12 reasons a DV photo gets rejected

Some failures are a file problem you can fix in a minute. Others need a new photograph. This is how to tell them apart before you waste an hour.

Troubleshooting · 8 min read

A rejected photo feels like one problem. It is really three kinds of problem, and they cost very different amounts of effort. A file problem takes a minute. A framing problem sometimes takes a crop. A content problem takes a new photograph, and no software can honestly do it for you.

Work through the list in order. The cheap fixes come first on purpose.

File problems: reasons 1 to 3

These have nothing to do with how you look. They are properties of the file, and changing them does not change the picture.

1. Not exactly 600×600 pixels

The entry upload expects a square image of exactly 600×600. A phone photo is neither square nor that size. Resize and crop to 600×600. Nothing about your face changes.

2. Over 240 KB, or crushed past 20:1

Two failures hide here. The obvious one is a file over the limit. The quiet one is a file under the limit that got there by brutal compression: the ratio passes 20:1 and blocks appear around the eyes and hairline. Resize to 600×600 first, then save at JPEG quality 85–95. The file usually lands well under 240 KB on its own.

3. Wrong format, or greyscale

The entry takes JPEG. An iPhone often saves HEIC, and a screenshot is usually PNG. Convert to JPEG. Also check the photo is in colour: a black-and-white portrait fails even if everything else is right.

Framing problems: reasons 4 to 7

Here a crop sometimes rescues the photo and sometimes cannot. The rule is simple: a crop can only remove, never add.

4. Head fills more than 69% of the height

This is the most common framing failure and the least fixable. To shrink the head in the frame you need image outside the current edges, and that image does not exist. If the top of the hair is already close to the top edge, retake from further away.

5. Head fills less than 50% of the height

The opposite case, and the good one. There is spare image around you, so cropping in raises the head percentage. A waist-up photo usually becomes compliant with one crop.

6. Eyes outside the 56–69% band

Eye level is measured up from the bottom edge, so it moves when you crop. Eyes too low often means the camera was above you. If there is room at the bottom of the frame, cropping the bottom raises the eye line. If there is not, retake with the camera at your eye level.

7. Head off-centre or tilted

An off-centre head is a crop away from correct. A tilted head is not: rotating the image would leave empty corners and count as an alteration. Retake and keep your shoulders level.

Content problems: reasons 8 to 12

Nothing here can be fixed honestly. Any tool that claims otherwise is editing the photo, which creates a bigger problem than the one it solves.

8. Background not plain, or a shadow on it

A door frame, a patterned wall or a curtain edge all fail. So does a plain white wall with your own shadow on it. Stand about a metre away from the wall and face a window; the distance and the frontal light remove the shadow. Do not reach for background removal — see the AI photo ban.

9. Glasses or headgear

Glasses are not accepted, with or without glare, prescription or not. Hats and headbands fail too. Daily religious head covering is the one exception, and your full face must still be visible.

10. Smile with teeth, eyes closed, or looking away

A neutral expression means a closed mouth and a relaxed face. Blinking counts as closed eyes. Looking slightly past the lens counts as looking away, and it is easy to do when someone else is holding the camera.

11. Photo older than six months

The photo must be recent, and the file usually records when it was taken. Reusing a photo from a previous entry fails on two counts at once: age, and the rule against submitting the same image again.

12. Edited by AI, a filter or retouching

Background replacement, skin smoothing, beauty filters and AI enhancement are all alterations. Portrait mode belongs here too, because the blur is computed rather than photographed. Shoot in the standard photo mode and leave the result alone.

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