How to take a DV lottery photo with your phone
Updated · by Sentrue Labs
You don't need a studio
Photo shops charge for DV photos, but the requirements are well within what a phone camera can do. The entry needs a small 600 × 600 picture; any phone from the last ten years takes photos with many times that detail. What makes the difference is the setting - the wall, the light and the pose - and then preparing the file exactly.
Doing it at home also lets you take as many shots as you like and pick the best. If anyone else is in your entry, you can photograph the whole family in one session, each person separately.
Set up the wall and the light
- Find a plain wall. White or off-white, with no pictures, switches, door frames or patterns near your head. A sheet of white poster board taped to the wall works if no wall is plain enough.
- Step away from the wall. About half a metre to a metre in front of it stops your shadow from falling on it behind your head.
- Face a window. Soft daylight from the front lights the face evenly. Avoid a single ceiling lamp, which casts shadows under the eyes and nose.
- No direct sun and no flash. Both make harsh shadows and shiny skin. On a sunny day, use a window that doesn't get direct sunlight.
Hold the camera correctly
- Ask someone else to take it. Selfies are taken too close, which makes the face look distorted and the head too big for the frame.
- Distance: about 1 to 1.5 metres between the phone and your face.
- Height: the phone at the level of your eyes, held straight, not tilted up or down.
- Use the main camera, not the front one, and turn off portrait mode, beauty mode and filters.
- Leave space around you. Include your head, neck and the top of your shoulders, with some wall above your hair. You'll crop it to a square later, so a wider shot is better than a tight one.
Tap your face on the screen before taking the photo so the camera focuses on it, and take several shots - it's easier to choose the sharpest one afterwards than to set everything up again.
Pose, expression and clothing
- Face the camera straight on, with your shoulders square to it.
- Neutral expression with your mouth closed and both eyes open, looking into the lens.
- Take off glasses, hats and headphones. A head covering worn daily for religious reasons can stay, as long as your whole face is visible.
- Keep hair away from your eyes and the edges of your face.
- Wear normal everyday clothes in a colour that stands out from the white wall; avoid white tops and uniforms.
For a young child, sit them on an adult's lap and let the adult hold their shoulders, keeping the adult's hands and body out of the frame. Babies can be photographed lying on a plain white sheet, taken from directly above, with their eyes open.
Turn the photo into the right file
Your phone saves a large rectangular photo; the entry needs a small square one. The DV Lottery Photo Checker does the conversion without sending the photo anywhere:
- Open it in your phone's browser and tap Choose a photo (or Take a photo to use the camera from the page).
- Look at the first check. A camera photo will show Fix required for its size and file size; that's expected.
- Move and zoom the photo, and use Rotate if it's sideways. Then slide the three lines to the Top of hair, the Eyes and the Chin.
- When the head and eye checks both show Meets requirement, press Fix my photo.
- Read the Check these yourself list, tick each point, and download dv-photo-600x600.jpg.
The finished file is exactly 600 × 600 pixels and at most 240,000 bytes, saved at the best quality that fits. The tool never changes the background or your face; it only rotates, crops, resizes and re-saves.
When the check finds a problem
| What the check says | What to do |
|---|---|
| Head height outside 50–69% | Zoom in if the head is small, out if it's big. If zooming out isn't possible, retake from a little further away. |
| Eyes outside 56–69% from the bottom | Move the photo up or down until the eyes are in the green eye zone. |
| Background doesn't look plain | Retake in front of a plainer, whiter wall; don't edit the background. |
| Too dark or too bright | Retake facing a window in daylight, without flash or direct sun. |
| Looks black and white | Check that no filter or monochrome mode was on, and retake in colour. |
Lighting, background and colour are estimated from the pixels, so they show as Possible issue rather than a fail - use your own judgement too. For the full list of rules behind each check, see DV lottery photo requirements, explained.
Keep your photo private
A face photo for an immigration programme is personal data. Many photo websites upload it to their servers, and some keep it. SentrueFile's checker works entirely in your browser: the photo is read, cropped and saved on your phone, and cleared when you start over or close the tab. The privacy page explains exactly what is and isn't sent.
When you're ready, enter only at dvprogram.state.gov. Other sites may look official or offer to submit for you, and the official instructions on travel.state.gov warn against relying on them.
Questions
Can I take a DV photo with a selfie?
It's better not to. Selfies are taken too close, which distorts the face and often makes the head too large. Ask someone to take it from 1 to 1.5 metres away.
What colour should the background be?
Plain white or off-white, with nothing else in it. Stand a little away from the wall so your shadow doesn't fall on it.
Can I whiten the background with an app?
No. The instructions warn that a manipulated photo can make the entry ineligible. Retake the photo against a whiter wall instead.
How do I photograph a baby for the DV lottery?
Lay the baby on a plain white sheet and photograph from directly above, with the eyes open and no hands or toys in the picture.
Do I need to print the photo?
No. The entry asks for a digital photo file, which you upload on the official site.
Try it: DV Lottery Photo Checker - take or choose the photo and fix it to 600 × 600 on your phone.