It seems like the price gouging for a passport photo keeps getting worse and worse. The Post Office now charges $15 for a quick shot, and most other places charge between $10 and $20 for it. Occasionally you can get a coupon at Right Aid for a couple bucks but that is increasingly rare.

So what are us frugal folks with a digital camera to do? Make your own passport photo of course! I just renewed my passport with a photo I created and have received the passport so I can vouch this works. So if you are willing to put in a few minutes of your time you can save some bucks and a trip to the passport photo store. Its also nice because you can take as many pictures as you like until you are happy with how it comes out.

Requirements for Do It Yourselfers

You can’t just pick out a 4×6 of you from your cousins bbq and send it in. The US State Department has a list of regulations on their website for your passport photo. These include:

• 2×2 inches in size
• Taken within the past 6 months, showing current appearance
• Full face, front view with a plain white or off-white background
• Between 1 inch and 1 3/8 inches from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head

For The PhotoShop Savvy

Since I have Adobe Photoshop I followed the tutorial over at DP Challenge - Making Your Own Passport Photos. I thought it was very thorough and easy to follow. Took me about 5 minutes to get the final product and it turned out great.

For Those Less Savvy

There is some nifty free software called DIY Passport Photo which is nice in that it is a photo editing package only designed to make passport photos so its really easy to use. Their website has the software as well as instructions on how to use it.

There is a free website EPassportPhoto that will take your digital photo and generate it for you. I didn’t read all the instructions but just tried to upload my photo there and it didn’t seem to create the correct proportions for my photo. Probably have to do some tweaking so I can’t give this one the thumbs up.

Getting It For Free

Okay, so now you have your passport picture… but where do you print it for free? I printed mine at CVS who has a bunch of free promotions through their website. Check out this Slickdeals CVS Photo thread for the full details.

Otherwise, you can always print them to Wal-mart for 12 cents. Much better than $15.