karmah, the Aus embassy was OK with our son's passport pic. We did it at home, on a cream coloured sheet and gave the photo printing shop the specifics on the size and they did it for us. No problem at all. We took about 50 photos (in many different shoots) before we got one in which his eyes are open and looking at the camera. I'd definitely recommend doing it yourself. We needed his passport in a rush and they were great, said they'd try to get it done quickly and call when it was ready. Took them about 3 days.