My old passport is expired and my wife has never had a passport, so I had to look this up. Fortunately, the US State Department has a pretty good website for it. There are rules of course, especially for first-timers or expired passport holders. You’ll have to fill out a DS11 application form and bring to one of the 7000 facilities — mostly post offices — around the country. A [photographer’s guide][5] is worth looking at for those considering taking their own photos, as the State Department cares greatly for the [lighting][6], [composition][7], and [quality][8] of those photos. They even have special instructions for those [submitting prints from digital sources][9].
[5]: travel-state-gov-Photo Guide 10-01-04.pdf [6]: http://travel.state.gov/passport/guide/setup/setup_873.html [7]: http://travel.state.gov/passport/guide/composition/composition_874.html [8]: http://travel.state.gov/passport/guide/quality/quality_879.html [9]: http://travel.state.gov/passport/guide/digital/digital_880.html