Renting a Photo Booth - Classic Arcade Style Vs The New Open Layout

If you're shopping around for a photo booth for a wedding or other social event, you may have noticed there are now at least two radically different types available. There's the traditional arcade style booth, with a bench, a roof and privacy curtains. But there's also a new open design photo booth. The open layout booth ditches the classic boxed-in look, in favor of just having a camera facing a backdrop. Both of these configurations have their pros and cons.

The open booths have two primary benefits. First, larger group shots. Since there is not a limiting little box for your guests to climb into, you can typically squeeze up to 10 people in a group shot. Large group shots are much more fun to take, and create better photographic memories. Secondly, the fun is kept out in the open so everyone can see and participate. The laughter created by 10 people trying to squeeze into a group shot is absolutely contagious. Open booths are typically much easier to transport and can often go where arcade style booths can't. The second floor of a building with no elevator, for example. The trade off is that the open design doesn't look like a traditional photo booth. In fact, it's not a booth at all, even though they call it one. They are also not recommended for outdoor events in the sunlight, unless arrangements are made to block the sunlight. Photos will be inconsistent throughout the day, and some photos may look very bad if direct sunlight is shining on the subjects.

There is still something to be said for the classic arcade style booths. Some people just prefer the nostalgia of an arcade booth. There's no mistaking the signature look of an enclosed booth with privacy curtains. Oh, and about those curtains, if you think some of your guests would like to pose au natural after a few libations, then the enclosed arcade booth is definitely for you! Arcade booths can also be a better choice if there are space concerns, as they have a much smaller footprint than the area taken up by an open photo booth. The arcade style booth is highly recommended for outdoor events when sunlight may be a factor. Since they are enclosed, there is a much more controlled environment to take consistent photos for the duration of the event. Of course the downside is that the typical arcade photo booth will only fit 2-4 guests at a time.

Be on the lookout for the latest in technology, live video recording. Some booths will offer your guests the option to record a short video for the guest of honor after they have posed for their photo strip. This is what wedding videographers used to go table to table to do. But doing the video in the booth affords the guest some privacy, and since it is optional, no one is put on the spot and made to feel uncomfortable. The downside of the video photo booth is that it may take longer to get guests in and out of the booth. It is recommended that if you rent a photo booth with video capability, you reserve it for a longer period of time than you would a regular photo booth. You want all your guests to have the opportunity to use the booth. Some vendors will also rent you a second booth for your event at a significant discount since two booths side by side will typically still only require the watchful eyes of one attendant.

Which ever style you decide on, shop a few companies. Try to base your decision on the entertainment value the booth will provide to your event. Be sure to check with your venue too. Most catering managers have seen photo booths in their venue and they may have some thoughts about what works best for their particular location.

For more information about either type of photo booth rental in San Diego, please see my photo booth company at http://www.StarlightPhotoBooth.com. 

I'm So Sick Of Starbucks! So I Got An Office.

We FINALLY signed the lease on an office in East Mission Valley! I no longer have to submit myself to the judgment of the skinny-jean wearin', MySpace account havin' hipsters in the employ of Starbucks. I just know they are thinking "Really? You're going to buy a bottle of water and take up a table here for 90 minutes? Really?" They say "really" a lot. 

We did it mostly because it makes sense. Aside from the suck factor of meeting at Starbucks, we have some upgrades that really need to be seen, rather than explained. Uplights, monogram projector, and best of all... two photo booths! 

On a personal note, I really hope having the office will help draw a line between work time and personal time. Working from home tends to blur the line and burn me out. I want to work at work, and be a normal person at home. I'm seriously considering removing my home office so I'm not so tempted to sit here for hours at a time, writing blog posts about hipsters.

The space is located on Mission Gorge Place, right off of Mission Gorge Road. It's a great central location. We will have two tenants sharing the space, a wedding coordinator and a photographer. We will definitely have some events surrounding the grand opening, I'll keep everyone posted. 

Top 5 Tips To Get The Most Out Of Any Photo Booth Rental

Renting a photo booth can be quite expensive. To get the most out of the experience, remember that a photo booth is a part of the entertainment. These tips will help you make the booth as entertaining as possible, and therefore, get your guests to take more pictures!

1. Use props! Even if your event is an elegant, black tie affair, you simply must use props in your photo booth. Your guests will have so much more fun using silly hats, glasses and boas. Props also encourage people to use the booth more than once per evening. If you want to get people to come back over and over, the props are the best way to do it. Here's a tip if you still think your event is too fancy for props: Hide the props until the last hour of the photo booth rental. This will give everyone a chance to have nice pictures taken in their tuxedos and evening gowns, then they'll be back for more when you take out the props.

2. Put it close to the action. Don't stick your photo booth in the foyer if you don't have to. Fun is contagious, why not put it with the rest of the party? One of the best locations is across from the dance floor if you're also having a DJ. Just remember, if the period of time you have rented the booth is shorter than the party, they will have to set it up and/or break it down in full view of your guests. Make sure the set up and break down times don't conflict with scheduled events, such as speech or toast time.

3. Use the photo strips as the party favors. Most photo booth companies can put custom text on the photo strips for you, which makes them a fabulous memento that will never be thrown away. This should also save you a few bucks and help you pay for the photo booth rental. Let's say you have a hundred guests, and you want to give each of them a small token of appreciation. At $5 each, your cost for those party favors is $500! Why not put that money into your photo booth budget?

4. Make a memory book. Many photo booth companies can provide a book, or you may do it yourself. You will want to ask the rental company if their booth will automatically do double prints so your guests keep a copy, and another copy can be put in the memory book. Provide some pens and have your guests sign in next to their photos. Another fun thing to do is to buy stickers that look like speech bubbles. People can put silly comments in the speech bubbles. The bottom line is, people can be quite creative. The more creative options you give them, the more they will come back to use the booth.

5. Make custom cutouts to pose with. This can be a really simple way to personalize your photo booth experience. For a wedding, send 8x10 headshot pictures to be printed at WalMart, or Kinkos, or wherever you print your photos. Make sure the heads fill up the entire frame. Cut them out, give them a cardboard (or similar) backing, and attach to a wooden paint stir stick. People will pose with the bride and groom all night! For other events, simple sayings on signs such as "BFF" or "OMG" will have your guests in stitches. For some events, you can even use bumper stickers with funny sayings (such as "I'm with stupid") pressed onto a cardboard backing.

For more information about San Diego Photo Booth Rentals, please visit http://www.StarlightPhotoBooth.com

The Top 4 Things I Hate About Your Web Site

1. The splash page  From the thousands of results Google gave me, I picked your site. I clicked to enter. Then I'm taken to a page, and when it finally finishes loading, the only thing of use to me on that page is a link that says "click to enter." One click to enter isn't enough for you? You need two clicks to make sure I'm serious about getting to your content? What if instead of saying "hello" when I answer my phone, I greet everyone with "Are you sure you meant to call me?" Yeah, the splash page is that stupid.

2. Music  It's 2:08 AM. Like most DJs, I'm a night owl, so I'm awake and browsing the web. It's quiet, and my dog is asleep on my feet (like usual). Suddenly, at a volume I selected earlier in the day while listing to a podcast from 2 rooms away, the song Better Off Alone by Alice DJ is blasting through my speakers. Buster, who had been dreaming about tipping over a giant trash can, is now awake and barking. My children and wife are now awake, and my wife is now questioning her decision to marry me. Music on web sites is a clear case of "just because you can, doesn't mean you should."

3. Blogging just for the keywords  I see this all the time in my industry with DJs who post "event reports." They typically post unreadable sentences like "As a San Diego DJ, and a San Diego Wedding Professional/wedding expert DJ, it was a pleasure being the disc jockey for hire at Tom and Melissa's San Diego wedding celebration special event in San Diego, California." If you're going to cram keywords on your site to tell Google you are a DJ in San Diego, at least find a clever way to do it, like I just did. San Diego DJ.

4. Flash  I loathe Flash and I wish it would die already. Imagine if every site you visited had a unique and quirky user interface for you to learn before you could get to the actual content. That is the world of Flash. I also find it offensive that an all Flash site breaks the back button. Do you realize the back button is the single most used feature on a computer? Did you really think no one would miss it? I've got to throw some bonus hatred at Flash because it is usually accompanied by music (see above), and/or a splash page (also covered above). If you have an all Flash site, you are obviously a fascist and a communist. Die, Flash. Die. 

Bonus advice  Obviously, this piece was written with an abundance of hyperbole and bombast, but only in good fun. Here's some bonus advice, for what it's worth. People don't like a complicated user interface. When I get to an all flash site, and the whole thing is just an image, it's confusing. Where do I click? Anything that takes figuring out is BAD. I think because of the expressive nature of weddings, wedding vendors feel pressure to make their web sites as artsy as possible. Unfortunately, many people sacrifice usability to accomplish their vision of art. We must learn to strike the balance between practicality and aesthetic appeal. I'll leave you with a book recommendation that has been a great help to me. Get a copy of  Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach To Web Usibility by Steve Krug. It's a very thin book that you should keep handy for reference.

Let me know if you have your own web peeves in the comments below. You don't need to sign up for an account, just click on the "Post a Comment" link below.

I Went To Vegas and All I Got Was This Awesome Photo Booth

Everywhere you turned, the exhibit hall was packed with photo booth manufacturers at the 2011 DJ conference (MBLVXX) in Las Vegas. The offerings ranged from a wooden box on a tripod, to an all metal booth with shiny, fleck filled automotive-type paint, and everything in between. The manufacturer of the booth we already own was there, with sparsely clothed models dancing around his exhibit space. This was our first stop. Not because of the models, but because we had already decided that we were going to buy a 2nd booth. 2010 was awesome for photo booth bookings, and 2011 looks even better. It was just a matter of negotiating a price and delivery terms. But when it came time to get some questions answered, we couldn't get the time of day. It seemed the photo booth guy was too busy delighting in the company of his barren-buttcheeked models. Ok, I guess I don't blame him, but we were there for business. We decided to try again later and have a look around.  

It's a good thing we did. If it hadn't been for the half dressed honeys, we would have missed out on the booth we ended up purchasing. We were just passing time when a photo booth salesman from a different company pulled us out of the aisle. He quickly showed us all the features of the booth, each one more impressive than the last. But I think I made up my mind when he showed us that the photo booth also records video clips! A brilliant feature that is missing from all other photo booths. We knew we had a unique opportunity to bring a product to market that is generations ahead of what's out there. Andy and I did some deliberating, but not much. We knew that even though it cost about double what we were expecting to spend, this was the booth for Starlight Photo Booth. 

In keeping with the company name and theme, Andy thought we should call it The Galaxy Photo Booth. Even the paint job fits with the theme of the company, it's called (coincidentally) "Starry Night." The booth is all metal, and the black automotive paint job has a metal fleck in it. Any cholo would be proud to have this paint job on his '64 Impala. The Galaxy Photo Booth is beautiful, and can be used in the open like our current booth, or in the traditional Arcade configuration. 

For more information about San Diego Photo Booth rentals, please visit http://www.StarlightPhotoBooth.com.