Renewed mine last year with DIY photos.
I think the photo approval system aims for perfection, but settles for “that’ll do” after the 4th upload.
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Thank you for your reply. I will have to try and do what everyone suggests… finding a smooth white background in an old house will be a challenge.
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Thank you for replying. I will have to go the DIY Route. Wish me luck.
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Hang a white sheet up if you have shadows or if your house has crépi, use that instead as long as its white/cream.
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Thank you for your reply Shiba. It will have to bee a sheet i think as the walls are a bit “rough”
That’s me buggered then, I am neither in the UK (and maybe never will be) or have a suitable phone.
So it looks like the white sheet route then. But what about my question above, who demands that I even have a passport? Is it the French, who have never in 25 years asked to see it, other than at ports, even with possession of an cds?
It doesn’t have to be a “smart” phone, you can use a tablet computer
I feel you don’t really know me @Mark , I do have a tablet as it happens but I never use it now because it is very slow and doesn’t do what I bought it for.
The best I could offer is to set the Nikon recording a video on the tripod with me in front of the white sheet, and then extract the best still.
But my question really is ‘do I need a passport and for whom and why?’
Thanks for your reply David. I took have no plans to visit the UK. But, if an emergency arises in the UK with the family i need one.
It is just in case.
You will need to keep a current passport David as required and especially when it comes to renewal of CDS time and all because of brexit I am afraid. I think it might be compulsory to have a current one but Jane Jones will probably confirm that and its a useful piece of ID too! I never intend to go back to the UK but I know I must a keep a passport current and also if I want to go elsewhere out of France.
Thank you for your reply Mark.
Yes I think so too, that it is compulsory, but just wondered why. Ironically I have been asked to show it once in all those years but that was before Brexit at a time when the French authorities in many places (it was all governed by prefectures in those days) refused to renew cds certs saying that they were no longer needed. Since Brexit and the cds has become universally obligatory again, it seems to be all that is needed for ID, so just wondered if the French demand their existence that’s all.
I’ll start the renewal process a couple of months before renewal date and see how it goes without stressing out about it. Funny though, if it is needed, what happens if it is demanded during the waiting period ?
My daughter, some years back had a thought of visiting us here but her passport had lapsed many years before and the authorities in the UK kept stalling, suspicious of her motives for not having one for so long and in the end she simply gave up, and still doesn’t have one.
If you did not have a passport, what would you use as your official ID (French identity card equivalent) for administrative matters? i do not think a residence permit or driving licence are acceptable as ID card equivalents in all situations but could be wrong.
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Yes I believe you are meant to have one as ID if you are from a country (like the UK) that doesn’t do national identity cards.
@David_Spardo your Nikon will do stills - can you get a neighbour to take a photo of you? Or the Panasonic camcorder I sent you will do them, if you haven’t passed it on to a deserving cause yet.
A white sheet will be fine as a background, or (easier) a sheet of white cardboard or foamboard BluTak-ed to the wall.
What’s needed for passport photos is flat, even light, so doing the photo outdoors on a cloudy day would work well. On a sunny day it can still be OK if you stand with your back to the sun, like this:
Or indoors facing an open door or window so that you are lit by flat light from the front:
(OK these are not passport photos but hopefully you get the general idea…)
If your camera or phone has a flash you can also try using that to get more even light:
(this one was taken using a studio flash in an umbrella but again it gives you an idea of what you are aiming for).
According to my local (UK) photographic shop ‘foreign’ codes are available to an authorised business and it’s where I got the Irish code on my photos. Perhaps asking a photo business if they use the code system would advisable? Photo booths do not use the code systerm
We have stone interior walls so I put a sheet of card on an easel.
It is several years now since I renewed my UK passport but I opted for a local 'photo shop/studio, they had no trouble applying UK codes to the 'photos. All went well in the application for a passport.
I think you are probably right but both my cds and driving licence have been accepted in the past but the latter has also been refused once. Passport never.
Yes I know the Nikon does stills but it is a one shot effort whereas a video provides me with a wide choice of the best available. I gave up photoing dogs years ago for this reason. The Panasonic is still here waiting for someone to, simply, work out how to transfer its efforts to the computer. 
When the time comes I might get a friend to snap me outside of our south facing white wall on a sunny day, while using the flash. Mind you that person is more than likely to be the friend who has, not one, but a selection of smarty phones. 
I wouldn’t object to the passport so much if it wasn’t necessary to send it away leaving me with no options at all for a time. I mentioned once before that, when they were issued in Paris I objected on the grounds that I was an international lorry driver. The answer was ‘can’t you ask the boss not to send you abroad?’ My answer was curt as that would be like asking for unpaid leave, but the time after that we opted to drive all the way to Peterborough to get them over the counter.
That sounds like a plan . I have an easel. Just need to source white card.
How can you say that photo booths do not use the code system? I have photos from a French photo booth with a code and the Passport Office told me that they could only accept codes from U.K. photo booths.