12 Professional Tips (3-Minute Guide)

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Are you tired of unflattering passport photos? You’re not alone. Like many others, I struggled with how I looked in my passport photos until I discovered these professional techniques.

Drawing on the expertise of industry-leading photographers, I’ve created a simple, actionable guide that anyone can follow—no professional equipment is needed.

Passport photos are strictly regulated. Surprisingly, there’s still a lot you can do to change your appearance while remaining within the guidelines.

Here are the tips you’ll learn in this post:

1. Push Your Head Forwards to Get a Jawline
2. Stop Forcing Your Eyes Open and Raise Your Lower Lids
3. Fix Your Posture In 2 Seconds by Taking a Big Breath
4. Avoid the Mug Shot-Look by Smiling Slightly
5. Look Fresh by Taking the Photo After Your Fitness Session
6. Use Makeup
7. Use a Mirror and Check Your Hair
8. Use Flattering Natural Lighting
9. Practice Makes Perfect
10. Take Many Photos to Choose from
11. Wear a Clean, Non-White Shirt With a Nice Collar
12. Don’t Wear Glasses or a Hat

Let’s dive right in!

Push Your Head Forwards to Get a Jawline

Below, you can see a couple of examples.

Compare the jawline in the top and bottom rows. In the bottom row, the model pushes her head slightly forward, resulting in a more pronounced jawline.

Your jawline dramatically impacts your photo’s overall appearance. A defined jawline creates a more professional, polished look.

While our eyes naturally perceive depth and dimension in person, a passport photo is limited to two dimensions. This makes jawline definition crucial—it must be created through careful positioning and lighting to appear in the final image.

Creating a clearer jawline with a pose isn’t cheating. It is an aid for representing a 3D face on a 2D surface.

One way to form a jawline is to create a sharp shadow using light coming from above. If additional lights are unavailable, the model can create a shadow with their pose.

Professional photographers sometimes ask models to push their heads slightly towards the camera. The posture isn’t natural from the side, but you can’t see the forward lean from the front.

Pushing the head forward stretches the skin over the jaw. This creates a more pronounced jawline.

I recommend watching Peter Hurley’s excellent video about this technique. The video has lots of photo pair examples.

While this technique is effective, you don’t want to overdo it! Remember, it’s not just about moving the forehead or jaw towards the camera. You must keep your head straight.

Stop Forcing Your Eyes Open and Raise Your Lower Lids

Here is another trick that professional photographers use:

While it’s natural to want to keep your eyes wide open to avoid blinking, this common mistake can create an unnatural, startled appearance.

Some also try to avoid looking tired by concentrating on holding their eyes open.

However, this does not look right in the photos. Don’t concentrate on forcing your eyes open! It will make you look like a deer in headlights. Holding your eyes open also raises your eyebrows (try it!). Raised eyebrows do not create a very flattering look in a portrait. They indicate being scared or surprised.

Professional photographers sometimes advise their models to squint. Small squinting of the eyes makes the model look more confident. Slightly closed eyes are also a natural part of smiling, so keeping them slightly closed can be attractive.

Squinting or slightly closing eyes doesn’t describe the pose accurately. Some call this pose “smiling with your eyes.”

Peter Hurley has a [video demonstrating “squinching”. The video is a part of the same series as Hurley’s jawline video. I recommend watching both videos if you’re interested in excellent visual examples.

A cue Hurley uses is “lower lids up.”

Like with the previous jawline trick, don’t overdo it.

Fix Your Posture in 2 Seconds by Taking a Big Breath

Transform your posture instantly with this simple two-second trick:

Take a big breath. This straightens your back and brings your chest forward and your shoulders back.

A passport photo is all about your face. Still, posture plays a role in your appearance, even if your shoulders are barely visible.

Avoid the Mug Shot-Look by Smiling Slightly

A passport photo requires a neutral expression. However, neutral doesn’t mean angry or glum! A slight smile is perfectly ok.

Look Fresh by Taking the Photo After Your Fitness Session

Your face and expression look different when you’re tired than when you’re fresh and full of energy. Right after work is a popular time to take a passport photo, but this is likely when you look your worst.

A good trick is to take a passport photo 15 to 30 minutes after your fitness session. This way, you’ll still be fresh and energetic but not red and sweaty.

Use Makeup

You don’t need to be without makeup in a passport photo. On the contrary, it’s perfectly ok. For example, you can use makeup to highlight your eyes and lips. Just don’t overdo it.

Automatic face recognition isn’t distracted by everyday makeup. If you usually wear makeup, having makeup in your passport photo makes the image more recognizable.

Use a Mirror and Check Your Hair

While practicing your expressions beforehand, you should use a mirror.

Then, before taking your passport photo, you should absolutely use a mirror again. It’s easier to fix a stain on the cheek or bad hair when you know there’s something to fix.

Taking your time with a mirror is not superficial. Everyone does it; you just haven’t seen it.

Use Flattering Natural Lighting

This tip is for those who plan to take a passport photograph themselves.

Lighting plays a massive role in portrait photography. A quick trick is to favor natural sunlight that is scattered and comes from above.

Read more about lighting from our DIY passport photo article.

Practice Makes Perfect

Even naturally photogenic models practice their poses. Just a few minutes of practice can dramatically improve your passport photo results.

Of course, you don’t need to become a professional model for your passport photo.

Practicing the tips and tricks in this article for just a few minutes in front of a mirror can make a huge difference.

Take Many Photos to Choose from

Professional photographers know a secret: the perfect shot often comes after multiple attempts. Take several photos to ensure you capture your best angle. Make sure to change your pose slightly, adjust lighting, or change something else between shots.

Plus, taking extra photos helps you practice with expressions, lighting, settings, and so on. This way, you can see what works and what doesn’t.

Wear a Clean, Non-White Shirt With a Nice Collar

In addition to your face, your shirt’s shoulder and collar area are visible in a passport photo. Make sure to pick a clean, smart shirt for your portrait.

A wise choice for men is a simple collared shirt or a plain t-shirt (if the neckline isn’t worn or stretched).

Be sure to avoid hoodies.

Older women can wear a scarf if they wish to cover neck creases.

You should also avoid wearing a white shirt or a shirt that matches the background color of the photograph. A lightly colored shirt blends into the background. On the other hand, a contrasting color highlights your shoulders, giving the illusion of a better posture.

Don’t Wear Glasses or a Hat

In some countries, officials can accept hats and glasses per passport rules. However, I still recommend taking the passport photo without any accessories. Wearing glasses makes taking a good passport photo harder. Besides, our experience shows that eyeglasses raise the risk of officials rejecting your photo. The risk is higher even when you avoid reflections and the frame covering your eyes.

Another reason to avoid glasses in a passport photo is that they make automatic face recognition harder. A failure in automatic recognition can lead to unwanted stops at airports.

Additionally, take off your hat and eyeglasses at least 15 minutes before taking the photo. They often leave unsightly indentation marks for a short period, and you want to avoid that in your photo.