How To Choose A Photo Booth For Your Wedding or Event
Thinking about a photo booth for your next event but don’t know exactly what to do? Should you do it yourself? Hire a company? Or Have a friend do it? If you do it yourself, should you use an ipad, or what kind of camera? Maybe a Polaroid photo booth station? In this article we will cover some of the pros and cons of photo booth options.
Firstly, do you want digital images? If no, then the polaroid booth with a backdrop may be an option for you. With that said, in this day and age, it is so simple to have those images in digital format to last forever, and will also give you the option to print and enlarge particular ones that may be hilariously amazing!!! With a polaroid option, you have only one copy of each picture, and risk losing that moment forever! If you do want digital images, you may want to use an ipad or ipod with a backdrop as a photo booth station. While the quality of phones and ipads have increased over the years, enlarging such a compressed file won’t end up with the best result! Also, it may be difficult to hook up a printer at the event – so you are left with digital images only.
Secondly, how many copies of the photo do you want to print? If there are multiple guests in a single picture, you may want more than one copy of the picture for the guests to take home! Having a polaroid camera leaves only one copy! Having an ipad may not have an option to have any printed copies! This is where hiring a company who specializes in photo booths may be the right choice for your event. Hiring the right photo booth service will allow you to get both printed copies at the event for guests to take home, and digital copies that are high quality!
Hiring a photo booth service – what questions to ask them? If you decide to hire a photo booth service, there are important questions to ask the company providing it, to make sure you are getting the highest quality service. These are all elements that make hiring a service well worth the cost!
Do I get the digital images and printed copies? A good photo booth rental company will give you both the digital images, and also printed copies at the event for your guests to take home.
How many hard copies are printed at the event? There is usually more than one person in a photo booth picture, so having at least 2 copies printed at the event is a must!
How many pictures are taken per session? Some photo booths may only take 3 pictures per session. Others take 6 pictures per session – so you are getting more bang for your buck with 6 pictures, and more fun for the guests! Also, you will end up with more digital pictures at the end if the photo booth service does 6 pictures per session!
Is the booth enclosed, or open air? There are many options when it comes to photo booths. Small booths hold only 2 people. Jumbo booths hold up to 15 people! Open air booths can hold a lot more! *** The open air photo booths, we have found, do not allow for an intimate, fun, “candid” setting and don’t produce pictures that are as much fun! The privacy of an enclosed booth, sets the scene for hilarious pictures!!!!!!
Is there an attendant with the booth? And are they FUN? Some photo booth rentals may not come with an attendant. The attendant helps the guests utilize the photo booth to its fullest potential, meaning that they make sure the guests know how many pictures are being taken, where to look, and make prop and pose suggestions! If you have the right attendant, they will take the booth to the next level of fun, and your pictures will reflect that!!!! For example, if guests don’t know where to look, or if they walk out after 3 pictures, and the booth takes 6, then you have lost photos, and photos that don’t come out as good!!!! The attendant also deals with any technical issues that could arise! If you do not have an attendant, there is potential failure!!!
What do you have backup equipment??? Is there backup equipment on hand if something malfunctions on the photo booth? Technical issues can arise on rare occasions, and it is imperative to have backup equipment to remedy the situation so the show goes on! For an event such as your wedding, or bar mitzvah, you don’t want to lose those memories and want to make sure the booth is running for your guests the entire time! Our company, Green Mountain Photo Booth essentially carries 2 identical photo booth systems to the job, so that if anything were to malfunction – we would immediately have it fixed!!
What camera is used and quality are the images? The camera used should be a reputable digital camera, with high megapixels. Should you decide to enlarge the images, this will make them much clearer, and sharper!!! You will be glad when you have a real gem of a photo that needs to be framed, posted on social, or put up on a billboard!!
All of these reasons above should indicate that hiring a photo booth rental company can be a valuable endeavor, especially when you are hosting an event such as a wedding, bar mitzvah, or anniversary party. I am always surprised by how much fun is had by guests having a few cocktails, and getting in the photo booth to have fun, let loose a little, and take some funny photos! A pro tip: always have props – of some kind. There is always a party animal or two who will put the props together to make everyone laugh! Thanks for reading this article, and don’t forget…. SMILE!!!