Hey guys
With the photo, I happened to have some passport photos from last year...I scanned one of those, brightened it up, and hey presto! The visa system liked it (I look like I've been charged with something, but clearly not enough to alert the Feds).
You can either:
1) Take a passport photo (or an old one that looks recent), scan it, and use it like I did; or
2) Get passport photos done at the MLC centre (there's a list on the website of permitted places they use), and just attach a photo manually - doesn't HAVE to be electronic, but it makes life easier for them.
If your electronic photo DOESN'T work (the system will reject it if it doesn't like it), make sure that:
1) It's below 240kb (and roughly above 150kb for decent quality and size)
2) in JPEG format only
3) It's sufficiently bright with enough contrast to highlight your features. Use a sharpen feature in Photoshop, or similar, if needed.
My photo got rejected because it was deemed 'out of focus'...brightening and sharpening it *a bit* worked.
Hope this helps!
* REMEMBER to photocopy your Australia Post receipt BEFORE handing it in *
