Passport Photo Technical Specifications (2023)

Together with the application for the issuance of the passport you must submit 1 (one) current photograph. The photos of the requested passports must have special technical specifications.

Along with the passport application you must submit 1 (one) current photograph. The requested passport photo must have the following technical specifications:

A) Dimensions and paper quality

• It must be recent.
• Photo dimensions must be 40mm x 60mm without frame.
• They must be produced or printed on high quality white photo paper, not watercolor or embossed.
• It must be of high resolution and not have dots (pixel - raster) nor produced on inkjet or laser printers.
• The person should appear like the form below so that:

1. DD face length (from jaw to top of head) should be 31mm to 35mm.
2. The width of the face CC (from ear to ear at the point of connection with the face) should be 20 mm to 25 mm.
3. The BB distance from the bottom of the photo to the eyes (the imaginary line that runs between the eyes) should be 30mm to 39mm.
4. OBSERVATION: Accordingly, none of the upper readings should exceed the lower or higher value. Distortion of the face is also not allowed.

• It should be taken on a white or cream background or with 5% gray so that the facial features are clear against the background used.
• For people with mobility or other health problems, every effort should be made to make the photo as good as possible.

B) Correct way to take photos

• Photos must be sharp, clear and reproduce the natural colors of the face, without color saturation.
• Printed photos, taken from a digital camera, must be at least 1200 dpi resolution or higher.
• The paper used must not show gray spots (Newton's Circles) when pressed, while being tested on a transparent glass surface.

Furthermore:

• The whole face should be clean, from the jaw to the forehead and from ear to ear.
• Shadows should not appear on the background and face or shimmer from reflected light on the face.
• Other than the person being photographed, no other people or objects such as dolls, toys, etc. are allowed to enter.
• The person must appear looking directly into the camera lens.
• The person should appear with a neutral expression and closed mouth.
• The person should appear with their eyes open (not too open) so they can see clearly. Sunglasses and myopia glasses with colored lenses (Photo Grey, Photo Brown, etc.) are prohibited. Hair should never cover the eyes, eyebrows or any part of the person's face.
• The person should be seen reflected in the glasses, if wearing them, and the frame of the glasses should not cover the eyes or other facial features. To avoid this type of problem, it is recommended not to wear glasses when possible.
• The person must appear without a head covering.

For religious reasons, a person may wear a head covering (eg headscarf, etc.), but facial features, from jaw to forehead and from ear to ear, must be visible.

In addition, for health problems, facial features are allowed to be covered (medical certificate must be provided).

Children under 12 and infants.For children under 12 and babies, photo dimensions may be reasonably smaller than adults and should be accepted.

Examples of suitable photos referring to pose, expression, background, etc.not for facial dimensions:

Stand
The frontal type of photo must be used for the passport photo. Head rotation must be less than +/- 5 degrees from center in all directions (up and down, left or right). Shoulders should be "straight". "Portrait style" photos where the person is looking over their shoulder are not accepted.

expression
The expression should be neutral (no smile), with both eyes normally open (not wide open) and the mouth closed. Every effort must be made to ensure that photographs delivered are in accordance with current specifications. Smiling with the mouth closed is not recommended. The subject should be completely alone (with no backs from chairs, toys or other visible faces), looking into the lens with a neutral expression and mouth closed.

Examples of unsupported expressions

1. Eyes closed
2. Eyes covered by hair
3. The eyes are partially covered by a frame of glasses

Examples of deprecated expressions

1. The smile and teeth or the inside of the mouth are visible
2. eyebrows go up
3. Eyes that don't look directly at the camera
4. strabismus
5. frown

Bottom
The boundary between the head and the background must be completely distinct throughout the object (volume of hair is acceptable). There should be no shadows in the background of the face.

eyeshadows
There should be no dark shades in the eyes due to the eyebrows. The iris and pupil should be clearly visible.

background equality
The background should be smooth, without straight lines or curves. Therefore, it should be uniform or homogeneous in color, with smooth variations in lightness in only one direction.

Object and backlight
The lighting will spread evenly on all sides of the face. No significant direction of light should be visible from the photographer's point of view.

hot spots
Great care must be taken to avoid 'hot spots' (areas of bright light that make the face glow). This phenomenon is usually caused by using a very bright intensity and concentration. Instead, it is necessary to use diffuse light, multiple equal sources or other lighting methods.

cups
If the person usually wears glasses, then they should wear them when photographed. Glasses should be clear and transparent so that the iris and pupil are clearly visible. If the glasses automatically darken for the light, the person should be photographed in such a way that the glasses do not change color. Only in extreme cases, where the color change cannot be reduced, should the glasses be removed.
Dark glasses or sunglasses are only acceptable for medical reasons. Otherwise, they must be removed.
You must be careful that the frames of the glasses do not cover the eyes.
There should be no light reflection on the glasses. This can usually be achieved by varying the angle between the light source, subject and camera by 45° (degrees) or more.

blindfolds
The use of eye patches is only permitted for medical reasons.

No over or under exposure
For every detail of the face, the color gradations must be distinct. Therefore, there should be no saturation (overexposed or underexposed) in the face.

Focus and depth of field
The image must be perfectly focused from the nose to the ears and from the jaw to the hair. This can result in background blur, but it's not a problem. During a typical photo, to get the best quality of the face, the f-stop of the camera lens should be set to two (or more) f-stops below the largest aperture stop in order to achieve sufficient depth of field .
All photos will have sufficient depth of focus to maintain better than 2mm resolution on the person photographed. An image resolution of better than 1 mm can be achieved if the millimeter marks are visible in a photo essay, placed on the nose and ears or on the face of the person looking at the camera.
If the camera does not have autofocus, the person must always be in the best position.

unnatural color
Unnatural colored light, yellow, red, etc. not allowed. Attention should be paid to correcting the white light balance of the camera. The light will give the face in the photo a natural skin tone. Red-eye is not allowed. Color photographs should rely on color balanced light techniques such as high color temperature flash.

Color or grayscale gradient
Processes aimed at over- or under-exposure of a color or shade of gray for aesthetic reasons are not permitted. The whole picture is required. Teeth and whites of eyes will be light or white (where required) and dark hair or features (where required) will be dark.

Radial distortion of camera lenses
The fisheye effect associated with extremely large noses is not allowed. There is almost always some kind of distortion in portrait photography, but that distortion should go unnoticed when viewed by humans.
Radial distortion due to the lens is a phenomenon that must be limited. For a typical photographic system with the subject 1.5m to 2.5m from the camera, the focal length of the lens should be the same as that of a standard telephoto lens. For example, a 35mm photograph requires a focal length of 90mm to 130mm for a lens. Practically, in the various optical sensors, the recommended focal length is 2 to 3 times the diagonal of each sensor.

image in the center
The approximate midpoints of the mouth and nose lie on an imaginary vertical line AA, which is placed in the horizontal center of the image.

You can download the full text in Greek with the technical specifications of the passport photo:

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