Hey HN! After watching my mom pay $17 to get a passport photo at CVS (literally just a white background photo), and seeing “visa agents” charge $150+ for DV lottery applications (which are FREE), I went down a rabbit hole. Turns out there are 952+ different photo specifications across various documents worldwide. US passport wants 2x2 inches. DV lottery needs 600x600px. Schengen visa requires 35x45mm. Japanese visa needs specific head-to-photo ratio. It’s insane. What makes this different from competitors: Multi-Model AI Pipeline: •GFPGAN - Fixes low quality photos, enhances faces (your 2015 phone photo? Fixed) •BiRefNet - Removes backgrounds WITH accurate hair detection (curly hair nightmare solved) •MediaPipe - Validates face angle, eye level, head position in real-time •RealESRGAN - Upscales potato quality images to HD Most competitors use basic OpenCV or one model. I chain 4 models for accuracy. Real-time Compliance Validation: Instead of “upload and pray”, you get instant feedback: •Head too tilted? Shows angle needed •Shadow on face? Highlights problem area •Wrong dimensions? Auto-fixes •Background not uniform? AI replaces it This catches issues BEFORE you waste money printing/submitting. Photo Vault System: Nobody talks about this problem: families need photos for multiple documents over time. Built a vault system where you can: •Store original + processed versions •Generate for different documents from same source •Share vault with family (one photo session for all kids) •Import from previous orders Perfect for immigrant families dealing with constant paperwork. Privacy Architecture: •Photos process → deliver → DELETE immediately •No training on user photos •No permanent storage unless you explicitly use vault •Client-side processing where possible •2FA + OAuth available Technical details: •Frontend: Next.js + React •AI Pipeline: Python + FastAPI •Models: Hosted on CPU instances (low price) •Database: PostgreSQL for specs, Redis , Celery for queues •Payment: Stripe (no crypto bs) Pricing: $3.99 single photo, $2.49/photo in bundles. Intentionally undercut everyone because $50 for a cropped photo is criminal. The boring numbers: •30k+ photos processed •15 second average processing time •99.7% acceptance rate at government offices •Supporting 172 countries Why I built this: The visa/immigration photo industry is built on information asymmetry. People don’t know requirements → panic → overpay for “professional” help. It’s a $2B industry built on cropping photos to specific pixels. My goal: Make it so cheap and easy that the predatory “visa consultants” go extinct. Ask me anything about the AI pipeline, compliance validation logic, or why passport photo requirements are stuck in 1990! P.S. Yes, it handles the infamous “no smiling” requirement. The AI actually detects smiles and warns you. Because apparently showing happiness is a security threat