It is extremely easy to take Photo ID pictures with today’s high quality digital cameras or webcams. Any basic digital camera will do the job adequately – you definitely don’t need a top of the range model.

However, you will certainly obtain more consistent, professional ID cards if you take the pictures under controlled conditions, rather than letting your employees submit their own pictures.

Since the ID pictures will be worn in plain view every day, you should try to obtain the best possible picture that you can. You should take several shots, since it won’t cost any more to get the best picture. With digital cameras, you can often show the person a preview of the photo on the camera’s LCD screen. Or, if you use a webcam, you can show the person the picture immediately on the computer screen. This way, the subject can approve his final picture.

Here are some guidelines to keep in mind when you take your pictures:

• Your camera probably has several quality settings. You may choose the ‘medium’ or ‘lower’ quality option, as photo ID shots are printed so small that it usually is not necessary to use the highest resolution. However, the higher the resolution, the better the outcome is likely to be!

• The resulting picture should have a minimum 300 dpi, or a minimum of roughly 400 pixels x 400 pixels. A common resolution which is available on most cameras is 640 x 480 pixels.

• Pose your subjects to take either a full face view (head-on) or a ¾ view (shoulders slightly turned left or right, but with the head facing the camera)

• Lighting is very important; lighting should be uniform and bright, without casting shadows. Natural light is best, but if you are using artificial lighting be sure it comes from several sources. Fill-in flash is often very effective, even in good lighting conditions, to eliminate shadows.

• If you do not have natural lighting available, halogen or incandescent light works best. Fluorescent lighting should be avoided.

• Background should be uniform and neutral: white or off-white is the most common. Solid blue or green backgrounds are often used by professionals, as these can be easily masked out. With a uniform background, the InstantCard software can be configured to render the background transparent if desired. Make sure the background fills the full frame of the picture behind the person.

• If you are taking pictures of many staff members, try to maintain a constant distance from all subjects. A good distance from camera to subject is approximately 6 feet.

• The camera should be placed at roughly the same height as the face of the subject. However, if the subject wears glasses, raising the camera slightly higher will avoid glare/reflection of the flash off the lenses of the glasses.

• Frame the picture to include the shoulders, and leave some room above the head. The InstantCard software will allow you to crop down the photograph to the final display size.

• Cameras create a file for each photo with the “.jpg” extension. Rename the .jpg picture to the person’s name and/or employee number, and move the picture into the ‘instantcard\photo’ directory on your computer.

Recommendation:
We strongly recommend that you take at least two or three pictures, then let your employee choose which photo they prefer. This will definitely create more “buy-in” into your ID card program!