Validated ID photos,without the chasing.
People take or upload a photo. Photon checks it against ID-photo requirements, removes the background, and hands back a validated portrait - ready to print or store. Privacy by design: it detects faces, it never recognises them.
Trust and assurance
Face detection, not facial recognition. No biometric templates.
- ISO/IEC 27001 (organisation)
- ISO 9001 (organisation)
- UK London, EU Frankfurt, or AWS European Sovereign Cloud (EUSC) residency
- Encrypted in transit and at rest
- Audit logging + WAF
- Regular penetration testing
See it work
Photon in thirty-six seconds
One loop of the whole journey: a photo arrives, Photon checks it, and a validated portrait comes back - ready to print or store.
How Photon works
Upload a photo. Download your ID photo.
A person uploads or takes a photo. Photon checks it meets ID-photo requirements, removes the background, and produces a clean, correctly composed portrait. When a photo does not pass, the person sees specific, plain-English reasons to fix and retake.
- 01Submit
Photo uploaded
The person uploads or takes a photo of themselves through the Photon portal. Submissions are stored securely in ID-ware infrastructure in the UK and EU. Invitations go out as one-time links with an email passcode, and automatic email reminders chase anyone who has not submitted - so you do not have to.
- 02Check
Quality and composition
Photon checks a single clear face is present, the photo is sharp, in colour and at least 1000x1000px, the head is straight and level, looking at the camera, with no sunglasses and enough headroom.
- 03Process
Background removed
A passing photo has its background removed and is colour-corrected, cropped and composed into a clean, print-ready portrait. A failing photo returns plain-English reasons to fix and retake.
- 04Download
Print-ready portrait
Finished photos are reviewed on the admin dashboard and downloaded individually or as a ZIP, or pulled via the scoped REST API into your card-production workflow. Every download is a standard image file, ready for whichever card-printing software or HR system you already use.
Plain-English reasons with every check.
The Photon console shows each submitted photo against the checks it runs: a single clear face detected, sharpness, head pose, framing and headroom, and a clean background ready for removal.
A photo that passes is processed into a print-ready portrait. One that does not shows the person specific, plain-English reasons - for example “your photo is not sharp enough” or “not enough space above your head” - so they can fix it and retake. The console shown here is an illustrative rendering, not the product interface.
- Face detected1 clear face detected
- Head poseStraight, looking at camera
- Background removedClean, plain background
- Framing / headroomHead and shoulders, centred
- SharpnessSlightly soft - retake advised
- ColourColour image
- Image sizeAt least 1000x1000px
- SunglassesNone detected
Quality and composition in, a print-ready portrait out.
Photon checks photo quality and composition only. It uses face detection - not facial recognition - and never matches, identifies people or creates biometric templates. When a photo does not meet the requirements, the person is shown plain-English reasons to fix and retake.
A clear, sharp image
A single clear face is present - no missing or extra faces. Sharp and in focus, in colour, JPEG or PNG, and at least 1000x1000px.
Head straight and level
Head straight and not tilted, looking at the camera rather than turned away, and no sunglasses obscuring the face.
Framing and headroom
Head and shoulders, face centred and not too large, enough space above the head, and the face not too close to an edge.
Print-ready portrait
A passing photo has its background removed and is colour-corrected and composed into a clean, print-ready JPEG.
Watch Photon turn a raw photo into a finished portrait.
Pick a sample. Photon detects the face, runs the checks and removes the background - the raw office photo becomes a clean portrait in front of you. These are illustrative, synthetic samples, not real people; run the live demo to process a photo of your own.
If you are chasing ID photos, this is for you.
Every tile is the same chore - collecting a usable photo from someone, then fixing it. Photon takes that chore off your desk. Pick the one that sounds like you.
Staff ID cards
Stop chasing employees for a usable ID photo. They submit their own, Photon vets it on the spot, and card production never stalls on a bad image.
Test a photoStudent and campus cards
Absorb the induction-week peak with no photo desk and no queue. Students submit before they arrive; Photon returns a clean, print-ready portrait for every card.
Test a photoProfessional and membership ID
Collect consistent member portraits at scale without the email back-and-forth. One enforced standard, every time.
Test a photoVisitor and contractor passes
Capture a compliant pass photo at sign-in, not after a chase. Reception issues the pass without fixing the image.
Test a photoHealthcare and locum onboarding
Get a clean ID photo into the onboarding pack on day one, remotely, so the card is ready before the first shift.
Test a photoEvents
Pre-collect attendee and crew photos so accreditation cards are print-ready before the doors open.
Test a photoCard bureaux
Take photo intake and vetting off your plate across every client programme. Every edition carries your own branding; Business and Enterprise add a dedicated, single-tenant instance.
Test a photoGovernment programmes
A privacy-by-design photo intake step for citizen-facing credentials. Face detection only, UK and EU data residency.
Test a photoThree editions. Try Lite free for 7 days.
Start with the free 7-day Lite trial, 50 users. Photon Lite is shared and multi-tenant. Photon Business is dedicated and single-tenant, with a contractual service level. Photon Enterprise runs in an isolated AWS account, with a self-hosting option and bespoke integrations.
Start free, then choose your edition.
Begin with the free 7-day Lite trial, 50 users, then compare editions and features.
Lite
Shared and multi-tenant. Sign up online and start collecting checked, print-ready ID photos the same day.
- Shared multi-tenant platform
- Scoped REST API (OAuth2)
- 99.5% availability target
Business
Dedicated and single-tenant, with a contractual service level.
- Dedicated single-tenant instance
- Dedicated web application firewall
- 99.9% availability SLA with credits
Enterprise
An isolated cloud account, in ID-ware's cloud or yours, with bespoke integrations and a self-hosting option.
- Dedicated, isolated AWS account
- Self-hosting option
- Bespoke integrations, tailored SLA
The questions buyers ask first.
Straight answers on privacy, data residency, the trial and what happens when a photo does not pass.
No. Photon uses face detection via Amazon Rekognition only - it checks that a single clear face is present and well composed. It never matches or identifies people and creates no biometric templates.
UK London (eu-west-2) or EU Frankfurt (eu-central-1) for commercial cloud, or the AWS European Sovereign Cloud (AWS EUSC) for sovereign customers. Photos are encrypted in transit and at rest, with audit logging and a web application firewall.
The trial is Photon Lite. Card details are collected at checkout, nothing is charged during the 7 days, and you can cancel at any time before the trial ends and pay nothing. If you do not cancel, your Lite subscription starts when the trial ends and the first invoice, including the one-time setup fee, is billed.
A person whose photo is processed. Account administrators also count as users. The trial covers a fixed 50 users for 7 days.
The person is shown plain-English reasons to fix and retake - for example that the photo is not sharp enough, or there is not enough space above the head - so they can submit a usable image without a back and forth.
Yes - custom branding, a custom logo and white-label theming of all colours are included on every edition. Photon Business runs as a dedicated, branded instance; running on your own domain is available with Enterprise's bespoke deployment. The plan comparison on the pricing page lists exactly what each edition includes. Edition features are as listed in the plan comparison on the pricing page.
No. People are invited with a one-time link and a six-digit code sent to their email, then take or upload their photo in the browser on the device they already have - a phone, tablet or laptop. There is nothing to install.
Try Photon free for 7 days.
People take or upload their own photo, Photon returns a print-ready portrait, and your team stops chasing images. Self-serve sign-up, 50 users.
The free trial runs on Photon Lite: 7 days, fixed at 50 users.