We’re very careful to make sure we follow the law and do not make shoots of anyone under the age of 18. Unfortunately, we can’t just take your word for that – we need proof! 💳 We have a separate page on what ID’s are acceptable (not all are).
Sometimes, we need you to provide a copy of your ID. There’s two main reasons for that, and the process is a little different for each one.
When onboarding 🚣
If you recently applied to work with us, you’re going through our “onboarding” process (check the timeline to see where you’re at) where we learn more about each other. 💑
In our Onboarding Questionnaire, we ask you to send us a copy of your ID. Once we receive your ID, we’ll check it meets our requirements, and copy some details (serial number, expiry date) for our records. Then, we securely and permanently delete this copy of your ID, and the email you sent to us with it attached. You can read more about how we handle your personal data in our Privacy Policy.
Capturing that with your phone is fine – just make sure it meets our requirements, and all the text is clearly readable. We’re not too fussy otherwise.
For a shoot 📹
Our Shoot Producers make a capture of your ID’s on each shoot you attend, using their smartphone and our Homonoia app. Sometimes, they make a mistake, so we need you to send a copy of your ID to us. Some of our shoot types are made by you at home, so we need you to send a copy of your ID.
The ID capture requirements are more “strict” than in the Onboarding process. They are not difficult, but more care needs to be taken to ensure the copy is high quality: clear and usable with no details hidden. In a nutshell, it works like this;
- Get the right ID’s ready
- Find a suitable place
- Set up your camera
- Take the pictures
- Check quality, reshoot if necessary
- Send us the result
Get the right IDs ready
Only some ID’s meet our requirements (in a nutshell, your government issued photo ID).
We need a Primary and a Secondary ID for this. If you’re not sure if your ID will be suitable, email your contact at abbywinters.com (or the Model Liaison team, on model.application@abbywinters.com).
If using a Passport, open it to the photo-page, and bend it backwards a few times, so when taking the photo, it lies flat naturally – this is especially necessary for passports that have not been used much.
Find a suitable place
The place to take ID images must be brightly lit, but not in direct sun. Unless you’re an expert at taking pictures, don’t shoot this at night, even with all the lights switched on, or with a flash. Daytime in a bright-but-shaded place is ideal. Some examples of ideal locations include;
- Inside, around midday, on a windowsill, not in the sun
- Outside on a patio, deck, stoop, ground, stairs or similar -but not in the sun. In the shade of trees, a building, or similar.
A place that has “dappled light” (as can happen with the sun shining through leaves on a tree) is not ok – find a place in full-shade.
It’s great if it’s a cloudy day – there’s a lot of soft omni-directional light, and no need to worry about direct sunlight.
Set up your camera
A modern smartphone (released in the last five years) should be fine for this.
Disable the flash – this creates a glare spot on the ID that covers some data, and is not acceptable.
Set quality to highest.
Take the pictures
We need an image of the front and back of each ID (Passports are an exception, no need for the back of your passport 🤣). Some things to check when making the pictures;
- Lie the ID down flat
- Fill the frame with as much of your ID as you can, while being in focus – your phone should be around 30cm / 12 inches away from the ID
- Don’t allow any reflections (of you, the camera, the surroundings)
- Don’t touch the ID with your fingers (or anything else) when taking the photo
Check quality, reshoot if necessary
After capturing each image, check it for quality. If it obviously does not meet our requirements, we recommend deleting it right away, so at the end of the process you only have the “good” images on your smartphone.
We need an ID that is clear and easy to read.
Here are some common issues;
- ID not in-focus
- Holograms or glare spots hide info on the ID
- Reflections hide info
- ID too small in the picture (camera too far away)
- Shot in sunlight, shadows and reflections
- Fingers covering info on the ID
- Missing back image
Good ID capture examples
Below are some good ID capture examples. Personal details have been blurred out to protect the privacy of the owners of these ID’s.
This is what the ID pictures you send to us should look like.
Send us the results
Once you have the images (front and back of the Primary and Secondary ID’s), attach them to an email and send to your contact at abbywinters.com (who asked for these ID images in the first place).
What we do then…
If they meet the requirements described on this page, you’re done! 🙌 We’ll rename the files and store them in our secure ID repository forever. Only people who have a clear and present need to look at the files will have access. We’ll permanently delete the email and its attachments.
If the images you provide don’t meet our requirements, we’ll ask for re-takes. 😇
