It's against my religion, so to speak, to spend $8 on 2 photos.

While I can get six 2"x2" passport photos off a 4"x6" print from any Kodak Photo Kiosk in any supermarket for 20 - 30 cents. And there is no guarantee the photos you spent $8 are better than the 20-cent varieties. If the teenage clerk who took the picture is not careful, the photos would get rejected by USCIS, too.