For decades, the photo booth was the only practical option for getting a quick set of compliant ID photos. Today, the calculation has changed: a modern smartphone produces better image quality than most high-street booths, and printing at home costs a fraction of the price. But a photo booth has genuine advantages in some situations. Here is a clear-eyed comparison of both options.
Photo booth: how it works and what you get
High-street photo booths — found in post offices, supermarkets, and train stations — are straightforward to use. You sit in the booth, follow the on-screen prompts to position your face, and the machine takes a series of shots. After processing (usually one to two minutes), a strip of printed photos is dispensed.
A typical UK photo booth produces four to six printed photographs per session. The prints are on glossy photo paper and are produced at the booth immediately — there is no waiting for a file, no need for a printer at home, and no cutting required. Most booths also have guidance screens to help you get the framing and expression approximately right, though they vary in how much guidance they provide.
Some modern booths — including those operated by Lloyds Pharmacy and certain supermarket chains — also offer a digital download option where the photo is sent to your phone as a file for digital submissions to GOV.UK.
Photo booth cost
The cost of a high-street photo booth in the UK is typically £6 to £9 per session, depending on the operator, location, and whether you want digital files in addition to prints. Some booths charge as much as £10–12 in central London. Each session produces four to six prints.
If you need photos for multiple documents — a passport and a driving licence, for example — or for multiple family members, that cost multiplies quickly. A family of four needing passport photos costs £24–36 at a photo booth.
Home printing: what you need
To print passport photos at home you need:
- A smartphone (any modern phone with a 12MP or better camera)
- A home printer (inkjet or laser, any model)
- Standard 80 gsm A4 bond paper
- Scissors or a craft knife and ruler
- A free online layout tool to create the correctly sized PDF
You do not need a photo printer, photo paper, specialist software, or any particular level of technical knowledge. The entire process takes around 10–15 minutes from taking the photo to holding a printed set.
Home printing cost
The costs for home printing are almost negligible:
- Paper: Standard 80 gsm A4 bond paper costs around 1–2p per sheet when bought in reams of 500.
- Ink: A full-page colour print at Best quality typically costs 3–8p in ink, depending on the printer and cartridge.
- Total per sheet: approximately 5–10p, producing 15–16 UK passport photos per sheet.
Per photo, that works out to under 1p — compared to roughly £1.50 per photo at a photo booth. For a family of four, that is approximately 40p at home versus £24–36 at a booth.
Quality: are home-printed photos as good?
For the purpose of passport and ID applications, yes. Modern inkjet and laser printers produce output that is indistinguishable from a photo booth print when using a high-quality image file at 300 DPI. HMPO and DVLA accept photos printed on standard bond paper — the paper does not need to be glossy photo paper.
The image quality of modern phone cameras exceeds the cameras used in most high-street booths. A photo taken carefully at home, with good natural light and a clean background, typically produces a sharper, better-lit result than a booth photo taken under the booth's artificial lighting.
The main quality risk with home printing is the print settings. Using "Fit to page" instead of "Actual size" in the print dialog scales the photos and makes them the wrong physical size. Using Draft quality rather than Best produces visibly lower quality. Both are easy to avoid once you know about them.
When a photo booth is the right choice
There are situations where a photo booth genuinely makes sense:
- You do not have a printer. Without a printer, home printing is not an option. Most UK post offices have printing services, but if you need prints immediately, a booth is the fastest solution.
- You need one or two photos, not a sheet of 15. For a single document, paying for a booth is more practical than printing a full sheet of which you will use only two photos and discard the rest.
- You need the photos in the next ten minutes. A photo booth dispenses prints immediately with no preparation required.
- You are not confident about compliance.Modern booths are designed to produce compliant photos. If you are uncertain about whether your home setup will produce an acceptable result, a booth reduces that risk — though it does not eliminate it, since booths also produce rejected photos (typically from expression issues or the operator's camera settings).
When home printing wins
Home printing is the better choice in the majority of situations:
- You need photos for more than one person or more than one document
- You have a printer at home
- Cost is a consideration
- You want to control the background, lighting, and expression rather than relying on a booth's automated guidance
- You need a digital file for an online submission as well as printed copies
Verdict
For most people in most situations, printing at home is the better option. The cost saving is significant, the quality is equal or better, and the process gives you full control over the final result. A photo booth makes sense only when you need prints immediately, do not have access to a printer, or are buying for a single document and the booth fee is easier than setting up the home process.
To print at home, use our free photo tool. Upload your photo, choose UK Passport size, select A4 paper, and download a print-ready PDF in under a minute. See the A4 printing guide for step-by-step instructions.