Take your Singapore IC Photo fast and easy

IC photo has to meet several official requirements in order to be accepted by the government. Those include the size of the IC photo, background, lighting and others. Below we have listed all the essential requirements a Singapore IC photo has to meet. However, you can also simply use our IC photo editor, and the bulit-in AI algorithm will verify whether your photo can be used in the IC application.

Singapore IC photo Size & Quality

If you want to apply for a Singapore IC (Identity Card) you should know you need to submit a biometric photo within the application. Singapore IC photo must meet the following biometric standards on size and quality:

• Photo size must be 35 mm x 45 mm in printed format or less than 2 MB in digital format.
• Photo digital dimensions must be 400 px x 524 pixels.
• Photo resolutions should not exceed 600 dpi.
• The photo is required to be printed on high-quality paper.
• Inside the photo, the applicant’s head must cover 70-80% of the total photo. The space left is reserved for the upper part of the shoulders.
• The photo must have been taken no more than 3 months before the document request.

Singapore NRIC photo: Background & Lighting

The background is very important when it comes to Singapore IC photos. The only background color accepted is white and it also needs to be plain. Hence, uneven lighting or any kind of pattern will make the authorities reject your photos.

Lighting in the photo must be uniform, so please make sure that no shadows are covering your facial features. Talking about lighting, it is important to not be underexposed or overexposed, since this could create glares or black spots on your face.

You can easily get even lighting and uniform background with an online photo tool.

Singapore Identity Card photo: Facial Expression & Head Position

Rules about facial expression are strict for Singapore IC photos. You cannot smile nor show your teeth in your Singapore Identity Card photo and your eyes need to be well opened. In this case, your photo will be immediately rejected. We suggest you relax your facial muscles and just have a neutral facial expression.

As for the position of your head, you should directly look at the camera without tilting your head. Try to keep a fully frontal view in order to get your photo accepted.

Singapore IC photos: Headwear & Accessories

You are not allowed to wear headwear on your Singapore IC photo. Specifically, you are not allowed to wear hats, hoodies, or caps just for fashion. Instead, there is an exception for headwear used for medical or religious reasons. Nonetheless, you need to make sure that it doesn’t cover any part of your face.

As for accessories, it is forbidden to wear sunglasses, large earrings, headbands, or anything that might cover your face as well. Instead, you are allowed to use prescription glasses if you use them daily. In this case, just make sure that your glasses’ rims are not thick and that lenses are not tinted. At the same time, the use of flash is not advised if you are going to wear glasses on your Singapore IC photo since this could create glares or shadows.

Singapore NRIC photo: Dress Code

Even though there are no specific guidelines about what to wear on the Singapore IC photo, we can give you some advice. Since the Singapore Identity Card is an official document, you should not wear elegant or extravagant clothes; instead, you should have a casual look. Another piece of advice regards the color of your clothes. It is recommended that you wear some dark clothes so that this will create a sharp contrast with the light background.

Singapore Identity Card photo: Frequent Mistakes

It happens very often that people don’t meet the photo requirements for the Singapore NRIC photo and, eventually, their photo is rejected. To not make this happen, below you will find the list of the most common mistakes and some advice to not making them:

• Uneven lighting - it is advisable to stand in front of a window during the morning or the afternoon. Indeed, you are suggested using the daylight and not the flash of your camera. In this way, your face is likely to be evenly lit.
• Tilted head or chest - make sure that you are standing directly in front of the camera. You cannot tilt your head or your chest.
• Smiling - you cannot smile in your Singapore IC photo. Try to relax your facial muscles and have a neutral facial expression.
• Photo editing - don’t ever edit your photo with filters. The picture must reflect your real look and it must look natural.
• Blurred photo - make sure that the photo is well-focused and clear. It cannot be grainy or obscured. The contrast between the subject and the background must be sharp.
• Low-quality photo - to snap your photo make sure that your camera has at least 2 megapixels. For printed photos, use high-quality printing paper.
• Uploading an old photo - for your Singapore Identity Card, the photo must have been taken within 3 months from the application date.

How to take a Singapore IC photo at home

If you are wondering how you can get a photo for your Singapore Identity Card that meets all the biometric requirements without wasting time and money, we suggest you take the photo directly from home! Here you will find everything you need to do to shoot the photo by yourself:

• Find a digital professional camera or a smartphone with a high-resolution camera, it is not advisable to take selfies, so please use the external camera of your phone.
• Find someone that can take you the picture or use a tripod.
• Meet all the requirements mentioned above. Hence, take your photo during a sunny day in order to use the sunlight. Find a white and plain background, pose properly, etc.
• Take as many photos as you want until you find the one that likes you the most.
• Upload your photo in a professional online photo editor such as Photo AiD and wait for a couple of seconds until the software based on Artificial Intelligence corrects your photo. In a few seconds, you will get the perfect photo for your Singapore IC!

Singapore IC photo app available for iOS and Android

A lot of things have changed during the last decades. Nowadays, technological advancements allow us to not waste time and money that we were used to wasting before! Thanks to online developers that you can easily find on platforms such as the Apple Store for iOS or Google Play for Androids you will be able to create the perfect photo for your identity card in a couple of seconds, without committing any mistake!

You can access the service both through the official Photo AiD web page or through the smart app available on the previously mentioned platforms. Thanks to the use of AI, you can be sure you won’t waste time and money but also that your Singapore IC photo will perfectly meet all the requirements.

With Photo AiD you can take as many photos as you want until you find the best one and, in the end, you will only pay for the one that you got. Once you upload it to the server, the photo will be cropped and resized, the background will be removed, and so on!

Sources:

https://www.ica.gov.sg/photo-guidelines