Last time I went to get a new passport, they rejected the photos I brought in because there was an extremely faint shadow outlining my head and shoulders.
I went to the photo studio across the street and had my photos taken again. The dude pulled them up on his computer screen, looked at them critically, and then proceeded to Photoshop my collarbones out of the picture. 
EU passports are valid for ten years. When I was 26, I went to Germany with the passport that I’d been given 9.5 years previously. I think it’s fair to say that there had been some changes in my appearance over the time. (My youthful good looks had matured into rugged handsomeness, since you ask.) But, as per the official writing on the last page, my passport was still valid for another 6 months. And would have been fine, had I been going to anywhere else but Germany.
Border guard is a role where German punctiliousness finds its full expression. Here I was in possession of a valid passport, but with a photo even I had to admit wasn’t an entirely accurate reflection my appearance. It took some degree of discussion to convince the dutiful passport-checker that the “Valid until” date was of greater import than the photo.
I don’t blame the guy - but if you’re going to put a ten-year limit on passports, you can bet that c.10% of people won’t look like their photo. And this is from a guy who keeps his hair-length within a pretty narrow range. Anyone who gets their hair “dressed” rather than “cut” can pretty much guarantee they won’t look like their photo after a few years.
Bring on the bio-metrics! Eye-scans and genetic fingerprints on all ID. Nothing can go wrong in this brave new world!
I am a very, very good driver because I am terrified that I might have to let a police officer see my driver’s license. It looks exactly like Jabba the Hutt.
So does mine!
Of course, that’s because I look like Jabba the Hutt…
A while back, the DMV clerk who was taking my picture was really pissing me off for some reason. (Go figure.) The guy who pulled my photo out of the machine looked at it, then showed it to me and said, “Would you like a retake?” Gawd yes please. That photo of me would have made a rabid badger look pleasant.
I’m surprised that my current ID photo hasn’t been questioned. It’s six years old, and in that time I’ve lost 75 pounds and cut my shoulder-length hair to essentially a buzz cut. Even my friends have a hard time recognizing me in that photo. Only two years to go . . .
I work for a government agency, and my work I.D. is… interesting. It was a hot day, I had just finished the intrusive questioning and fingerprinting part of the task, I was ready to kill someone. It shows. I’ve had guards nearly drop my I.D. in fright.
So you’re saying you can really sell the “I could tell you, but I’d have to kill you” line? 
<snerk>
Let’s put it this way: regardless of whether or not I was authorized to go into a particular area, no guard has ever refused to let me pass.
(Not that I work in a particularly secure area.)
I’m in the proud possession of a photo of my father that my step-mother nixed as a passport shot. For some reason it just screams “Armenian terrorist.” And he’s not even Armenian :p. Which is why I love it so.
Well, I don’t! I look like Michael Moore :(, and I’m a woman.
My current passport photo is horrendous; the person who took it had the bright contrast turned up too high, so all of the features on my face are washed out except for two specks of eyes, vivid red blotches where my cheeks are, and my lips look purple. I’ve had aurport authorities look at the photo, and look at me, and tell me I should have slapped the photographer (who, at the time, wouldn’t do a retake, and it was the only place available at the time.) I’m frankly surprised it was allowed when I sent in the application.
I’ve recently gone to have new passport photos taken because I need to get a visa, and I went to a professional photographer who does passport photos. I asked him, ‘Can you make me a good passport photo?’
He paused, and replied, ‘I can make you a good photo, or a passport photo, but not both.’ Alas.
(My last passport photo was actually a really good picture taken by a guy who worked for a newspaper; I photograph much better in b/w, but I guess that’s now allowed anymore.)
That’s okay, I’m guessing a large percentage of your clients can’t see it anyway.
(Am I thinking like a manager now or what?)
Mine is missing my title. Which isn’t a huge deal, except that I worked hard for those two little letters, and when I come to a person’s door for the first time claiming to be an RN, it’d be nice if my ID backed me up. And the picture? Oh, dear…you don’t want to put your life in that person’s hands, believe me.
The last time I got together the stuff I needed to send in for a new passport, I was continually unsatisfied with the passport photos I had taken in the local convenience stores ( the ones downtown near the passport office do this on the side ), so I would procrastinate, not send in the stuff and then try for another photo which looked just as bad as the one before. Finally I realized that if I wanted to leave the country I just had to suck it up and I sent in the best of the bad photos. I HATE it though.
Now my driver license photo is another story. I was having the worst day of my life , I lost a major client about an hour before the photo was taken, I remember sitting in my car crying in the pouring rain right before I went into the DMV.
And I thought they could just use my file photo so I didn’t realize they were going to photograph me…I begged them to use the file photo but they insisted on taking a new one.
Except for a little hair frizz, it was one of the best photos of myself I’ve ever seen. Go figure.
My DMV picture is worthy of being displayed on the curator’s desk at the Mutter Museum. Top that.
You people have never heard of epassportphoto?
You can take a passport photo with your webcam and adjust the sizing to meet the government criteria. Then it prints with 6 or 7 photos at different contrast levels. It’s a great , FREE, tool.
I used it for my and my wife’s passport photos last time around and they worked perfectly.
I just got my NY driver’s license and it looks nothing like me at all. Basically the hair color and the eye color are right, but nothing else. It looks like Lindsay Lohan and Fat Bastard from the Austin Powers movies had a baby. It is horrifying and I am hesitant to use it as a photo ID because the picture is so awful. It is almost enough to make me want to move to another state so I can get a new license with a better picture.