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Photos for DV2010 Application

J

JayNak

Registered Users (C)
Hi DV Gurus,
Congraulations to all the winners so far, and wish the best for those awaiting interviews and outcome.

So.. my story!

I have been following posts on this site for a few months and have learnt alot from the experts...and ha given me a good insight in the whole DV process.


This year, after many years thinking we have decide to apply for the Dv lottery. My wife is Kenyan born and I am Indian born. So, we will be apply with my wife's eligiability.

I have through reading posts here, gathered alot of information that will help withthe application in October. But...how strict are they about the photos?

I have photos that are 300*300 pixals, and a file size of 25KB per picture, do you think this will be OK?

Any information will be much appreciated.

Regards
Jay
 
JayNak said:
I have photos that are 300*300 pixals, and a file size of 25KB per picture, do you think this will be OK?
Click to expand...

According to the new specifications the resolution has to be 600*600 pixels, so 300*300 will not be acceptable. (You may try to resize the picture to 600*600 but keep in mind that this also degrades the overall photo quality.)
 
Thanks TheAtheist,

I had the photos done at a studio, I will try and resize them and see how they look, I suppose they must look similar to that of the examples that are floating around on the web?

Do you know if the submission process also checks if the quality of the picture is OK? or does it just look for the properties of the picture and see that it matches the basic requirments?

Thanks in advance for your help

Jay
 
JayNak said:
I had the photos done at a studio, I will try and resize them and see how they look, I suppose they must look similar to that of the examples that are floating around on the web?
Click to expand...

I would be very cautious with those examples on the web. Most of the ones I've seen are taken from the US passport photo specifications where the size of the head does not have to satisfy the about 50% of the area of the photograph requirement. Besides, if you go to http://travel.state.gov/visa/guide/guide_3877.html, it also says the following at the bottom:

These digital photo requirements do NOT apply to the electronic Diversity Visa (DV) lottery application at http://www.dvlottery.state.gov/.
Click to expand...

(If you have the photos available in the original resolution you would be better off resizing those instead of resizing your current 300*300 picture.)

JayNak said:
Do you know if the submission process also checks if the quality of the picture is OK? or does it just look for the properties of the picture and see that it matches the basic requirments?
Click to expand...

The submission process only checks for technical aspects of the photo such as the resolution and the file size. It does not check for the content (e.g. if the picture is in focus or not), so being able to submit a picture does not mean that it satisfies all requirements.
 
Confused

TheAtheist said:
According to the new specifications the resolution has to be 600*600 pixels, so 300*300 will not be acceptable. (You may try to resize the picture to 600*600 but keep in mind that this also degrades the overall photo quality.)
Click to expand...

Hello The Atheist.
Pls how do I go about resizing to 600*600 pixels.I've tried many times using microsoft office picture manager but it kept proportionating to 450*600
Please help! I'm using a newly taken pix with my digital cam.In addition how do I do the same with a scanned pix.
Thanks.
 
resolution question

Hey, doesn't it say in the instructions on the photo official validator page, the the head should be 50-69% of the photo height? Stick to the guide lines there and you can't go wrong.

One thing it doesn't mention though, as far as I can see, is resolution. I know it needs to be 600px by 600px but how many pixels per inch should it be? At the moment my photo is 120 pixels per inch, making it 5 inches by 5 inches. Does printable size even matter at all?

On a side note, I have a pierced lip and I took out the ring for the photo just to be safe. Has anyone heard of a photo being rejected because of facial piercings?

Thanks, best of luck to all of you :)
 
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amputron said:
Hey, doesn't it say in the instructions on the photo official validator page, the the head should be 50-69% of the photo height? Stick to the guide lines there and you can't go wrong.

One thing it doesn't mention though, as far as I can see, is resolution. I know it needs to be 600px by 600px but how many pixels per inch should it be? At the moment my photo is 120 pixels per inch, making it 5 inches by 5 inches. Does printable size even matter at all?

On a side note, I have a pierced lip and I took out the ring for the photo just to be safe. Has anyone heard of a photo being rejected because of facial piercings?

Thanks, best of luck to all of you :)
Click to expand...

It depends on how many you have, and if they obscure your face, I would say ;). If it's limited to a couple of small ones, which would be the case for most people I guess, I wouldn't say say it's harmful to your chances. They don't talk about piercings and earrings in the photo requirements as far as I know, and I'm sure they are perfectly aware of the vast number of people with permanent facial decorations.
 
foto suggestions

we have played a bit with the tehnical specs of the DV 2010 lottery and we reached the conclusion that

if you set the dimension of the pic at 600 x 600 pixels and you choose the resolution of it at 300 dpi the size of the pic (printable) would be 2x2 inches :) which for us ranged a bell as it is the same printable format they wanted when printable was still ongoing

we had someone in US call KCC and talk more in detail this pic and someone from the KCC told our dude that the IDEAL pic would have those specs.

further more check the pic with photo validator to ensure the size in bytes is OK

the information presented above is our opinion and it is NOT an OFFICIAL statement of KCC of course

PS ... the picture has to have 24 bit depth of colour (TRUE COLOUR)
 
It looks ok expect the shadows. They clearly state they don't want shadows, but i don't know if they really take it as a big deal.
 
I also would like to add a question for future reference. On the photo instructions it says that no Digital enhancement is allowed. What does KCC mean by this clause.

I hear people changing brightness etc. of thier digitaly taken photos thru photoshop or some other software. Is this allowed?
 
Tigerman said:
I also would like to add a question for future reference. On the photo instructions it says that no Digital enhancement is allowed. What does KCC mean by this clause.

I hear people changing brightness etc. of thier digitaly taken photos thru photoshop or some other software. Is this allowed?
Click to expand...

You can actually give a little touch on the photo, but nothing so astronomic like Tazmania said, red eyes, squeezing etc...

If you see the photo is to dark or too bright you can fix it a little bit by the levels but no more then 5%. If changes starts to be big its better to take a new pic.
 
Thanks for the answer tazmania and aleck, I'm planning on taking the pictures myself next year when I apply but my trial shots have been dark/pale. (The ones I used this year were a bit low on light too but was a bit worried to auto-composure them not to get disqualified) So I believe I will be able to modify the pictures I take by changing the contrast,brigthness etc to be able to meet the regulations. This will not be considered enhancement. Am I right?

How will they know if its more than 5% or other. How does KCC understand it has been modified?
 
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