Print your name and date on a photo

Some recruitment notices in India ask for the candidate's name and the date the photograph was taken to be printed on the photograph itself, and then set a limit on the file in kilobytes. Both are overlay jobs, so this stage opens with the label already on the photo — a white band, eighteen per cent of its height, name above, date below — and the Output tab set to save a JPG under a size limit.

The band is an ordinary text layer underneath: you can change its face, its size or its colour, move it, or take it off and put it back from the Output tab.

1. 1Open the photo. The passport-style photo you are going to upload. It is read in this tab and goes nowhere else.
2. 2Type your name. As it appears on the form. Capital letters are on by default; switch them off if your notice says otherwise.
3. 3Set the date the photo was taken. The field starts at today. Change it to the day the photo was actually taken, and pick DD-MM-YYYY, DD/MM/YYYY or DD.MM.YYYY.
4. 4Inside or below. Inside covers the bottom of the photo with the band. Below grows the file downwards so the face is untouched.
5. 5Save under the limit. On the Output tab, set the largest file in KB and the width your notice gives, then save. The line under the stage prints the real KB, pixels and quality.

SSC (Karnataka–Kerala region)

The date the photograph was taken should be clearly printed on it; applications without it are rejected (official notice, as quoted in our research).

UPSC (as reported)

Name and date on which the photo was taken should be on the photograph; secondary sources quote a JPG between 20 and 300 KB. Not verified against the official page.

File size

Set in KB on the Output tab. 1 KB is counted as 1024 bytes, as upload forms count it.

Pixel size

A width you set; the height follows the photo so it is never squashed.

• Rules change between notices and years. The presets say where each number came from and that it is unverified — check your own notice.
• If a very small KB limit cannot be reached even at the lowest quality, the file is saved at the smallest size we allow and the page says by how much it is over.
• This page adds the label and meets a size. It does not check the background colour, the face size or how recent the photo is.

Which date goes on the photo?

The date the photograph was taken, not the date you apply. The SSC Karnataka–Kerala region notice, for example, says the date on which the photograph has been taken should be clearly printed on it and that applications without it are rejected. The field starts at today only because that is the most common case — change it if the photo is older.

Inside the photo or below it?

Notices usually say only that the name and date must be on the photograph. Below keeps the whole face and grows the file downwards; inside keeps the photo's own proportions. If your notice gives exact pixel sizes, inside is the safer choice because the shape does not change.

How do I get under the KB limit?

Set the largest file in KB on the Output tab and save as JPG. The quality is lowered first, in small steps, until the file fits; only if that is not enough does the pixel size come down. The line under the stage then says the real size, the quality used and whether the pixels shrank.

Will the portal accept it?

We cannot promise that, and nothing here does. The presets are starting points from secondary sources and are labelled as unverified; the current official notice for your exam is the only authority on size, format, background and what must be printed. Check it before you upload.

Is my photo or my name uploaded?

No. The photo is decoded in this tab, the label is drawn here, and the result goes straight to your downloads. Your name is not stored, not sent and not put in the address bar.

• Put text on a photoA text layer is on the photo when it opens: words, face, size and a backing that keeps them readable.
• Add a logo to a photoOpens small, in the corner, inside the margin a crop is least likely to take.
• Place something on a photoThe stage and a deck of layers: logos, stickers, textures or a second photo, each moved until it looks right.