How would you do a photo booth

A friend is having a party and and asked me to do a photo booth. It is on Saturday, and I am hoping for a few suggestions to help me figure out what I should do. I am an enthusiastic amateur, lacking any real lighting knowledge.

I have a 430EXII and a 420EX (420EX Specs). I plan to make a trip to Adorama* this week, to purchase some simple umbrellas and stands. I have toyed with purchasing some lighting gear in the past, but never had a real need. I certainly don't want to spend more than about $200-$250 on this. I don't do this kind of thing often enough (and have no plans on ever doing this for income) to justify a big expense.

I have a 7D and am planning on using the built-in wireless to drive the flashes.

She is not looking for anything elaborate (she will probably be shocked if I show up with umbrellas -- actually, I hope there is room) but if I am going to do it, I want to make a good attempt and learn something while I'm at it.

I am looking for any suggestions that you think might be helpful, particularly:

• What stands and umbrellas (or equipment) to get
  
• Basic light setup (positions and ratios, manual or E-TTL)
  
• Computer setup (I assume I will use EOS Utility, though I have never really used it other than to play with it a little)
  
• Anything else you think will help.

I would stick to something basic and inside your comfort zone so you don't get in over your head. Typically in these booths theres a few people in there being silly, so lighting at hard angles is asking for shadows being cast on faces. I would use one light behind and above the camera as key. This will ensure everyone gets lit evenly with no shawdows cast on others. If you wanted to add another light, I'd probably do a bare flash hair light right behind them, or a bare flash background light for some separation, maybe even gel it magenta or something for a little flare. Shoot manual flash, you'll get predictable lighting. Mark spots on the floor for people to stand.


I'd just get a decent, solid stand and a 43" umbrella. The Wecsott double folding umbrellas travel well.

I use Lightroom tethered shooting. You can view, edit, crop and print right from there. Just be sure to familiarize yourself with whatever software you use so you don't look like a bumbling fool.

Check out the threads at the bottom of this page. There are threads on DIY photo booths

I wouldn't use a flash
just a desk lamp or 2 would be enough - constant powered light

SMP_Homer wrote in post #14535140
I wouldn't use a flash
just a desk lamp or 2 would be enough - constant powered light

I agree on constant lighting. For the booth my associate and made, we used 4 CFL bulbs behind a white plexi. We were skeptical at first but it metered at f8 at iso 100.

Here is our booth:

^^ Nice booth - but I'd get rid of the curtain... from what I've seen at weddings, part of the fun is all the other guests watching you, etc...

Thanks for all the suggestions. I went back to the host of the party and mentioned how I wanted to set this up with a computer, a printer, a 300w clamp light (from home depot) and a back drop. That was all way more than she wanted. She just wanted me to take shots that give the impression of a photo booth. She was also showing a video, so she just wanted to use the screen as a back drop.

She already had some props, so I just took my camera, flash and a DIY diffuser and had at it.

another.

Nice work! Make a booth and it would be paid off in 2-3 rentals.

The print part is usually what gets to be expensive. You really need a PC, software, and a printer all working in conjunction with a camera to spit out the image when they press a button. I saw one at a bridal show, and the unit was $8k. Had a T2i behind the scenes with the standard 18-55 kit lens.

Toneaero wrote in post #14570987
Nice work! Make a booth and it would be paid off in 2-3 rentals.

Thank you! It was a fun project to do for a friend, but I am not looking to make a carrier out of this. But who knows.. there have been a lot of changes around the workplace recently; I might need to keep my options open.

hawk911 wrote in post #14571091
The print part is usually what gets to be expensive. You really need a PC, software, and a printer all working in conjunction with a camera to spit out the image when they press a button. I saw one at a bridal show, and the unit was $8k. Had a T2i behind the scenes with the standard 18-55 kit lens.

Yes.. I never did plan on providing a button and walking away; but removing the 'instant prints' aspect of the 'booth' made the whole thing really easy. I was planning on using EOS Utility to get the shots to the computer quickly and I have a tool that has a contact sheet option. (the result is above). By simply changing the number of rows & columns on the contact sheet and adjusting each print size, I would have been able to print these up pretty quickly. But since that was not really what she wanted, this really was just another event type of engagement, rather than a booth.

For this, (trying to get a 'booth' look) I think the DIY diffuser was a perfect compromise.. not as harsh as a bare flash, but still harsh enough to pass for a booth. And, I already had it; I didn't need to buy a thing!!

I did a couple for weddings. I did not use a booth, just a backdrop an umbrella centred above me. This way I could do group shots as well. It technically was not a photo booth but we called it that anyway. We had all the props and I found people really liked the groups shots.

digital paradise wrote in post #14572549
I did a couple for weddings. I did not use a booth, just a backdrop an umbrella centred above me. This way I could do group shots as well. It technically was not a photo booth but we called it that anyway. We had all the props and I found people really liked the groups shots.

did a similar setup, but tethered to the computer til my usb port gave way on the 40d. They could see shots right away, but we did not offer print on sight.

just curious what kind of tool did you use to make the contact sheet? Also, was it a real time process?

c2thew wrote in post #14573767
just curious what kind of tool did you use to make the contact sheet? Also, was it a real time process?

I did not do a real-time printing process -- I found out late Thursday evening that the hostess did not want that.
Before I learned that she did not want on-sight prints; I did do some tests with software I already own to make sure that I had an acceptable solution.

I use a fairly inexpensive photo management and editing suite called ACDeSee Pro. A very old version of that suite included the application (which they now only sell as an standalone product) called Fotoslate. I used it because I already have it and I knew about the feature and knew it would work. But the program is very old and primitive and I would not recommend it. But, it did meet the needs for this. I defined the template (a 1x4 contact sheet on 8.5x11 paper) and then dropped pictures into the slots. It includes very basic (and quick) edits that allow you to enlarge/reduce and crop your shot to make it fit into the slot on the contact sheet and print. I did play with this on Thursday evening and I did feel that I would be able to hit the print button within about 1 minute of the final shot... good enough for a friend with a camera.. maybe not for someone looking to be compensated and certainly inadequate for an unattended booth.

If I had wanted to do anything fancier than that I would have used the editing capabilities in either ACDSee Pro or DPP.

Thinking that I was going to be tethered to a computer and printing, I had the camera setup to shoot in RAW and JPG. In order to quickly drop the JPG images into the template and print. But if I wanted to do anything more than that, the RAWs were available. This was actually the first time I found the dual format feature of the 7D to be useful.