Comparison of FREE Passport Photos
Websites

There are some free websites which revolutionized the printing of passport
photos. ePassportphoto.com comes on the top followed by www.potraitbooth.com.

What is good about these free websites?

• The biggest benefit is that ePassportphoto.com and www.potraitbooth.com help you convert your digital photos in to passport photos for free. You upload your digital photos and they give you back a 4×6 print format
  with multiple photos on it.
• This is a very quick process. Probably 3 clicks and you are done.

Here are some problems with using FREE Passport Photo services:

• No offense, but being in the passport photo business and having seen portrait photos taken by thousands of people, we estimate that barely 10% to 20% of the photos taken by users with their digital camera have the exposure, background, contrast needed to make valid and nice passport
  photos. There is no statistics available but there must be a significant rate of rejection for photos created with help from such free websites.
• Shadows by flash. Most cameras fire flash when you take photos
  in house and that in 95% of the situations creates undesired shadows of the head on the background. Most passport photo requirements specifically ask you to submit photos without shadows. (Our tip: It is always recommended to use full service online passport photo services like http://www.onlinepassportphotos.com
  who digitally remove the shadows from the photos or will advise you how to avoid shadows while taking photos. This will almost eliminate any chances of rejections for your passport or visa application.)
• Foreign passport/visa photos: Most countries have their own passport/visa
  photo requirements. If that is not enough, different consulates of the same country have sometimes very different requirements for passport photos. As an example, the OCI (Overseas Citizenship of India) application if submitted at San Francisco Consulate of India or New York Consulate of India will ask you to submit 2×2 inch photos but if you are submitting your application to Houston Consulate of India or Chicago Consulate of India, you will be asked to submit 35mm x35mm photos (which is like
  1.3x 1.3 inch)! If the size issue wasn’t enough, some consulates ask for Colored background and some require White or White-like background only even if the photos are to be used for the passport/visa application for the same country!!With FREE Passport photo websites like ePassportphoto.com
  and www.potraitbooth.com, you will miss out these fine details but using full service OnlinePassportPhotos.com, you will leave such worries behind as they take care of such details for you.
• Most free passport photos sites like ePassportphoto.com and www.potraitbooth.com
  require you to upload a file within only acceptable file sizes. If your photo file is too big or too small, the sites will reject your photos outright.

Ask yourself these questions:
* What is the primary use of the camera you are buying? (photos of kids, friends and family, using it mostly while traveling/vacation, taking photos is a hobby, passionate about photography, etc)
* What will be the primary use of the photos you will be taking (Share them with family and friends online, print them and put them in album or hang them on the wall, Get wows- great feedback from viewers for your photos, make money with photos you take, etc)
* What is important in your camera purchase (price, image quality, camera size, brand-name, HD-Video, something special- what is it?-, etc)

Every digital camera is a small computer- a computer with hardware as well as software. When we buy a computer, we pay attention to hardware first (CPU speed, memory, graphic card etc) and then to software (operating system, browser, word processing, etc.)
Same thing goes with a digital camera.

In my opinion, try to look for the best hardware in your camera. Besides its built quality, look and feel, the most important parts in a digital camera are- Sensor (type and size) and lens. Try to buy a camera with large enough sensor. The larger the sensor, the better image quality and more situations where your camera can work. Same thing about lens. The bigger the better. Have you seen most compact and subcompact cameras do a miserable job with a night shot or a low light situation? or in an action shot? Have you seen them fail miserably when you are tying to shoot your son’s basketball game or your daughter’s soccer game? These are the situations when a tiny sensor and a small lens can’t do much for you.
Above these two important hardware pieces are the software parts which manipulate what the ‘the light passing through the lens in x amount of time with (xxx iso) sensitivity and falling on the sensor’ has captured. The digital processing adds brightness, contrast, sharpness, etc. Remember you can play with all these things with Photoshop or free software like Picasa.  I am not trying to underestimate the importance of the software part of the camera.  I am just saying that if you do not like something in the photo you took with your camera, you cay most of the time fix that in your computer with software provided with your camera or with free software like Picasa. You can also buy some software like Photoshop CS or Portrait Professional that will let you do so many things.

So here is my camera buying guide:

1. Compact cameras: Cameras you can keep in your pocket or purse. They have 3 to 4x zoom.
Great fit for:
* Portability- keep in your purse or pocket so you can shoot a photo whenever you want.
* Works great if all your photos are taken with ample day light.
* Most of the photos are of people/faces
* The use of the photos are for uploading on facebook or Picasa to share with family and friends

These cameras cost from $50 to $200.
Personal hint:  Do not spend more than an hour in deciding which camera to buy.  Save time in research.  You do not need more than 6MP camera in most situations.

2. Compact Camera with ultra-zoom. The zoom is from 10x to 20x

* These cameras are easy to carry but sorry, you can not fit them in your pocket.
* So if you like to go out in the nature and you like to travel, then I would recommend you to buy this cameras instead of tiny cameras.
* Usually they have better/bigger lens than the compact cameras so their picture quality is normally better.
My personal favorites: Panasonic cameras with Leica lens.

(to be continued)

OnlinePasssportPhoto.com offers millions of immigrants in the USA and people around
the world opportunity to get passport photos in any size with any peculiar requirements
required by most countries around the world.

Unlike most places where Passport photo costs around 3 to 5 dollars per copy, “Online Passport Photos” offers
better quality prints to your doorstop for less than a dollar per copy. 

 It has been very difficult for immigrant families to get photos in size required by consulates of their
own countries. As an example, India needs 35x35mm photos for OCI or Passport applications. (If this
is not enough, Indian consulate asks for color background for OCI photos but white/light background for Indian
Passport photos.) Europe, Korea required 35mmx45mm photos. Japan Passport photos need to have 2-6mm open area above top of face.
This has been a nightmare for many families to get photos in these odd sizes. We have seen families
pay around $20 for 2 photos to local 1-hour labs to have custom-made photos so they can renew their passport or obtain Visa for some country. Not any more.

(If your countries is not listed below, click here and tell them the requirements of your country and they will help you out at one of the lowest rates around.)

USA

Schengen (European) Visa Photos

Australia Passport Photos

Canada

  Canada Citizenship photos

  Canada Visa Pictures

  Canada Immigration Photos

China

  China Passport Photos

  China Visa Photos

Germany Passport Photos

India

  Overseas Citizenship of India- OCI Photos

  Person of Indian Origin- PIO Card (India)

  Indian Passport Photos

Japanese Passport Photos

Korean Passport Photos

Mexico Passport Photos

Most of us look around to find best deals these days. Here is a comparison of Passport Photo prices
at most popular retails stores. The first column lists the retailer name which is followed by their passport photo package prices, number of photos provided and per passport photo price.

There is a link provided if you want to go directly to the Passport Photo Sevice provided of
your choice.

*Rates are as of March 10, 2009 based on our quick search on the Internet. They are rounded for
easy comparison. They are subject to change any time by the provider. They are produced here only for comparison purposes. For current rate at a specific provider, please contact them directly.

This deal is available to people who have airline miles- frequent Flier account- with an airline. As of the moment, we know this works with United Miles. Go to United Reward Website or talk to the customer service agent on the phone and tell them that you are looking to redeem your miles for Newspaper/magazine subscriptions. Most of the time, they have Wall Street journal subscription available. Or, read below….

As of this writing, you can subscribe to 39 weeks of Wall Street Journal home delivery (which also includes free online access to WSJ Web Site) for 3300 United Airline miles!

Don’t have United Miles?
No worries. You can apply for United Mileage Plus VISA card and get up to 21,000 free miles! Click here for details about this UNITED MILEAGE PLUS VISA card offer.

Like live agents than to click on a link? Call United Mileage agent at 877-273-7138 and tell that you are referred by Mileage account# 03166200660 under “Help a friend earn up to 20,000 miles”.

This will last for almost a lifetime of free Wall Street Journals subscription!*

*subject to continuation of this promotion of course and expiration of miles…

(Do you know the math for Airliner Frequent Fliers miles? Every mile is usually worth 1 Cent! So 3300 miles is worth $33. This is the best value for the miles you have in your frequent flier program.)

How to get this deal? Click here to go the webpage with images:

Click on this link to visit http://www.newspaper-miles.com/

Check the Redeem Miles box and enter your Zip Code and Click Go.

You will see your local newspaper as well as Wall Street Journal offer. Click on the SELECT button next to the offer you like and you are good to go.

best online deals- “best money tips“

Well, this is meant to be my gift of $100000 to you. Surprised? Worried? Doubtful? Don’t worry. This is not a scam. I am not going to ask you to make any payment anywhere on this website. Everything is free. Even the $100,000.

I am born and brought up in India. Then moved to the USA- first to do my MBA and then to settle down (In between, I founded and managed an investment services company in India). I am in the USA for around 10 years in total. I have learned a lot (and am still learning) about how US economy- the most advanced and most competitive- works. That is during my MBA as well as during living with my family in California. If you do not know, I am also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) from the CFA Institute which I believe is the most ethical organizations of financial professionals around the world. If you are familiar with CFA charter, I am sure I have your 100% trust and confidence. This website is not a scam. Let me repeat.

On 100000foryou.com, I am going to attempt to help an average American family save or make around 100,000 dollars. (Frankly speaking, I do not know if I have things for you that add up to $100000 for you at this time. Today I thought about creating a website to share my money tips with the world and have just registered the domain name 100000foryou.com. However, I am seriously going to share all my knowledge, wisdom, tricks to make you more wealthy and your life a more pleasure. April 07,2008.)

Unlike most MBAs, project managers or authors who believe in planning first, I am a doer. I like to start doing it. Just do it- I like Nike for it. I know my goal: that is to help you with 100000 dollars worth of savings. If I can make it happen, I would pat on my back. If I fail, to whatever extent I could help you, please take it as my gift alongwith my apologies for creating false expections in minds of readers like you. Also, everything on this website is not my brainchild nor are my own ideas. The life is a journey and whatever comes along it, I like to take it for my personal benefit and to share with people like you. With that spirit in focus, I am going to share my tips, knowledge, smartness (if there is any), wisdom on this website. Said that, if you have something that can help me reach to my $100,000 target, please share it with me for the benefits of fellow Americans.You will be given full credit for your ideas.

Born in India, I was brought up in a society/ulture that never liked debt. Now living in the USA, I could not avoid debt for long time. I gave a tough fight but when I bought my home, I had to have a debt.

Surprisingly in the USA, there are two numbers very important for you: Naturally, the first number, is your Social Security Number and the second one is your average credit score. (There are three consumer credit rating companies so you have 3 credit scores as such but average score is the one that counts.). Social Security Number (SSN) is a boring number; once you get it, you are stuck with it for your life but credit score is a real fun game. There are so many strategies out there on talk-shows, in books, in magazines and on the Internet that teach you how to improve your score. There is one Credit Score expert around you wherever you happen to be- usually within 10 feet of you or only 10 digits away! Talk to 3 people around you in a gathering or at workplace, or talk to any 3 friends, and I bet you one of them would give you some solid tips on credit scores! I am just trying to highlight how much our attitude has changed towards debt.

Most of us living in the USA pay Mortgage payment every month. It is part of the American dream- dream of owning a home. That not only gives you a home, but helps American economy in a big way. When you purchase, usually 6% of that amount is paid to brokers, around $5000 gets paid in terms of closing costs to variety of parties, when you sell, there is another 6% paid to brokers, and then every year, around 1 to 2% gets paid in the form of property taxes to state and local governments. Knowing or unknowingley, each of home buyer is doing a lot of good to the American society and contributing his/her dues to maintaining standards of living in the USA. We embrace this mortgage debt on the wonderful selling point of Internal Revenue Service (IRS)- “deduction of mortgage interest”! This whole cycle works very well- for you as well as for others.

Anyway, the purpose of this page is to play around with some numbers and to do some financial math that can help you save some money.

TRICK 1: Mortgage payment voucher comes in the mail every month with a due date of 1st of the month but did you know that you usually get 15 days of grace period to make your payment? I believe most of us pay on the 1st itself. We don’t care of 15 days worth of holding onto our monthly mortgage payment. Now if you decide to delay your payment by 15 days each month, what kind of benefits do you have? Most of you would immediately tell me that it is not worth the trouble. But if you get into details, I am sure you will get surprised.

If you don’t care about paying 15 days late, I am sure you can stretch yourself and pay 15 days earlier too. I mean to say that if you are planning to pay your next mortgage payment on say 1st of May, please pay it on 15th of April instead and then on every 15th of the month. Now the payment you make on 15th of April, mark it as payment towards your principal. Do you know how much wonders this will do overall?

Let us run some numbers on the following scenario:

Assume this is your mortgage:

You are supposed to pay 2398 every month till January 2038:

Now instead of paying on the 1st, you change to pay it on 14th of the month and somehow squeeze in one payment by paying it early towards your principal.

Do you know that this “don’t care of 15 days” would save you full 5 monthly payments at the end? Plus, $2000 on the last payment you make?

(If this image is not visible clearly, please visit this link: http://jayesh.profitfromprices.com/Deals_mortgage_savings.htm )

Sounds confusing? Please email me:

The foreclosure market continues to boom as no relief appears in sight for stretched subprime mortgage holders. As the economy shows more signs of a slowdown, this trend is likely to continue.

Although the real estate industry would prefer otherwise, foreclosures continue to make headlines. The latest data showed superficial relief, with September foreclosures down 8% from some 243,000 in August, but still more than double last year — and still with more to come.

It may be a harsh analogy, but I often think of foreclosure buyers as the forest-floor ants consuming the dead wood to clean the forest.

That means three things. First, as I see it, the sooner we get through this credit mess, the better. Second, the faster properties get through the foreclosure process and find buyers, the sooner we’ll get through the mess. So third, foreclosure buyers clean out the dead wood (I like) and get great bargains in the process (I also like).

I can save how much?
My recent column broadly covers the discount you can expect from market value if you buy a foreclosure. It varies by region, but using information published by real estate portal and foreclosure specialists RealtyTrac, I saw discounts ranging from 15% in Hawaii to 40% in Alabama, with 20% and 25% being a rule of thumb.

Not bad. So then the next question, incidentally raised by several readers, is “how do I find those bargains in my area?”

Finding the for sale signs
To locate specific foreclosures in your area, RealtyTrac is a good place to start. The site lists foreclosures by ZIP code and foreclosure stage, ranging from preforeclosure property to bank-owned real estate. It’s a broad and fairly deep picture of foreclosure availability in your area.

Some have found RealtyTrac less than precise, as the task of keeping up with foreclosure listing activity across the company is large, to say the least. And to get specific information on the property, RealtyTrac requires a $49.95/month subscription after a seven-day free trial.

But realize that RealtyTrac sits behind other real estate sites, so sooner or later you’ll probably run into RealtyTrac. If you’re serious about foreclosure shopping, you might want to sign up.

Combining sources
If you aren’t ready to make the financial commitment or “come out of the closet” as a registered foreclosure buyer, there are several other paths which work surprisingly well:

Bank sales. To their chagrin, banks and financial institutions are going into the real estate business in a big way. Too bad for them, but you can find a lot of bargains on their Web sites: Bank of America, Countrywide and U. S. Bank have good listings, to name a few. Countrywide, for example, has 300 listings in California alone priced under $170,000.

Agency sales. Banks sell their “REO” (Real Estate Owned) but often hire agencies to do the job. Such agencies include Keystone Asset Management, Lenders Asset Management Corporation and HomeEq Servicing. Some of these agencies may operate bank sites, so you may see a similarity.

Government and government-backed lender sales. Government agencies ranging from FHA and VA to HUD and the Department of Justice sell real estate, visible through a single portal. And government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac also operate sites. The variety of properties available is, shall we say, wide, but Fannie Mae in particular lists a lot of solid mainstream real estate values.

Auctions and auction houses. Local and regional auctions are becoming bigger as banks and others pile up inventory. A real estate auction specialist will announce an auction of dozens, maybe hundreds of properties in a large region or metro area. Auctioneers include Real Estate Disposal Corporation (REDC) and Williams & Williams. Experience helps in playing this game, although the auctioneer sites walk you through the process.

Local real estate specialists. A lot of agents know about action in a particular area and can hook you up with the sellers. Good agents have their eyes and ears to the ground at all times, and get tips and hear about stuff coming on the market. You can often Google “foreclosures (area)” to get local listings.

Don’t forget: reward comes with risk
Remember that, while foreclosure properties often sell at a healthy discount, you may run into poorly maintained properties. There may be other foreclosures in the immediate area, hurting the quality and value of your investment. Double check other adjacent listings and visit the area if you can.

Remember: Good value investors buy assets at the right time in the right place at the right price. Real estate is no different.

Now there is a way for you to save money on passport photos. You can have 5 passport photos for 5 dollars mailed at your doorstep. Also you can choose your picture!

Take a look at online passport photo deals at http://www.onlinepassportphoto.com/