Several recruiting bodies require the photograph itself to carry your name and the date it was taken. UPSC asks for it. NTA asks for it, which covers NEET, JEE Main and CUET. So do TNPSC, UPSSSC and a number of other state commissions.
It is one of the more common reasons a form comes back, and one of the most avoidable.
Why they ask for it
The date is a check that the photograph is recent. Notifications specify a photo taken within one, three or six months, but there is no way to tell a photo's age by looking at it. A printed date makes the claim explicit, and makes a false claim your responsibility.
The name ties the image to the application. When a bundle of printed photographs is handled during verification, a name on each one is what stops them being mixed up.
The format
Almost every notification that asks for this describes the same thing:
- Black text on a white strip along the bottom of the photograph
- Name in block capitals
- Date in DD/MM/YYYY
- Both clearly legible and not covering your face
That is the format our resizer produces. Open Print name and date on the photo, tick what you need, and the text is drawn into the image at export.
Where it goes
Along the bottom, in a white band beneath your chin. Not across your face, not in a corner, not down the side.
If the notification specifies a percentage of the frame, follow it. Most do not, and a band of roughly 12 to 20 per cent of the photo's height is what people use.
There is a real tension here worth understanding. Your face is supposed to fill 70 to 80 per cent of the frame, and the strip takes up part of the remainder. If you crop tightly and then add a two-line band, you can end up with the top of your head cut off. Frame slightly wider than you think you need when the board wants a name and date.
Long names on small photos
An IBPS photograph is 200 pixels wide. A name like VENKATASUBRAMANIAN K at a readable size does not fit across 200 pixels without shrinking to the point of illegibility.
Our tool shrinks the type automatically until it fits, which prevents the text running off the edge, but there is a limit to how small text can get and stay readable after JPEG compression.
If your name is long:
- Use the form your application uses. If you applied as
V. K. SUBRAMANIAN, that is what belongs on the photo. - Consider name on one line and date on the next, rather than both on one.
- Check the exported file at full size before uploading. If you cannot read it on screen, neither can the verifier.
Doing it before the photo is taken
If you are getting photographs printed at a studio, ask them to print the name and date on the strip. Most studios near a college or exam centre do this routinely and will know the format.
That is the more reliable route for exams that also require physical printed photographs at verification, because the printed copies and the uploaded file then match exactly. A mismatch between the two is its own problem.
What we cannot check for you
Our pre-flight check tells you about blur, background, colour and face position. It cannot tell you whether the date you typed is the date the photo was taken, or whether your board requires this at all.
Both of those are in the notification. Our guide to reading a notification covers where to find the upload specification.