I didn't want to pay for her passport photo - so I went all out and it worked

A mum came up with a nifty idea after refusing to pay for her daughter to get a passport photo.

Fortunately we don’t have to get passport photos taken very often because it’s always a hassle and you invariably end up looking like your mug shot!

One savvy mum was determined not to trek with all three of her kids to an 'expensive' passport photo booth – she started taking her own snaps of Lyza Beau, 6, Lola Blu, 8, and 18-year-old Lilybelle.

"Doing it myself saved the kids being dragged to a photo booth and saved me £45 ($78)… it was definitely worth it,” she proudly declared.

The 41-year-old Londoner nailed it with her eldest two… but things didn’t go quite so well with little Lyz.

"When we tried inside we were getting told there were shadows on Lyza Beau's face and the background was too dark. I tried about 10 times but the system kept rejecting it,” she explained.

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A mum took a passport photo of her daughter in front on the of their discarded fridge on the footpath. Source: Kennedy News

"I took my daughter's passport photo on the footpath"

But then the cluey mum had a lightbulb moment.

"I thought that we needed natural daylight, but I couldn't think of anything for them to stand in front of, so I pulled our old fridge forward on the front,” she said.

"My daughter scowled as she knelt on the footpath"

"I didn't even think about going to the photo booth, I wanted to find a way to save time.

"Sometimes it's just about initiative, you don't have to pay £15 ($25) for a photo. If you need a white background, find one. It's as simple as that.

The hilarious image shows the young schoolgirl kneeling on the footpath, with the perfect scowl on her face as her mum took the frame with a perfectly white background.

The effort was worth it after the snap was rated 'good' by the passport portal and accepted immediately.

RELATED: How to apply for a passport for your baby

The mum tried at least 10 times before getting the perfect passport photo that was finally approved. Source: Kennedy News

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Mum's clever passport photo hack goes viral

Louise posted a picture of her clever technique on Facebook which has been shared more than 4 times, with commenters hailing the improvised photo shoot as 'genius', while some mums even claimed they'd give it a go themselves.

The cheeky mum joked that she could 'put the photo booth industry out of business' if her 'hack' catches on.

Needless to say, Louise is relieved the whole family now have renewed passports for their holiday in Egypt.

Originally published as I didn't want to pay for her passport photo - so I went all out and it worked