What is different for babies and young children
Canada allows some range of expression for infants and a newborn may be photographed in a car seat with a white blanket behind the head, provided there are no shadows and nothing else is visible. The photo must still be taken by a commercial photographer, so choose a studio experienced with babies.
Some range of infant expression is allowed. A newborn may be photographed in a car seat with a white blanket behind the head and no shadows.
For children under one, the Canada rules relax: mouth may be open; they need not look straight at the camera; the eye-line position is applied leniently. Everything else still applies: a plain light background, no shadows, nobody else in the photo, no hands, toys or dummies, and the head inside the 31–36 mm band.
How to take a newborn's passport photo at home
- Lay them on a plain sheet. A white or light grey sheet on a bed or the floor, smoothed flat, makes the background. No patterns, no pillows in view.
- Use daylight. Near a window, with the light falling evenly across the face. Avoid flash, which causes red-eye and hard shadows, and overhead lights, which shade the eyes.
- Shoot from directly above. Stand over the baby with the phone parallel to the sheet, so the face is square to the camera. Keep your shadow out of the frame.
- Keep hands out. If you need to steady the head, do it from behind the sheet or tuck a rolled towel under the sheet; no fingers in the photo.
- Take lots of shots. Burst mode helps. Pick the one with the head straight and, for older babies, the eyes open.
- Load it here. Infant mode is already on. The tool crops to 50×70 mm, measures the head and checks the background; adjust with the head-size and position controls.
For toddlers who will not lie still, sit them in a car seat or high chair draped with a plain white sheet, and have a second adult attract their attention from just behind the camera.
The Canada specification
| Photo size | 50 × 70 mm (1.97 × 2.76 in) |
|---|---|
| Pixels at 300 / 600 dpi | 591 × 827 px / 1181 × 1654 px |
| Head height (chin to crown) | 31–36 mm |
| Eye line from bottom | not specified |
| Head width | not specified |
| Space above the crown | not specified |
| Background | plain and light |
| Background editing | not allowed (retake instead) |
| Glasses | allowed only with no glare and frames clear of the eyes |
| Expression | neutral, mouth closed |
| Recency | taken in the last 6 months |
| Print requirements | plain, high-quality photo paper, professionally printed — Home-printed photos and heavyweight paper are not accepted. The photographer stamps the back of one photo. |
| Digital upload | none |
| Self-taken photos | not accepted |
| Prints needed | 2 |
| Infant rules | eyes open, mouth may be open (under 1) |
| Official source | Government of Canada – Passport photos |
Full Canadian passport requirements · The adult Canadian passport page
Common reasons baby photos are rejected
- A parent's hand, arm or shoulder visible in the frame.
- A shadow from the person taking the photo, or uneven light across the face.
- A patterned blanket or pillow in the background.
- The head tilted to one side, or turned away from the camera.
- A dummy, toy or bib in view.
- The head too small: babies' heads are easy to under-fill. Use the head-size control until the readout is inside the band.