I also got my photos done from walgreens and sent the same to CPC ottawa for COPR processsing but I wasn't fully convinced with clarity and quality of the photos. will find out soon if they get accepted or rejected. I called couple professional photographers in my town but there price was quite high.
If there's an issue with the photos, they will most likely respond within 2-3 days after passport reaches ottawa office.so where did you retook your photos the second time ?
Even I couldn't find a decent photographer who was willing to take a picture that satisfies all requirements. Second time around, I had gone to CVS, who appeared a bit better than Walgreens. Took the digital copy to Walgreen, as their folks were better at printing out the photos. I instructed them to alter the brightness in a way that makes the background appear plain white without changing the natural shade of the skin. That eventually did the trick. When the photo was printed it appeared fully white.