The Meaning of the Photo Booth

Author Darin Owen

When it comes to selecting a photo booth, there a whole slew of factors to consider. One of which will be quality of the photos themselves and how they are produced. Factors you may want to consider are the photo quality of the image and the speed in which the photos print/develop.

Photo booths will produce photos one of three ways: The old fashion process film, where developer, acid and fixer are used to “process” your image. This is the old school method used for decades. Second, is the Inkjet photo printer, where the printer shoots tiny droplets of ink onto paper to render the image. These are among the most common printers due to the relatively low price point and decent photo quality. These printers are produced by companies such as Epson, Canon, HP. Lastly, we have dye sublimation printers. Dye sub printers use a printing process the employees heat to transfers dye on to the paper. A big selling point to these printers they spit photos out at a high rate of speed (8-10 seconds depending on the printers settings). Producers of these printers are Sony, Mitsubishi and Hiti, to name a few.

So which is better? Does it matter? For most, it won’t matter much. It will matter more to the client who is obsessed with mega pixels, sensor sizes, resolution, Canon vs. Nikon and so on and so on. To be fair, most clients will be delighted that you showed up when you said you would, you brought the right booth and it didn’t break down during the wedding and you have hundreds of photos of your drunken friends and family.

We won’t discuss the process film side of things (the old school booths) in this article other than to say, its cool, it’s the real deal, its why photo booths came back into popularity, but just be prepared to wait a bit for your pictures to be ready. In this world of instant everything, and the often heard “I WANT IT NOW!!!! WHAT IS TAKING SO LONG!?!?! I”VE BEEN STANDING HERE FOR 20 SECONDS ALREADY!!!” It is this inpatients we’ve been consumed by that might leave your guest griping about the kind of booth you chose. But its not their wedding, so to heck with ‘em. But in regards to comparing the last printers (ink jet and dye sub) unless you break out your photographer’s loupe and inspect the dither of the print, you’d be hard pressed to see any difference between the two. Back in the day inkjet printers produced less than ideal photos due to large (relatively speaking) droplets of ink they sprayed onto the photo paper, however today’s inkjets produce amazingly high quality images using microscopic droplets to render their images. Also, the color spectrums of these inks have been vastly improved over the years. Much like that of dye sub printers, prints are typically smudge-, scratch-, water- and fade-resistant. Which is more than you can say about a traditional photo strip. So what is the downside to inkjet printer? Speed is the downside. Most inkjet printers will have a 4×6 print ready to go in 30-40 seconds. This might not sound like a lot of time but when you compare it to the dye subs 8-10 seconds, its slow. As for dye sub’s the big, big selling point is their speed. If you have impatient guests, this is the printer for you.

This all being said, we are absolutely all for a photo booth producing beautiful, high res photos that give their guest’s images with remarkable continuous skin tones that would make Yousuf Karsh weep, but lets not forget what its is we are sitting in. Part of the charm and the draw of a photo booth were its “low rent” cheesy photos it produced. Fine portraiture this is not.

Article and images provided by Capital Photo Booth Co. and Honored Occasions Photo Booths

Photo Booth History

Author: Darin Owen

Photo Booths maybe a relatively new addition to weddings and parties for the past few years but they have been apart of American culture for over a century.

According patent records, a man by the name of Mathew Stiffens filed a patent for an automatic photography machine in 1883. However, that same year Monsieur Enjalbert developed a similar machine at the Exposition Universelle in Paris producing melainotypes and tintypes for use as photographic keepsakes, this type of machine sprung up everywhere until after World War 1. The drawbacks to these machines were never totally self-sufficient and ultimately failed because of coin jams and their need for constant chemical changes and repairs. Even with the machines operational problems and their second rate photo quality by comparison to the more costly albumin and platinum prints of the day, thousands and thousands were produced. And much like the modern photo booths of today, they were an easy means to produce an inexpensive, albeit poor quality, photo for the masses.

As photography progressed, technological advances continued, and in 1925 Anatol Josepho, patented a machine called a ‘Photomaton.’ An automatic photography machine, the Photomaton produced a strip of 8 photographs of good quality in 8 minutes. The inventor had drawn up his plans for the machine while traveling across China as a traveling photographer, refined his technical ability while working in Hollywood, built the prototype in a Harlem loft produced his first modern photo booth studio at Broadway and 51st Street in New York City.

Today, things are changing. There are still a handful of traditional chemical booth photo booths around, producing the original photo strips of four black and white pictures. but many machines are being converted or replaced with modern technologies utilizing digital photography with options like email, facebook or abandoning traditional photography all together with video recordings. No matter what the format people love the photo booth for its immediacy and its element of nostalgia and holding on to a personal keepsake no matter what the quality or process.

Images provided by Capital Photo Booth Co.

View more information at Wedding Compass Featured Photo Booth Page

Point A to Point B – Photo Booths

Author:  Darin Owen

With the soaring popularity of photo booths at weddings and parties, there has been an explosion of new photo booth companies arriving on to the scene. Before you sign on the dotted line make sure you’re getting what you asked for.

The name “photo booth” seems to mean a lot of different things to a lot of different companies. One company might be offering up a classic 600 pound process film booth that turns out the traditional classic photo strip.

While a different company might have a fabric tent with a camera mounted to a tripod. Each of these will get you from point A to point B it just depends on the look one is going for. This being said, always ask to see the booth you’ll be renting, or better yet, ask if you can come to their facility to see the booth in action. Ask to take a few shots. This way you can see the quality of the images, as well as see how fast the machine spits out the prints.

While meeting with the photo booth companies, ask a billion questions. Some good ones are:

• What time do you arrive for setup? (Am I billed for this time?)
• Will there be an attendant that stays with the booth? (If so, what is his/her dress attire)
• Are there any restrictions for where the booth can go (i.e. stairs, grass, small door ways)?
• Do you carry liability insurance?
• How long have you been in business?

As with anything, it is best to be well informed so there are no surprises on your big day.