Custom Lighting Help - Photo Booth

[berrywise]

Ever since I was a kid I have always been keen on photo booths. For instance last Halloween I went as a portable booth where other party goers could come inside my little booth and have their photo taken.

Anyhow I would like to build my own photo booth and have it in my apartment and also make it so that it could be brough to friends events (weddings, parties etc). I plan on building it in two section (split down the middle) so I can move it in two parts through doorways etc. Use a couple of hinges to hold it together.

Inside I would have two areas. A large area where I would put a chair and then a small enclosed area where I would have my digital camera, computer and monitor, lighting etc.

The idea would be that people could enter the booth, push a button that would trigger a remote cord connected to my camera on a delayed timer. Then they get back into place and the photo is taken, then using software the photo would be downloaded to my camera and then displayed on a monitor inside the booth.

My question for the lighting community is what is the best way to go about lighting such a small little area? I thought maybe cutting a hole in the wall and then put a softbox just above the camera then aiming it pretty straightforward at the chair? Think it would be that simple? Any other suggestions about the lighting or the whole plan for that matter?

Doing some research on the web I found a guy on the west coast who already has something like this and does it as a business. I am including a photo of his booth as this is what I'm really trying to achieve.

Well my thoughts are jumbled as usual, looking forward to putting hammer to nail and giving this thing a shot.

thanks!
scott

[berrywise]

Here is the link to more photos from the guys photo booth.

www.redcheese.com You need to pick an event and just type in an email address (any will work) and you can view the galleries. If I could achieve results like he has I would be really pleased. He seems to have really good depth of field, even the people getting right up next to the camera seem to be pretty sharp and not blown out by any means.

The only thing is that his booth is really pretty big and needs to be hauled around on a truck.

-s

[Asylum Steve]

This is one of those ideas that seems to make great use of the capabilities of digital imaging.

I, too, have always liked photo booths, but my experience has only been with the old Polaroid ones. I love the quality of the bw images they produced. Technically, It was relatively poor (at least from a creative point of view), and yet the shots had such a unique look to them. You instantly knew when you saw one that it was a booth photo.

I also liked that people, by nature, mugged for these pictures, and you were always given a sequence of shots, which to me adds another dimension to the process...

IMO, a small soft box should do the trick for your booth. It would give you even, shadowless lighting (at least no shadows on the subjects), and the space (front to back) that it would have to cover would be relatively small, so I'd imagine the light output would stay in a fairly narrow range.

Let us know how this contraption (and I use that term with the utmost affection!) turns out...

BTW, an easy way to view examples of redcheese's pics is to click on SERVICES, then PORTFOLIO.

Here is the link to more photos from the guys photo booth.

www.redcheese.com You need to pick an event and just type in an email address (any will work) and you can view the galleries. If I could achieve results like he has I would be really pleased. He seems to have really good depth of field, even the people getting right up next to the camera seem to be pretty sharp and not blown out by any means.

The only thing is that his booth is really pretty big and needs to be hauled around on a truck.

-s

[berrywise]

Because this photobooth will be a bit larger than your traditional photo booth (mainly to hold small groups of people) how big do you think I should make the softbox? I am thinking the width of the box will be in the four to five foot range. Inside I figured to just cut a whole in the inside wall (facing the people) and then use stretch drafting paper over the opening and then probably use a cardboard box with white paper inside to complete the softbox.

Would it be better to make the softbox a lot wider to keep it from having shadow drop off on the edges?

If it matters I would like to use a Vivitar 285 flash because well that's what I got

Or would it be better to have the softbox inside the actual box somehow and not back behind the wall?

Probably just gonna have to play with it but would rather have an idea before putting the saw to the wood.


Thanks Steve,
scott

[Asylum Steve]

Scott, I'm not sure what further advice to give you. I'm really no expert on putting together something like this...

Unfortunately, you may find that the only way to figure some of these things out is by trial and error.

If you use a large translucent sheet over your 285 flash, it should diffuse the light quite a bit. Still, there is likely to be a "hot spot" as the basic flash output is fairly concentrated. This may translate to a light falloff on the edges of your subjects.

What you might want to consider is diffusing the flash INSIDE the softbox, too, either by bouncing it off the inside of the box, or by fitting a smaller softbox over the flash itself.

As for a seperate softbox inside the booth (as opposed to shooting throught the drafting paper), the only advantage I can think of for that would be that the light can be positioned more easily.

Guess it's time to start doing some mockups...

Because this photobooth will be a bit larger than your traditional photo booth (mainly to hold small groups of people) how big do you think I should make the softbox? I am thinking the width of the box will be in the four to five foot range. Inside I figured to just cut a whole in the inside wall (facing the people) and then use stretch drafting paper over the opening and then probably use a cardboard box with white paper inside to complete the softbox.

Would it be better to make the softbox a lot wider to keep it from having shadow drop off on the edges?

If it matters I would like to use a Vivitar 285 flash because well that's what I got

Or would it be better to have the softbox inside the actual box somehow and not back behind the wall?

Probably just gonna have to play with it but would rather have an idea before putting the saw to the wood.


Thanks Steve,
scott

[berrywise]

How bout an update

Well I got the thing built and it was able to survive my wedding as it's first run. Definately gotta tweak some things but it really kind of came down to the last minute on building it.



http://www.scottharaldson.com/photobooth/

It's still sitting over at my folks house but when I get it back I'll take some photos of it all and post up. I ended up using a small pocket soft box diffuser over the flash head and then two 4' flourescents bulbs on either side of the camera. I definately need to get more light to even things up whether that be a second flash lower in the box or something else.

Oh well it worked and that's what counted for now. Hopefully get around to making it a little more professional as a friend of mine wants to rent it from me for their wedding.