Cheap Passport Photos

Sooner or later, you’re going to need passport photos. Get them now and have them when you need them. I do this by filling an 8×10 print with passport photos and sending it to the local Walgreens photo department. This gives me 20 2×2 passport photos for $3.99 rather than 2 passport photos for $13.99 using Walgreens passport photo service. If you need information for visa photo requirements for a specific country, check visafoto.com.

The following instructions are for US passport photos (2″ x 2″) but can be adapted for other photo sizes. First, get a headshot photo that satisfies the necessary requirements. Then get the photo into PhotoShop or your favorite photo editing program and crop it to a square to look something like this:

Dwight D Eisenhower Portrait
Dwight D Eisenhower

Next, resize the image to 2 inches square and set the canvas size to 8 inches by 10 inches. Duplicate the 2×2″headshot three times and arrange the image four layers across the top of the canvas. You should have one row complete, looking something like this:

Then merge those four image layers into one and duplicate it four more times, arranging them to fill the 8×10:

Now just flatten the image, save it as a jpg file and upload it to your Walgreens Photo account. Print it as an 8×10 for $3.99 and pick it up in an hour or just have it mailed to you for $0.99 more.

Pro tip: Check the Walgreens Photo Promo page, look for the current month’s special discount code. There’s often a 40% off or free 8×10 code you can enter at checkout for an even better deal.

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