Vancity Weddings
Your Online Vancouver Wedding Directory
Vendor Categories
Different Types of Photo Booths
Photobooths have become commonplace for weddings and celebrations. With the advent of new technologies, availability of choices have expanded considerably. With this article, we explore what options are available. With this article, you can arm yourself with knowledge to decide which option is the best for your wedding!
Different Types of Photo Booths
Photographer Mobile Studio Photo Booths
This is a studio styled setup and very similar to what you would find at a photography studio. A real photographer will direct people to pose properly. The setups are actually limitless since there’s an actual photographer that takes photos for you. Photographers usually have their preferred lighting style - flashes vs lightboxes. As photographers are typically professionals, difference will only be in style and much less quality. Most of them are happy to do custom lighting setups, or even print black and white for you. Typically an assistant or the photographer himself will be present to immediately print photos as well. Pictures are sometimes imperfect and a photo editing expert can immediately crop/modify pictures before they are printed!
Pros:
- Limitless professional lighting setup
- Professional photographer on site to take all images
- Great for guests who are technophobic and want to avoid machines
- Great for group and formal photos.
Cons:
- No hiding behind curtains
- Less automated in terms of online social sharing
- Takes up more space
Kiosk Photo Booths
Open-Air and Enclosed are the two kinds of setups for these booths. In either of these setups, guests will be taking photos of themselves via a fixed camera and the connected touch-screen computer interface. On the screen, guests will see a preview of themselves on camera. After rearrange themselves so everyone come into view, buttons can be pressed for actual photo taking. Because the whole setup is computerized, it is a lot easier to automate features. For example, depending on the vendor, it can do instant sharing, gifs, sticker printing, editing, virtual props, slow motion videos...etc However since cameras are fixed, custom lighting setup and photo composition become less flexible
A. Layout Setups
Open Air
- More people can fit in pictures.
- Participation from guests who are older / mature may not be capable of or want to get inside an enclosed space.
- Easier for bride/groom to jump into (to photobomb).
- Fun for others watching people pose on camera.
- Fits with hollywood styled red-carpet and stanchion setup.
- Easier to get group photos as well as formal shots
Enclosed -
- People feel less self conscious about posing since there’s a curtain to hide behind.
- Take up less space.
- Some people may find it claustrophobic; but at the same time some people find it more fun to bunch many faces together.
B. Style
- Still Frames - just like old school passport booths where people press a button and a strip of photos come out from the machine in the back. Of course, with recent technology improvements, the ability to modify the photos have become limitless. Guests can edit the photos however they want via touchscreens.
- Video Booth - A slow motion video gets taken. They are typically 10-30 seconds, and output can range from shareable short movie clips to flipbooks.
C. Pros:
- Many different types of setups to choose from!
- Guest are more in charged of how they want their photos to be taken.
- Typically takes up less space
- Depending on machine’s capability it can be more fun!
D. Cons:
- Difficult for group and formal shots
- Some people, especially older family members, may avoid machines and thus hinder participation
- Quality of photo could be lower
- Composition and lighting options for photo may be limited.
Print Stations -
These are like your typical kiosk photo booth, except they don’t have cameras. Guests use their own cellphone to take photos, and then share them online with hashtags. The print stations automatically pulls the photos from online social media platforms via hashtags (typically instagram in this case), and then automatically prints the photos!
Pros:
- Great for online sharing and exposure
- Guests are responsible for taking their own photos.
Cons:
- Some guests may not have the social media accounts necessary for online sharing
- Privacy concerns where guests may not be comfortable with sharing their photos online publicly
- Difficult to handle large groups.
- Typically lower quality due to limited capability of cellphone cameras
Promotion:
Receive an extra half hour photobooth time if you mention Vancity Weddings.
About the Writer
BESimages set up mobile photo studios at weddings, corporate events and parties of any kind. Photographers are equipped with professional DSLRs and are ready to take your photos, with assistants who immediately print the photos out. Learn more about BESimages: http://besimages.com/