Get Out of the Country!

Boy, if there were ever a time when most everyone feels like taking a break from life as we've come to know it, it would be now!

If you're going to take a vacay, take a big one! Well, as long as you can find a country that'll allow your US plane to land, that is.

But before you go, you may need to update your passport. And for those of you who have duel citizenship, you might need to update your foreign passport as well! Fortunately for you, Newsome's Studio of Photography is the most experienced passport photo creator in the southeast. Having successfully created passport, immigration, citizenship, visa, permanent residency, DV Lottery, and government issued ID photos for over 70 countries and counting, Newsome's Studio is on the preferred photographer list for consulates of several foreign countries. 

Measured in millimeters, foreign document photos cannot be created by most drug stores or travel clubs, you MUST go to a professional photography studio for custom sizes and Newsome's is THE studio to call in central Florida.

By appointment only, 813-968-2810.

UK Digital Passport Photo

This year, the United Kingdom passport process went "digital only." All British or UK passport photos are submitted online, no longer are actual prints needed.

The UK passport photo was always 35x45mm with a head size of 29-34mm on a light gray or cream colored background. NOW, it's the same ratio in dimension, but measured in pixels instead of millimeters.

The new UK passport photo size requirement is "minimum 600x750 pixels" (outer dimension), showing down to the elbow so the UK passport office can crop it themselves. The file size of the JPEG  can range from 50k to 10mg.

We've found that a more suitable size for this new image is 1000x1250 pixels, often resulting in an image that is just less than one megabyte.

When it's time to update your UK or British passport, call the experts in foreign passport photos, Newsome's Studio of Photography.

Located in Carrollwood (North Tampa) at 10012 N. Dale Mabry Hwy, Suite 219, Tampa, FL 33618.

All work by appointment only... 813-968-2810

Jamaican Passport Photos

Jamaican Passport photos have a fairly new requirement.... matte finish paper. Most of the rest of the planet requests glossy, and at one time, so did Jamaica. This changed and we found out the hard way when one of our photos was rejected due to the glossy finish.

Most sources for the paper we use for passports only carry glossy, so we went on a global search for the perfect photo paper with a matte finish that could be paired successfully with our printers. WE FOUND ONE!

If you're in need of a Jamaican Passport photo with a matte finish, you've come to the right place. Newsome's Studio of Photography, located at 10012 N. Dale Mabry Hwy, Suite 219, Tampa can do that for you.

Please call 813-968-2810 for a convenient 10 minute appointment!

Chinese Visa

We recently found ourselves with an increase in Chinese Visa requests. Turns out, a nearby high school was planning a summer field trip China and all the students needed a set of Chinese Visa photos.

Being the only source in town for photos that can be measured in millimeters, Newsome's Studio was tapped to create the 33x48mm images for all their students and parent chaperones.

Newsome's Studio of Photography is located at 10012 N. Dale Mabry Hwy, Suite 219, Tampa (Cypress Point Office Park) in Carrollwood.

Call for an appointment at 813-968-2810 and get your Chinese Visa photos in less than 10 minutes.

Passport Photos of Yesteryear

Some time back, I was going through my mother's things (she died in 2016) and came across her old passports. It was great to see all the places she'd been in her lifetime. The earliest trip I found was a trip to France in 1959. I was four years old but I still remember her and my dad walking across the tarmac to board the large twin prop plane while my grandmother encouraged me to wave goodbye.

Several things struck me while looking at her passport photo from that year. It was black and white, of course, but it appeared to simply be a 3/4 length snapshot of her sitting at a dining table - a totally casual image with a big broad smile on her face. I suppose in the 50's, the US passport office had ZERO parameters on what your image looked like.

Fast forward 60 years and only a minor amount of oversight on US passport photos has occurred. They now give you specs, such as 2x2", color, head size of 1" to 1 1/8", white background, but when you see what is being sold and delivered as acceptable passport photos by drug stores, you have to scratch your head and wonder if the US passport office actually ACCEPTS that level of "quality."

Seriously, I've had clients come to my studio, having just purchased their passport photos from a drug store and they're holding blurry, underexposed, orange faces on a pink background, with a 3/4" head size. On more than one occasion, the clients have told me they were shot with the store clerk's cell phone because their camera wasn't working. WHAAAAAT????

Folks, drug stores don't sell passport photos, they GIVE them away.... well, you pay for them, but they sell them so cheaply, they purposely take a loss on them. It's known as a "loss-leader." They sell them at a loss to get you in the door on the assumption that you'll buy toothpaste, eyeliner, and hairspray while you're there.

The photo dept clerks are very nice and knowledgeable about printing, but they're not professional photographers and do not possess any professional photography equipment. They often only use a very low resolution "point and shoot" camera with no flash or proper lighting equipment. You're going to be photographed under whatever lighting conditions are available. This often results in a color cast that is either orange or green, depending on if the light was tungsten or fluorescent. The camera will be hand-held at a very low shutter speed which often results in blurry photographs. The background will not be white, but cast with a pink or orange color or muddy gray at best.

WHY the US passport office allows such a deplorable level of quality is beyond me, because every other country on the planet adheres to a very very strict level of quality, so much so, that drug stores don't even attempt to do them.

If you're happy with them, well, good for you. I'm not, and my clients aren't either. They come to me because they want it done right. If you want superior quality in your passport photos, call us at 813-968-2810 and schedule your appointment today.

Thank you,
Newsome's Studio

That Just Doesn't CUT It!

In the past month, I've had at least three clients come in holding their passport photos taken at a drug store. In every case, they'd been printed (close) to the correct size, but the drug stores refuse to cut them. Why? Because they were foreign passport photos which are measured in millimeters, not inches. Apparently, drug stores now appear to have the "software" to create SOME foreign sized passport photos, but they don't have the capability to CUT them to the exact size, leaving it to the CLIENT to do that with a pair of household scissors!

Yeah. That just doesn't cut it.

I have no idea what a chain store's budget is for providing the correct tools for their employees to do their job, but a paper cutter at Walmart runs about $20. Of course, you have to have a bit of know-how to use it and your cut must be precise, being millimeters and all, but STILL... they don't own or know how to use a PAPER CUTTER???

Let's just skip the headache and go straight to the professional photography studio that foreign consulates around the globe recommend... Newsome's Studio of Photography.

By appointment only, 813-968-2810. Call today.

Biometric Passport Photos

Some foreign governments will request or require a "biometric" photo for your passport. A biometric passport is a traditional passport that has an embedded electronic microprocessor chip within the cover. The chip contains information that can be used to authenticate your identity.

Your "biometric" photo is simply a digital image (a JPEG) that becomes part of the information embedded in that chip. It is taken with a digital camera and delivered to you via email in the exact same size required as a printed image might be.

If you're in need of a biometric photo for your foreign passport, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone other than an independent professional photographer who can do it. Newsome's Studio has been providing this service for many years.

Newsome's Studio of Photography is located at 10012 N. Dale Mabry Hwy, Suite 219, Tampa, FL 33618. Please call 813-968-2810 for an appointment.

Passports Measured in Millimeters

Here's the thing...

The US uses the Imperial Measurement System. That means your US passport photos are measured in inches.

The rest of the planet uses the Metric System. That means THEIR passport photos are measured in millimeters.

If you're a citizen of a foreign country living in the US, and you're in need of updating your passport for your native country, you're going to need a passport photo that is measured in millimeters and sized to the specifications of your native country's passport photo requirements.

If you're from the UK, it'll be 35x45mm. If you're from Canada, it'll be 50x70mm. If you're from Greece, it's 40x60mm, and if you're in need of a Chinese Visa, it's 33x48mm.

Your local drugstore employee may not be aware of these differences and will give you a 2x2 inch (51x51mm) image, that will promptly be rejected by your consulate.

Do it right the first time and contact Central Florida's most experienced professional passport photography studio, Newsome's Studio of Photography, located at 10012 N. Dale Mabry Hwy, Suite 219, Tampa, FL 33618.

By appointment only, call 813-968-2810.

Colombian ID Photographer

There aren't many, but a few times a year I get a surge of Colombians in need of a Colombian ID photo. The size requirement is different than most, 40x50mm with a head size of 25-30mm, so as usual, the drug stores and auto clubs typically won't (or can't) do them.

The Colombian ID photo requirements also call for three, not two photos, one of a very few countries that request more than two.

Another interesting difference, is that while they request a white background, they shift it up a bit if you're bald. Yes, if you're bald, you must go on a blue background. Now why do you suppose that is? I have no clue, but I always have a blue background for all the bald Colombians in the Tampa/St Pete market (and yes, I had one last week).

Newsome's Studio of Photography is the leading expert in foreign passport, visa, immigration, permanent residency, DV Lottery, citizenship, and ID photos in the state of Florida... nay, the SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES!

Located at 10012 N. Dale Mabry Hwy, Suite 219 in Carrollwood. Call 813-968-2810 and schedule your ten minute appointment today.

Canadian Passport Photographer in Carrollwood

So, you're a Canadian citizen and you need to renew your Canadian passport. You live in the Tampa area and you've already made the mistake of going to the local drug store. They SAID they could do it, but they handed you a blurry, orange image that was cut to a 2x2" square. Your paperworks states that it should be clear, sharpe, no color cast, and cut to 50x70mm (quite obviously NOT square). What to do... what to do...

Call the Canadian passport photo EXPERT, Newsome's Studio of Photography in Carrollwood. Newsome's Studio, located at 10012 N. Dale Mabry Hwy, Suite 219, in Cypress Point Office Park (behind Starbucks, at the corner of Linebaugh and N. Dale Mabry).

By appointment only - 813-968-2810.

You'll walk out with the correct images, sized to spec, in about ten minutes.
You're welcome.

Top Five Reasons to Use a Professional

One might think "It's only a passport photo... who cares how bad it is?"

Well, you COULD adopt that attitude about it, but it may actually make difference with a customs agent nowadays. Here are five good reasons to care...

1. Size... Not all passport photos are created equal. The US passport photo is measured in inches, but all other countries measure theirs in millimeters. Drugstores and travel clubs have difficulty measuring in millimeters and keeping up with all the different sizes required by more than 200 countries.
2. Background... see above. The US requires white, the UK - gray, and Jamaica is either white, gray, or blue depending on skin tone, clothing and hair color.
3. Color... a professional studio will use a professional lighting system that is calibrated with their printers. Drug stores often use available light, which changes depending on if the scene is lit with fluorescent lights, tungsten lights, or window light (each producing a different color cast).
4. Sharpness... using a professional lighting system (as above), your images should be crispy sharp. Using available light at a drugstore, the slower shutter speed required to get a good exposure means there will likely be hand movement by the camera operator.
5. Experience... a professional photographer makes their living by creating high quality images, whether it's a passport photo or a canvas wall portrait. A drugstore employee may be brand new at the job and by the time he or she has figured out what they're doing, they've either quit, been fired, or even promoted, replaced by another brand new employee.

Bottom line, even though it's "only a passport photo," go to a professional and avoid getting it wrong, wasting precious time and money by having to do it all over again.

Newsome's Studio is by appointment only. Call 813-968-2810 for your ten minute appointment!

Tampa's Passport Photo Expert

To our foreign citizen friends and neighbors... when the day comes to update your passport for your home country, your choices on where to get you passport photo will be very limited.

If your native country is anything other than the US, Burma, or Liberia, then your passport photos are very likely measured in millimeters, not inches. This means that the drug stores and travel clubs either can't, or won't, be able to correctly provide the images your need.

When knowledge of the metric system is required, and every country has different size requirements, you really need to call someone who is an expert at foreign and international passport photos. Lucky for you, the most experienced and qualified foreign passport photographer in Florida, resides right here in Tampa.

Newsome's Studio of Photography, located in Carrollwood (North Tampa) at 10012 N. Dale Mabry Hwy, Suite 219 in Cypress Point Office Park (behind Starbucks, on the NW corner of Linebaugh and Dale Mabry Hwy), is Tampa's passport photo expert.

By appointment only... call 813-968-2810 and get it right the first time.

International Passport Photos - Tampa

Passport photos for countries other than the US are measured in millimeters. The drug stores and travel club either can't or won't be able to provide that, because it requires continuous updated knowledge of each country's size and background requirements which are known to change unexpectedly.

The US is still on the Imperial Measurement System, meaning they use inches, feet, yards, miles, etc. The rest of the planet is on the Metric System, meaning they use millimeters, meters, kilometers, etc.

As an example, the UK (Great Britain) requires their passport photos to be 35x45mm with a light gray background. Australian passport photos are also 35x45mm, but on a white background and must be printed at a minimum of 450ppi resolution. A Chinese passport photos is 33x48mm while a Greek passport photo is 40x60mm and Canada's is 50x70mm.

These differences make it very difficult for anyone other than an experienced, full-time, professional photographer like Newsome's Studio of Photography, to stay up to date and provide a quality passport photo that is sure to pass the discerning eye of a foreign country's passport office.

Newsome's Studio is on the "preferred photographer list" kept by the consulates of several foreign countries. Get it right the first time and contact Newsome's for a ten minute appointment and rest easy that your photos won't be rejected.

By appointment only... 813-968-2810

He used a CELL PHONE?

A recent client for a Canadian Passport photo had just come from a local drug store. She was holding a pair of very underexposed, blurry, orange photos of her on a pink background, that were taken by the nice young man behind the photo counter and hand-cut to an incorrect size for Canada. They were shot with his cell phone.

Here... let me repeat that... THEY WERE SHOT WITH HIS CELL PHONE!

Seems the drug store camera wasn't working that day, but he assured her that his cell phone "takes great photos." Yeah, that's right... "great photos." However... indoors, under tungsten lighting conditions, in a dark corner of the store, with a shaky cell phone being hand held by a nervous young store clerk, his cell phone "takes pretty bad pictures." (that's not an opinion, that's a fact - I SAW them).

She reluctantly paid for them, then went outside and immediately Googled "BEST PASSPORT PHOTOGRAPHER IN TAMPA." Newsome's Studio of Photography came up number one in the Maps, and numbers 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, & 9 in the organic listing. She called me immediately and drove straight over.

In less than ten minutes she was holding two perfectly exposed, color corrected, razor sharp images, on a pure-white background, and machine-cut to an exact 50x70mm size.

Breathing a huge sigh of relief, she paid me, tipped me, hugged me, thanked me, and wrote me a glowing five star review on Google.

I love Canadians. They're so polite (although I know how much they dislike hearing that). And when they want the very BEST PASSPORT PHOTOGRAPHER IN TAMPA, they know who to call.

Newsome's Studio of Photography, where cell phone pics will never EVER be good enough for our clients.

Australian Passport Photos Near Me

Okay, that title isn't even fair...

If you're an Australian citizen living in the Tampa area, and planning on going to Orlando this month to update your passport, you likely Googled the search term "Australian Passport Photos near me" or something of that nature. So essentially, that title will be a perfect match for your search results, and you know what? We ARE a perfect match!

Newsome's Studio is on the preferred photographer list for the Australian Consulate in Washington, DC, and for good reason... we invested heavily in a printer that would produce the highest quality passport photo possible, JUST so the Australian Consulate would approve! That's right, we dropped the big bucks, just to sell passport photos!

Newsome's Studio of Photography is located in North Tampa's Carrollwood area, at 10012 N. Dale Mabry Hwy, Suite 219, Tampa, FL 33618 (Cypress Point Office Park, behind Starbucks at the corner of Linebaugh and Dale Mabry).

We highly recommend an appointment, so call 813-968-2810.

Tampa's Best Passport Photographer

You need it done and you want it done right. A lot of places will advertise that they can do passport photos, but they have no more business offering photography services than I do overnight shipping or tubes of toothpaste.

If you're a citizen of a foreign country and your passport photo for your home country is measured in millimeters, then you MUST contact NEWSOME'S STUDIO OF PHOTOGRAPHY at 813-968-2810. At least, that is, you MUST if you want it done correctly the first time!

Newsome's has been offering foreign and international passport photos, customized to your specific country's specifications... if you need a 33x48mm Chinese Visa... a 35x45mm UK Passport... a 50x70mm Canadian Passport... or a 40x60mm Greek Passport... or hey, a 51x51mm US Passport photo... call Central Florida's expert in passport sized photos!

Located at 10012 N. Dale Mabry Hwy, Suite 219, Tampa, FL (Greater Carrollwood area), in Cypress Point Office Park - behind Starbucks at the corner of Linebaugh and Dale Mabry Hwy, on block north of Busch Blvd.

Ten minutes to success... 813-968-2810.

International Passport Photographer Tampa

Hey, you're an International traveler, how awesome is that? If you're a US citizen, you'll need an updated US passport (one that won't expire within the next six months). And if you're a citizen of a foreign country, or a US citizen who plans to be traveling to China or some other country where a special visa photo is required, you're going to likely need a visa photo measured in millimeters.

That's where Newsome's Studio of Photography comes in. We are experts at producing customized passport and visa photos for all countries, regardless of size or specs. We've darn near seen it all, and we've got a great track record for making bureaucrats around the globe very happy.

Whether you need a 33x48mm Chinese Visa photo; a 35x45mm Australian passport photo, or a 50x70mm Canadian passport photo, we can take care of you in less than ten minutes. Just give us a call at 813-968-2810 and schedule yourself a ten minute appointment and get it right the first time!

DV Lottery Photo Photographer

It's that time again! November 17, 2017 is the deadline to submit your application for the Electronic Diversity Visa Lottery (aka DV Lottery).

You're going to need a passport size image that conforms to the size requirements similar to the US Passport, however, it isn't printed, it's submitted digitally, online only.

Essentially, that means you'll need to come to a photography studio (drug stores don't supply digital passport photos), and get a 600 pixel x 600 pixel JPEG, with your head sized properly for to their required specifications.

For your custom DV Lottery photo, all Tampa and St Pete area residents should call Newsome's Studio of Photography, located in Carrollwood (North Tampa) at 10012 N. Dale Mabry Hwy, Suite 219, Tampa (in Cypress Point Office Park, behind Starbucks at the corner of Linebaugh and N. Dale Mabry Hwy).

Call for an appointment, 813-968-2810.

Canadian Passport Photographer St Petersburg

To find a good Canadian Passport Photographer in St Petersburg or anywhere in the Tampa Bay area is no easy task. In fact, an incredible number of Canadians will travel from all over the state, some from as far away as Miami, Orlando, and Jacksonville just to find a professional photography studio like Newsome's Studio of Photography that can successfully create a Canadian Passport Photo.

After all, a 50x70mm image is a very precise measurement. The US passport photo is a 2x2 inch image, or 51x51mm metrically. A typical drugstore only has the ability to create the US size, not the metric Canadian passport size, so finding a quality passport photographer in St Pete or Tampa means finding Newsome's Studio!

In less than ten minutes, you will walk out with your finished images, precisely measured and cut to spec that conforms to the Canadian Consulate's requirements for a Canadian passport photo.

Located at 10012 N. Dale Mabry Hwy, Suite 219, Tampa, FL 33618 in Cypress Point Office Park at the corner of Linebaugh Ave and N. Dale Mabry Hwy (behind Starbucks, one block north of Busch Blvd).

Please call 813-968-2810 for an appointment.

In a World, Where Professional Passport Photographers Rule...

If I were King of the World...

• All drug stores would stick to selling hairspray and toothpaste. and forget trying to sell passport photos.
• All auto clubs would stick to selling car and travel insurance, and forget trying to take passport photos.
• All on-line websites that claim to be able to convert your poorly lit, out of focus, cell phone selfie into a passable passport photo for any country, would just go away - maybe just become telephone solicitors, because they're just as annoying.

When it comes to passport photos, they're rarely described as "art," however, there IS an art to nailing the proper specifications for creating an Australian passport photo that the Australian government will accept. Same with the Canadians. There's a bureaucracy in place that is guaranteed to confound most citizens into supplying the wrong photos for their foreign passport nearly every time. That's because foreign passport photos are not measured in inches (the common measurement of US passport images supplied by drug stores and auto clubs), they're measured in millimeters (the prevailing standard of measurement everywhere on the planet except the US). 

So, when it comes to obtaining a properly sized passport photo for anywhere - INCLUDING the US, you'd be best served contacting a PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER, not a dime store clerk or a travel agent!

Newsome's Studio of Photography - by appointment only - 813-968-2810.