Making a Korean passport photo yourself

What sets the Korean photo apart

The size itself is the familiar 35 × 45 mm. The differences lie in the details that the rule card lists. Measuring starts at the chin and ends at the crown, meaning the highest point of the head without the hair, and it has to measure 32 to 36 mm. Voluminous hair, a bun or a quiff therefore do not count towards the face size.

Two further points surprise many applicants. Hair must not hide the eyes or the outline of the face, which means the cheeks and cheekbones, although covering the ears is fine. And each eyebrow has to be at least 70 percent visible, or one fully visible and the other at least half. A heavy fringe is the usual culprit, so plan to pin it back before you take a single picture.

• Frame: 35 × 45 mm
• Chin to crown, hair excluded: 32–36 mm
• White or off-white background
• Eyebrows visible, hair off the eyes and the face outline
• Neutral expression, no tinted lenses, no hat
• Colour photo taken within the last 6 months

The one thing not to do: change the background

Phone apps make it tempting to cut yourself out and drop in a perfect white. For this document that is exactly what the rule card forbids: removing the background or compositing onto white is not accepted. Retouched or composited photos in general are not accepted either, and that includes edits made with AI.

So the aim is a good wall, not a good edit. In the maker, leave the background on ‘Keep original’ rather than ‘White’, and let the tool only make the brightness lighter and more even. A pale, plain wall in soft daylight is the safest start. Because the card allows white or off-white, a slightly warm wall is fine, whereas a grey shadow or a coloured wall is not.

Pick the document line carefully

Open the maker and set ‘Country’ to Korea. Under ‘Document and size’ you will see several Korean lines. For a passport there are two that matter. ‘Passport’ is for prints, and the line for ‘Passport/ID photo file (online application)’ is for the digital picture. They share the same 35 × 45 mm frame and the same head range, so you can make both from one photo, but only the second saves at 413 × 531 pixels.

Tap ‘Show size and rules’ for the numbers above, plus the note about white clothes. The ministry or office that issues your passport decides what it accepts, and its guidance can change, so treat the card as a careful summary and not as a promise.

Finding a wall and light

Picture a flat where the plainest wall is in the hallway or behind the sofa. Remove frames, calendars and sockets from the picture area, and stand about a metre away so your shadow lands on the floor instead. Face a window on a bright day, ideally with the phone between you and the window or just to one side, so that both cheeks get the same light.

Avoid lamps above or at the side, which cast a shadow under the nose or on one half of the face. A heavy shadow on one cheek is reported as a retake item, and no setting afterwards removes it. If the room is dim, move closer to the window rather than raising the brightness afterwards.

Posing, hair and clothes

Keep the phone at eye height, about an arm’s length off, or lean it on a shelf. Sit square with level shoulders, look into the lens and keep your mouth closed with a natural, neutral face. If you cannot press the shutter and pose at once, choose ‘Open the camera’ and let the guided shot take the picture once everything on its checklist is right.

Sweep hair behind your shoulders, clip back the fringe and check the eyebrows in a mirror. Skip the white top, which the card does not recommend: a white shirt against a white wall removes the outline of your shoulders. Pick a dark or mid-tone top with a plain neckline. Remove hats, hairbands and earphones, and swap tinted glasses for clear ones or none. Make-up should look like your everyday self.

Run the checks

Once the picture is loaded, read the lines under ‘Checks’. Items under ‘Some things need a new photo’ carry a reason and a hint, for example eyebrows covered by hair or a smile. Brightness and colour are handled for you. Do not try to solve a hair problem with the sliders; retake the shot.

Then open ‘Fine-tune’ to bring the head into 32–36 mm and to centre the picture. Set ‘Face, hair and clothes’ to ‘No touch-ups’; smoothing skin or changing clothes works against a passport photo. Take a last look at the screen next to your current passport: it should be obviously you, with no filter feel.

Saving the file or the prints

For the online route, choose the file line and press ‘Save file’. The result is 413 × 531 pixels. This line lists no kilobyte limit, but the application page may state one, so read it and re-save from the maker if the picture is rejected, instead of squeezing it elsewhere.

Prints come from ‘Save print sheet’, in your choice of the three paper formats shown beside it. Print at actual size with scaling off, and lay a ruler on one head before cutting along the grey lines. A print shop works too if it keeps the sheet at 100 percent. Check the date of the photo as well, because the six-month rule applies to the picture itself.

Common reasons for a retake

Run through this list before you submit. It is short, and nearly every item can be fixed in a minute at home. The issuing office decides, and it can still request a new picture.

• A background that was cut out, replaced or heavily lightened
• A fringe over the eyebrows or hair over the eyes and cheeks
• A head smaller or larger than 32–36 mm
• Shade on one cheek or across the wall
• A smile, open mouth or tilted head
• A white top that merges with the wall
• A photo older than 6 months