The German photo specification is the clearest published anywhere, because it is not written down so much as drawn. The template - a diagram with measurement bands - is what photographers work from, and it makes the abstract numbers concrete.
What the template shows
On a 35 by 45 mm portrait it marks:
- A head-height band. Chin to crown between 32 and 36 mm, drawn as two lines rather than stated as a range.
- An eye-position band. A horizontal strip the eyes have to fall inside, measured from the bottom edge.
- Centering. The vertical axis of the face on the centre line of the frame.
- Headroom. The space above the crown, which follows from head height and eye position but is drawn anyway.
Seeing it drawn answers a question the prose version leaves open: the head is not centred in the frame. It sits low, with more space above the crown than below the chin, because the eye line is what anchors the composition.
Why the eye line anchors it
Biometric comparison starts by locating the eyes. Everything else - the distance between them, the position of the nose and mouth relative to them, the width of the face - is measured from that baseline. A specification that pins the eye line pins the part the system cares about most.
This is why two photos with identical head height can be one pass and one fail. Head height sets scale. The eye line sets position. Both are measured.
The rest of the German rules
| Rule | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Size | 35 × 45 mm |
| Head height | 32-36 mm |
| Background | Plain light grey, uniform |
| Expression | Neutral, mouth closed, looking at the camera |
| Glasses | Only without glare, tint or frame across the eyes |
| Sharpness | Sharp, correctly exposed, no retouching |
| Head coverings | Religious or medical only, face fully visible |
Hitting it without a photographer
The template is designed for a studio workflow - fixed camera, fixed backdrop, a print trimmed to the marks. At home the same result comes from the other direction: take a well-lit photo with room around the head, then crop to the template rather than trying to frame to it in the viewfinder.
- Plain wall, stand a metre from it, light from the front.
- Camera at eye level about a metre and a half away, held by someone else.
- Head straight, neutral expression, glasses off.
- Level the eyes first, then set head height, then check the eye band.
The German template is also the reference several other authorities modelled their rules on, so hitting it usually means hitting a good part of Europe at the same time - though never assume that without checking the specific consulate.
IDShot draws the same bands on the photo as guides with live measurements, and levels the eyes automatically - which is the step the studio workflow gets from a fixed camera and you have to do in software.
Requirements are changed by the authorities that publish them, and the official page is the only source that settles an argument. Each preset in IDShot links to that page, so you can confirm the current wording before you submit.