DV 2011 Photo Requirement Dilemma

[iamhopeful]

An extract from the state gov official website (please note the underlined):

Please refer to the Instructions for the 2011 Diversity Immigrant Visa Program (DV-2011) for technical specifications and compositional specifications for the digital image. You will use one of the following methods to enter the image into eDV:

•Take a new digital image.
•Use a digital scanner to scan a submitted photograph.
Specific instructions are included for both methods.
Photograph File Name

Photo Requirements
The submitted image must adhere to the following specifications. Photographs submitted must be a recent photograph, taken within the last 6 months. Please be advised that failure to comply with any of the following requirements may result in disqualification from the lottery.

Image Acquisition
•The image file may be produced by acquiring an image with a digital camera or by digitizing a paper photograph with a scanner.
•Digital enhancement or other alterations or retouching are not permitted.
•The original aspect ratio of the image must be preserved. (No image stretching is allowed.)
Compositional Specifications
Content

•The image must contain the full face, neck, and shoulders of the entrant in frontal view with a neutral, non-smiling expression and with eyes open and directed at the camera.
•The image must not contain any parts of the body below the entrant's shoulders.
•The image must not include other objects or additional people.
•Entrant must be vertically oriented in the image.
•The image must be from a recent (within 6 months) photo of the entrant.
Head Position

•Subject must directly face the camera.
•Head must not be tilted up, down, or to the side.
•The head height (measured from the top of the head, including the hair, to the bottom of the chin) must be between 50% and 69% of the image’s total height. The eye height (measured from the bottom of the image to the level of the eyes) should be between 56% and 69% of the image's height. The diagram below shows these measurements on a correctly-proportioned image.
____________________________________________________________________________________________

Here comes my headache:

Case 1 - There is no where stated that the photos must be 600 by 600. Assuming it must, then how do we resize a photo but simultaneously keep its aspect ratio?

Case 2 - If it musn't be 600 by 600, my current photo is 2.4 MB, yes MB, how do I redue it to 286 kb?


Someone please advice. I am getting very worried.......

 

[iamhopeful]

And my current photo is 2736 px x 3648 px with an aspect ratio of 3/2. How do I make it 600 x 600 without altering the aspect ratio?!!!

Almost impossible

 

[erivas]

And my current photo is 2736 px x 3648 px with an aspect ratio of 3/2. How do I make it 600 x 600 without altering the aspect ratio?!!!

Almost impossible

No it's not. If you have photoshop, you can make a 600 x 600 image. I made some easy instructions for creating the photographs for the lottery. http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?t=304416

If you don't have photoshop, you can crop the image with any image editing software until you have the correct size.

Good luck

 

[E59th]

Depends on which photo editor you use. If it's Photoshop, you need to use the regular square selection tool, and hold the shift key while you make the selection. This will give you a perfectly square selection. Cut the image and paste it as a new image. Go to image > image size. You can set the width and height of the image according to the requirements. Make sure you lock the aspect ratio, so that you will keep your perfect square (normally, it's locked anyway, indicated by the little chain in between height and width). When you save the image you can also set the quality and it will give you a preview of the image size. Mine was just under 240 kb at image quality 11, but of course that completely depends on the photo and the initial quality.

Secondly, the requirements DO specifically state the pic needs to be 600 x 600 px. In fact, they say that 600 x 600 is a minimum, meaning you can send in one that is 750 x 750 px as long as it is smaller than 240 kb. However, some people have had trouble getting a larger pic past the photo validator, so I would leave it at an exact 600 x 600 px.

Good luck!

 

[iamhopeful]

That was most helpful E59th!!!

Everything sounds logical now. Can I then ask you, what is this regular square selection tool. I can't seem to locate it in PS.

And sorry erivas, your link is not at all helpful

 

[Samusoni]

The challenge here is that we don't know if KCC checks to see if the photos were modified (ie the backgrounds, for example). I would be at peace if I know JUST ONE previous winner, who entered with a modified photo...especially during the past two years. BTW, resizing and croping are not modifications, but IMHO background chnanges, are.

Does anyone know any previous winners who entered with modified photos?

 

[E59th]

That was most helpful E59th!!!

Everything sounds logical now. Can I then ask you, what is this regular square selection tool. I can't seem to locate it in PS.

And sorry erivas, your link is not at all helpful

I'm sorry, officially it's called the Rectangular Marquee Tool. In PS4 (and probably versions 3 and 2 as well) it is the second item on the vertical main menu on the left. If it shows a circle tool, you can change it back to rectangular by right clicking it.

 

[E59th]

The challenge here is that we don't know if KCC checks to see if the photos were modified (ie the backgrounds, for example). I would be at peace if I know JUST ONE previous winner, who entered with a modified photo...especially during the past two years. BTW, resizing and croping are not modifications, but IMHO background chnanges, are.

Does anyone know any previous winners who entered with modified photos?

Don't do it unless you have advanced Photoshop skills. Trust me, the people at KCC checking all those 7,5 million applications and pictures are probably not the brightest stars out there... Have you seen the example they give on digital alteration? They gave the guy a beard which was pretty much doodled on there like Perez Hilton draws hearts and male genitalia on celebrity pics

 

[ak27]

OP, I used photoscape and pixreziser (both free programs) to get my photo to the 600x600 requirement. What I did first was use the editor in photoscape to resize the photo to a perfect square. After I saved the resized photo from photoscape, I used pixresizer to get the photo down to 600x600 pixels.

 

[Samusoni]

Don't do it unless you have advanced Photoshop skills. Trust me, the people at KCC checking all those 7,5 million applications and pictures are probably not the brightest stars out there... Have you seen the example they give on digital alteration? They gave the guy a beard which was pretty much doodled on there like Perez Hilton draws hearts and male genitalia on celebrity pics

Two possibilities:

• What if they only check the selected entries and disqualify them if they detect and alteration.
• What if they use some software to read the header information to check if there have been modifications? My Zoom Browser EX software gives all the information about a digital photo; like when it was taken (time and date), the shutter speed, whether flash was used or not, when was it modified last, and what software was used to modify it.

I have Photoshop CS3. I am not a Guru with it by all means (I actually use Gimp most of the time), but I successfully used your advice about Quick Select and maged to change the background and it looks good. My only concern is if KCC picks up my changes, then I lose. I will have peace of mind if I find just 1 person who won, after "photoshoping" their enties.

BTW, with this paranoia, I actually photoshoped some photos, and then printed them, and then scanned them again...that way, I feel more confident that I can get away with it

 

[Rom@n]

Hi, sometimes and somewhere I read that the ears must be free of hair?

But in the official requirements I can't read something about that. Also the women on the example pictures have covered their ears. For example in Germany ears must be free of hair when taking pictures for the passport.

I took a picture with hair covered ears, I have longer hair, and would use that pic.

Thanks

Roman

 

[iamhopeful]

Hey E59th, thanks again! I got it all done.

But the only problem was that I used picassa "quick fix" and made my picture brighter because it was dull. Will they be able to detect such a change?

Is it a big cause of worry?

Samusoni, I just check Zoom Browser EX and I found that it is only applicable to your camera and perhaps the pictures taken by your camera, right?

Oh yes, how do I check whether a digital photo is 24 bit colour?

 

[iamhopeful]

Hi Roman,

I think hair in the ear is not a big cause of concern since it's no where stated in the official instructions.

In short, it should be fine as long as the hair do not obscure your facial features...but as you know hair in the ear can hardly grow long or uneven enough to block any of your facial features.

I am no expert in this, just my two cents worth.

 

[Rom@n]

But the only problem was that I used picassa "quick fix" and made my picture brighter because it was dull. Will they be able to detect such a change?

Is it a big cause of worry?

In my view, as long as it does not look like the contrast too high or over-exposed expamples in the photo validator pages it may be ok.

Oh yes, how do I check whether a digital photo is 24 bit colour?

Either open it in IrfanView or any photo editor and look for a information or properties button or press the right mouse button to access the properties menu of the picture, there go to the last tab which is something like info and to access the info you are looking for press the advanced button and you get the properties of the pic. There you see also the type of camera which was used to take the picture, the date, the size and so on.

Roman

 

[E59th]

Two possibilities:

• What if they only check the selected entries and disqualify them if they detect and alteration.
• What if they use some software to read the header information to check if there have been modifications? My Zoom Browser EX software gives all the information about a digital photo; like when it was taken (time and date), the shutter speed, whether flash was used or not, when was it modified last, and what software was used to modify it.

I have Photoshop CS3. I am not a Guru with it by all means (I actually use Gimp most of the time), but I successfully used your advice about Quick Select and maged to change the background and it looks good. My only concern is if KCC picks up my changes, then I lose. I will have peace of mind if I find just 1 person who won, after "photoshoping" their enties.

BTW, with this paranoia, I actually photoshoped some photos, and then printed them, and then scanned them again...that way, I feel more confident that I can get away with it

Impossible if you cut and paste from the original image because then you create a new canvas with brand new properties (and you go from a .psd project to a .jpg when you save). And yes it's going to say Photoshop in the extended properties. But even if you just resize, it will say the same thing.

 

[yahayajp]

helo guyz. we got the pictures to 600X600 but is stil coming up more 24kb.any idea how to reduce that?

 

[Rom@n]

Hi,

Impossible if you cut and paste from the original image because then you create a new canvas with brand new properties (and you go from a .psd project to a .jpg when you save). And yes it's going to say Photoshop in the extended properties. But even if you just resize, it will say the same thing.

gener
ally speaking do you (everyone) think the guys at the lottery will check the extended properties to see if there stands made by photoshop or canon?
I don't think so.

helo guyz. we got the pictures to 600X600 but is stil coming up more 24kb.any idea how to reduce that?

Try to play with the dpi. In the scanned photo requirements it says 150dpi, try this with the taken pic too.

Roman

 

[E59th]

Hi,


gener
ally speaking do you (everyone) think the guys at the lottery will check the extended properties to see if there stands made by photoshop or canon?
I don't think so.
Roman

Me neither. Some people read way too much into the requirements and think of KCC as CIS Kentucky. Let's face it, checking all these applications is a humongous task, but not exactly something that requires a great deal of intellect. Plus, DV cannot cost the American government money or precious time, so don't expect your photo to be hawk-eyed by some forensic expert on digital imagery. I'm pretty sure I stand an equal chance of getting a letter if I submit a 600 x 600 px picture of Madonna or the Pope.

 

[iamhopeful]

Haha. Good one E59th.

I just checked..in the requirements, there's no need for picture to be 24 bit colour. I think like what you said, as long as it looks "natural," it's ok right?

 

[Rom@n]

...there's no need for picture to be 24 bit colour....

Sorry iamhopeful, 24-bit is a must, even a scanned pic.

Roman