What kind of photo for travel passes?

'Recent passport-type' is the only advice given from National Rail for photocards.

Passport type but not passport quality, and you can even wear glasses and (ha ha) smile!!!

Photos out of the machine are fine; many stations have a machine nearby for such a purpose.

For the Two Together, individual photos please - no sitting on laps...

Good choices both.

Thanks! And yes, I do plan to smile. I think we will get them at AAA today---they can do them pretty inexpensively, and hubby wants to look at new luggage there.

Do photo booths even exist anymore? I haven't seen one in a while.

Lola, of course they exist. How do people get photos for their passports, travel passes etc. where you live?
As Nigel says, they are often at stations as that is where people need them.

You can probably just photocopy your passport picture. I did that for my Navigo pass in Paris and it worked fine.

Nope, no photo booths around here and like Lola, I don't remember the last time I saw one. Passport photos can be taken at AAA, photo shops, and I think last time I got it done at the Kinko/Fed Ex place.

Of course, there is no public transportation of any kind where I live so no need for photos for passes.

My husband and I had our passport photos taken at either CVS or Walgreens. Don't remember which.

Costco if you're a member. Cheaper than CVS/Walgreen and better pictures.

Chris F----in the US, photo booths were mainly found at carnivals and amusement parks, and were used by kids to take goofy photos--- a precursor to selfies. Now that everyone (except me) has a smartphone with camera, the photo booths seem to be obsolete. At least here in the western US.

A few years back we did our daughters' passport photos ourselves, printing them out on good quality photo paper. But since then my husband has a new camera, new laptop, and new printer, and he wasn't certain about all the compatibility requirements and settings. It was easier to just go get them taken at AAA (where we needed to go anyway) than to go find and buy photo paper and color cartridges for the printer. Members' price for the photos (two copies each) was $10 total for the two of us, not bad.

Photo booths are very common in train and metro stations in England because everyone needs them for their passes. They aren't in every station but you see them frequently.

"How do people get photos for their passports, travel passes etc. where you live?"

Comparatively few US cities have travel passes, and those that I know of don't require photos.

Even when there were photo booths prevalent in the US (shopping malls always had them), the photos they took usually did not meet the specifications for a US passport (I remember the passport paperwork specifically stating this). People used to have to get photos done at travel agencies, camera stores, or specialty photo studios. There was an article about one of the last specialty studios in New York, which had stayed in business because they knew all the rules for ALL the different kinds of passports and visas from different countries, and could take them correctly (then as now, places are very picky, every country has different rules, and you have to follow the rules if you want your papers). But even that place is gone.

By 1981, when I got my first passport, places were using modified Polaroid cameras that took pictures that met the specs (after a little cutting). Variants of that camera were used for decades, now supplemented by digital models. Once these cameras came out, all kinds of places started putting signs in their windows saying "we take passport photos" - drugstores, camera stores, copy shops, etc. That's where people go now. Near any passport acceptance location, there's going to be a bunch of them.

My office is near the Polish consulate in New York City, and there's a store across the street with a sign (in English and Polish) stating that they can take a photo that will work for a Polish passport. I haven't looked, but presumably there are lots of similar arrangements near other consulates.

We now return to our regularly scheduled travel information.

Lola, I don't know what station you will start with, but there are photo booths at Paddington.

There are some more detailed specifications for railcards, but they may not be that strictly applied.

These are:
• The image should be a good clear likeness of you. We prefer colour pictures but black and white images are acceptable:
• Your head and shoulders should be in close-up, with your face clearly visible and filling approximately 70% of the photo (in the same way it would for a passport or driving licence)
• The background must be neutral or plain
• The photo needs to be in focus and sharp
• No hats or cartoon faces

We just left London where we also used the 7-day paper travel card. Works slick. Sounds like you got the photos handled. All I did was scan and print at home our passport photos on photo paper. You can also print out the 2-4-1 vouchers at home but it's not a big deal to fill them out there. Be sure to ask for the 2-4-1 brochure which had the blanks in it.

Hi Lola, you are so lucky going to the UK this fall and next spring. Where will you be going? Are you doing any hiking/walking?