DIY Photo Booth

[txtxyeha]

Son's part of a big end-of-school-year party and one of the parents suggested a photo booth. That sounded like a great idea until we Googled around and found the price to be $700 for a few hours work. WFT?!

I'm thinking I can use the iMac's Photobooth program to take the pix, then send the images to my HP printer. Create a two-walled booth to put in a corner with PVC and shower curtains and wah-lah!

I haven't even tried this at home yet. Can the iMac's Photobooth print to my HP printer (surely yes)? Is there narrow strips of photo paper on the market for this specialized printing?

Figure I'll need four plugs: 1) the iMac, 2) the printer, 3) a second monitor outside of the photo booth for an operator to do the printing, and 4) klieg lights (we're talking the $5 types).

Anyone have any ideas? Someone tell me I'm a damned-fool for trying to do this on the cheap. Besides being a damned-fool what else am I missing?

 

[brntorng]

I'd be inclined to use a separate higher quality camera on a tripod rather than the built-in camera. You can use the camera's flash and won't need separate lights. Leave the USB cable plugged into the camera and download the shots to iPhoto periodically, sort, edit, and print. You may want one person manning the camera while the other person is manning the computer and printer. This will also give you a faster production flow. Also, if you use the internal camera you'll have to jump out of Photobooth to print, etc. The built-in camera is fine for web photos, but won't have the resolution you need to print a decent picture. Also, that way you won't need a separate monitor and keyboard so it will be a more compact set-up.

The cost and most of the work will be in the printing, so if you want to keep that to a minimum, you could combine 4 pictures onto a single 4x6 print in a photo editor like Photoshop Elements. That would also give the pictures more of a photobooth look. You could also print to high quality paper instead of photo paper to keep the cost down. Also, to really keep cost down you could collect email addresses and email the photos rather than print, but that takes away some of the immediate fun. Another printing option if the kids will still be around for a while after the booth is shut down, you could send the files to a local Walgreens (or other printer) and have them do the printing within 45 minutes for a fraction of the cost. Walgreens also offers collage prints so that would simplify the editing if you want to combine shots on the same print.

 

[brntorng]

On second thought, here's another option: Free Photo Booth Software for Mac

I didn't do an exhaustive search, so there may be other apps available.

 

[cincyhorn]

The Link

Give Todd a call. (512) 484-4966

 

[NickDanger]

The local camera store (not Best Buy) will have photographer's backdrop paper. It's cheap. I use it for temporary presentation screens for kids to watch drive-in movies on out in the country or taped to a wall in a hotel room when chaperoning kids at out of town events. Toss it into the recycling when done. Cheaper and much better look than shower curtains. Probably comes in 30 colors.