Employee Badge Photo API & Self-Service Portal

Before and after: consistent badge photos

The same portrait can keep its original background or move to a plain background, with the face placed for a badge layout.

Original photo

Processed with background

Processed with white background

Badge photo requirements you can enforce

Card printers often use CR80 stock, 3.375 × 2.125 inches. The photo window on that card depends on the template, so there is no universal “1 × 1 inch employee badge.” Set the pixel size, physical size, DPI, and background on your specification, then send that specCode to the Passport Photo API documentation.

Checks you can turn on through photo issue codes include face detection, head turn, lighting balance, brightness, sharpness, eyeglasses, and a non-neutral expression. Reject or warn inside your own workflow when a code comes back.

• Background color, including white or a corporate color on the specification.
• Head position and output dimensions for the template you print.
• Lighting and sharpness problems reported before the file is accepted.

To set a white or corporate background as its own step, call the Background Remove API, then pass the result to the Passport Photo API if you still need a sized badge file.

API or self-service portal: two ways to integrate

Badge Photo API

Build collection into the HR, access-control, or card-printing product you already run. The request is the Passport Photo API. Replace YOUR_BADGE_SPEC with the specification created for the account. If you need a size that is not listed, ask us to add a custom photo specification.

curl -sS -X POST "https://api-us.idphotoapp.com/v2/makeIdPhoto" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "apiKey": "YOUR_API_KEY",
    "apiSecret": "YOUR_API_SECRET",
    "imageBase64": "BASE64_IMAGE",
    "specCode": "YOUR_BADGE_SPEC"
  }'

The response includes the sized JPEG and an issues array. US and EU hosts are documented. Keep credentials on your server.

Self-service portal

The self-service portal sends the email, collects the upload, and runs the same checks. Use it when you do not want to build the employee-facing page. Workday and SAP SuccessFactors integration — available per request. Contact support@idphoto.ai to enable it.

HR system integrations

The employee badge photo API integrates with Workday and SAP SuccessFactors. A Workday badge photo and an SAP SuccessFactors employee photo use the same three steps.

1. Sync the employee roster from Workday or SAP SuccessFactors. The people who need a badge photo come from the HR system, including new hires and photo refreshes.
2. Generate compliant badge photos via the API. Each portrait is checked and cropped to the badge specification on the account. Issue codes flag photos that need a retake before they are accepted.
3. Write the photos back to employee profiles. The finished badge photo is written back to the employee profile in Workday or SAP SuccessFactors.

Access-control systems and badge printers that are not Workday or SAP SuccessFactors can still take the file by webhook, API pull, or the storage location configured for the account.

Who uses it

• HR and People Ops — Collect new-hire and refresh photos without scheduling a photographer at every site. Remote staff use the same link as people in the office.
• Security and facilities — Hand access-control and badge printers a file that matches the template, with quality issues flagged before print.
• Badge and card printing vendors — Add photo standardization to the print job. Your software calls the API; the portal is optional.
• Universities — Student and staff ID photos for campus cards, using one specification per card design.
• Healthcare staff ID — Onboarding photos for people who are not in the same building as HR. This is an employee ID workflow, not a government passport photo.

Privacy and security for employee photos

Each submission link is unique and expires after use. Data is encrypted in transit. You can take the image as Base64 so it is not stored on our service, or use temporary URL storage. Read the data privacy policy for retention choices, GDPR, and CCPA.

Why HR and security teams collect badge photos this way

The hard part is getting a usable file from every site, including people who will never attend a photo day. The self-service portal emails a unique link. Workday and SAP SuccessFactors integration — available per request. Contact support@idphoto.ai to enable it. The API, which you can call without the portal, uses a specification you set for the card template. CR80 stock is 3.375 × 2.125 inches, and the portrait window depends on that template, so the spec stores your pixel size, DPI, and background. Workday and SAP SuccessFactors use the same three steps: sync the roster, generate the badge photo, write it back to the employee profile. Printers and access-control systems outside those two take the file by webhook, API pull, or the storage location on the account. Glasses, shadows, and pose show up as issue codes before anything is printed. Where your policy allows a corrected staff portrait, the Fix Passport Photo API can help. It is the wrong tool for a US or UK passport.

FAQ

Operating guide: employee badge photos for HR and the onboarding guide.