How to take a Canadian passport photo with your phone
Canada's photo is 50×70 mm — two inches by two and three quarters — and it is one of the few in the world that still has to be taken in person by a commercial photographer or a photo studio. That is worth knowing before you start: the print you hand in comes from a studio, and the back of it carries the studio's name and address and the date the photo was taken. What your phone is for is everything that happens before that — knowing the exact framing to ask for, and checking the result against the numbers instead of finding out two weeks later.
Those numbers are unusual. The frame is taller than the European 35×45 mm rectangle, and the head only has to measure 31–36 mm from the chin to the crown, so the face sits in roughly the middle half of the picture with real space above the hair and below the shoulders. A photographer who shoots mostly Schengen photos crops too tight for Canada; if the print comes back with the hair touching the top edge, it is the wrong crop.
Why a Canadian passport photo comes back
The background has to be plain white or light-coloured and evenly lit, with no shadow behind the head — a single flash aimed straight at a wall is what puts one there.
Glasses may stay on if your eyes are clearly visible and there is no glare on the lenses; sunglasses and tinted lenses are refused. A head covering worn every day for religious or medical reasons is accepted as long as the whole face is visible; one worn just for the photo is not. The expression is neutral: eyes open, mouth closed, neither smiling nor frowning. The photo also has to be no more than six months old, and you need two identical, unaltered prints.
Where a Canadian passport photo is used
The pair of prints goes with the passport application or renewal, and unless you are an adult renewing, a guarantor signs the back of one of them to certify it is a true likeness of you. The online route takes a digital photo instead: a portrait 3:2 image of 1,800 to 4,500 pixels, with the chin-to-crown measurement at 45–50% of the height. Colour and black and white are both accepted, which is rare. The full rules are on the official Canadian passport photo page.
