First up, Canadian Passport photos are a total nightmare to both have done and to produce. My wife had to go back 3 times to have her photos done, and the ones they accepted were worse than the original ones she submitted. They are completely arbitrary and illogical about what they will accept.
As for the background, you need to have a proper background stand, a short stand with flat legs that goes behind the subject, and you need to light the white (off white is not acceptable) background so there is absolutely no shadow.
The main light can be a flash on camera, but you're better to have it on a light stand to keep it at an elevated height. The difference between a light stand and a tripod is that the legs on a tripod start at the near the tripod head, while a light stand has short legs and centre column that rises 6-8 feet. If you have three or four lights mounted on tripods, you wouldn't be able to get them high enough, and you wouldn't be able to fight your way through all the interlocking tripod legs.
The if you want to do the paper reflector, the best thing to do is use (and I'm not kidding here), a section of white, coated, cardboard from the bottom a beer flat. When I was a newspaper photographer, that's what we used. Have one that sticks straight up so that you can bounce it off the ceiling, and another one bent over at 45 degrees for use when you don't have a ceiling to bounce off. The beer flat cardboard works well because it has a heavy coating to keep the beer from soaking through it that reflects light well. Just make sure to get a white one.
If that's a little low brow, the Lumiquest 80-20 reflector works well. They make a kit that has different inserts that you can velcro into place.
I had the same experience as David mentioned. Original pictures denied. It was mentioned to me to get at least 4 sets done by different photographers. Being the rebel that I am, I went back with only three! One of them was accepted. Similar to David's situation it looked the worst of all of them.
The process is very arbitrary. If you're in a hurry to get the passport, I've read it's recommend going in with several sets for selection.
I know this doesn't help Curtis very much in terms of his setup. I like David's Beer Flat reflector idea. It's the ideal excuse to enjoy a cold one for the benefit of your photo's!
Jeff
White Balance so easy, even our 5 year old can do it.- Melissa Strickland
and you need to light the white (off white is not acceptable) background so there is absolutely no shadow.
Passport Canada's website says the following:
The photos must be taken against a plain white or light-coloured background so that the applicant’s features are clearly distinguishable against the background.
From this I would take it that a monochrome image taken against a light/off-white background would be fine.
__________________ Curtis Cunningham
Photography and Graphic Design www.photistry.com
White Balance so easy, even our 5 year old can do it.- Melissa Strickland
Last edited by Curtis Cunningham; 02-24-2008 at 07:01 PM.
Reason: my original reply came across as confrontational which wasn't my intent.
Canadian passport photos actually go through a scanner and the scanner determines whether the photo is accepted or not. I had mine done at a local camera store. They used a Sony snaplab and they were awful shots with no contrast at all. Not Sony's fault, the lady who shot them was an idiot. Anyway, I was at the passport office and talked to the guy when he was putting them through the scanner and I said that they would undoubtedly be rejected. He told me that it had something to do with the scanner that either did or did not accept it. Mine were approved. Unbelievable, you can hardly see my face. In another 6 months I can finally get them replaced as it will have been 5 years.
White Balance so easy, even our 5 year old can do it.- Melissa Strickland
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