Comment by ButlerianJihad

I don't know what the policies are around faking/'shopping/enhancing photos for US Passport use, but I do know that there is no "official Passport Photo" service. Generally they will expect you to take and print your own snaps, and attach them on your application. There are a lot of rules around the type and format of photographs that are accepted for this purpose. However, the US Postal Service will take photographs, as an additional service for in-store passport applicants.

I had a strange case for my passport renewal, where they were asking for an updated photo, and I got nicely dressed for my photo and the USPS clerk took it for me, but for some reason the Passport Office rejected it, on quite vague criteria. Then I resubmitted the whole thing verbatim, and it was accepted on the second go. I feel like they just wanted to add some friction to the process.