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New to this community. I have had a DSLR for a few years now so familiar with a few settings.

I tried and failed to take a passport photo . The main issue I am facing is getting shadows around the ears and cheeks?

I am not using any special lights, just using standard flash that comes with the camera

Am I trying the impossible here? just looking for any DIY tricks :)

Hafiz
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  • I guess the shadows are caused by the flash. Without an example it is a bit harder to know. You can try using natural light, somewhere in homogeneous shade, this will eliminate the shadows, you should just find an environment with enough light. – dannemp Aug 03 '17 at 11:00
  • I tried a few things like a white background. Tried dark room so only flash light is there also turned on all the lights in the room but still seeing shadows in the back of the ears. – Hafiz Aug 03 '17 at 11:09
  • @Hafiz What more information do you need than that in canisbos's answer to the potential duplicate? – Philip Kendall Aug 03 '17 at 13:26
  • Just finished reading that :) You are right alot of what I am looking for is indeed discussed in canisbos's answer – Hafiz Aug 03 '17 at 13:30

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The one thing you must be using for such a photo is special lights. Many studios specializing in those types of photos do not even use a DSLR but a fixed-lens camera. The quality needed for a passport photo is limited considering how small the print is. There are however strict rules, depending on the country passport photo requirement.

Mostly here in Canada, the background must be white with no visible shadows. A built-in flash will do that since it projects light right from the camera position. There must also not be any shadow on the face which is causes by an small light-source, which again your flash is.

Therefore a reasonably minimal setup with be to have a background light and another diffuse light to illuminate the subject. A typical example is a strobe reflected into or through an umbrella.

Itai
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  • Also, the aperture should be set to provide enough depth of field that the ears and nose are acceptably sharp. (This is probably only a concern if you're using a really fast lens, though) – scottbb Aug 03 '17 at 14:41