Do-it-yourself Passport Photos for $0.29.

Your passport expires every 10 years, children passport expires every 5. International Drivers Permit (needed to drive overseas) also expires every year. These all require two 2×2” passport photos every time.

With 3 kids and annual international trips, it seems every few months, I have had to get passport photos taken to get passport renewal.

I used to pay the $10 to $15 each time, to get the passport photos taken at a store. Walgreens Passport photo cost is currently $13, but I can show you how to self print passport photos for less than $0.30. And you get 4 photos instead of the 2 you

The secret is to take a photo of yourself, then print four 2 x 2” passport photos on a standard 4 x 6” photo print.

In the era of smartphone cameras, and cheap photo prints, the $15 passport photo services is antiquated. It’s left-over from 20 years ago, when photo printers weren’t abundant, and when they also charged you $15 for two small photos of yourself.

Don’t ever pay $15 for ID photos ever again.

Here are the step-by-step how to make/print passport photo at home.

Step 1. Take a Picture of Yourself with White Background

Self-explanatory, but some tips.

Take a picture front of a white wall, make sure it’s white and not off-white or beige.

You can use your phone to take a selfie, if no one is around to help you take the photo.

Official passport photo requirements can be found here: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/how-apply/photos.html

It contains some key points:

Taken in normal street attire: Uniforms should not be worn in photographs except religious attire that is worn daily.

Do not wear a hat or headgear that obscures the hair or hair line.

Make sure it is well lit in the room, you should not see a shadow of yourself in the background.

Step 2. Crop the photo online

There are a few websites where you can crop your picture into 2 x 2″ passport sizes.

I use https://www.idphoto4you.com/

It’s free and easy to use, and once you’re done, it doesn’t try to force you to pay. This website will crop your picture 4 times onto a standard 4 x 6” picture.

Below are the steps by step.

Upload your photo to www.idphoto4you.com

Crop the photo

Download the file

Your will get 4 passport size photos onto a 4 x 6″ size picture. You’re forced to a minute before your picture is ready to download. Once downloaded, save it onto your phone/computer.

Step 3. Print the photo online for local pickup at CVS

CVS is great for picture prints. There’s always one near by where I live, and photos are ready for pickup usually within 1 hour.

If you don’t have a CVS close by, Walgreens, Rite-Aid, Target will all have online photo printing service, and are just as cheap.

This example is shown with CVS.

Go to www.cvs.com/photo/prints

Select “Prints and Enlargements”. You can see the CVS passport photo cost is currently $12.99. So don’t click on Passport Photos link, I’m going to show you how to print your passport size photo for less than $0.30 instead.

Click on “+ GET MORE PHOTOS” to add your picture.

Print and Select Pickup Location

CVS will often have coupons for photo prints right on the page. In this case the code is EVERYTHING50. It brings down the cost to below $0.20.

You’ll receive an email when the photo is ready, usually within a couple of hours.

Once you get it, just use a scissor to cut it up into 4 separate passport photos.

You might not need a passport photo anytime soon, but your friends mind.

Bookmark this article, and keep it in mind next time you need to renew your passport.