Event Photobooth 101

Hey folks, today I want to share some things specifically regarding shooting event photo booths. I’ve had about 30 of these gigs in the past two years.

What is an event photo booth? Basically a high turnaround, location photo studio. You can rock your SBs, your ABs, or your Profotos, but the point is you are using strobes to light your subjects. I’ll cover both the technical aspects and the social dynamics involved.

Here’s my typical equipment setup:

AB1600 through an octabox up front, AB800 back left barebulbed for the rimlight, and a gridspotted AB400 back right for the background light. Canon 5D, 35mm f1.4L, wireless transmitter/receiver hooked up to the key light, the rimlight and background light on slave mode.

The whole point of an EPB (event photo booth) is to create images with high production value using studio lighting. If you think about club lighting, it’s designed to quickly stimulate and give glimpses of people’s faces/bodies. Also, they are not nearly strong or consistent enough to properly expose a person. Sure you get some happy accidents and interesting artifacts, but it’s a guessing game. If you are a roaming event photographer, I highly recommend overpowering the ambient lights with your TTL flash setup.

I believe to be an effective booth photographer, one must be a decent studio photographer, meaning you must understand the basics of controlled light. Be confident enough that you can adapt to changing environments and make the best of what’s available. Attention to detail is not as demanding as studio work, but you don’t have the benefit of lots of test photos and prep time. You’ll have about 3-5 minutes to greet, pose, tweak settings, shoot, review, and repeat with a few different poses. It’s GREAT practice for learning how to direct people. In ballroom dance, we encourage new dancers to dance with as many different people as possible. Everyone has a slightly different lead, follow, style and personality. The same is true of being a versatile EPB photographer.

Be surgical and patient. Wait for people to get in the right spot. You’ll be much happier with fewer high quality shots than with tons of mediocre ones and hours of editing that come with it.

(Interacting with your subjects after the break)

Social dynamics
One of my favorite things to do is to create brief narratives in the shot.
I’ll direct each person, giving him or her a loose script to follow. Typical dialogue: “You, sir, have a secret crush on the lady over here, but she is reluctant because there is an alien baby inside her. Guy on the side, you’re privy to the alien baby and are diving in, like that end scene in The Bodyguard to intercept it.” Stuff like that. What’s interesting is that dramatic/moody poses often come off as the most hilarious and entertaining. Your patrons are waiting in line for a unique experience. Your product should be decidedly different from the roaming photographers and friends taking snapshots.

A few rules I try to stick by
- Be kind and congenial. People are queueing up for something fun and exciting. You are the ice cream man/woman.
- Take control. The more alpha male/female you are, the less you have to deal with douchebaggery or camera shyness. Be loud, be decisive, be confident, be the leader.
- Be gracious. Always thank people for their time, even though you are doing them a service.
- Show them the goods. It’s not necessary for every photo, but don’t let your subjects leave without seeing at least one shot.
- Prepare. Get to the venue early and take test photos with whoever is around.
- Be charming. Drink if you drink. Enjoy the party. Joke around with the fellas. Flirt (but don’t threaten the guys) with the ladies.
- Confidence. Let people know that you’re going to create something great with them. Internalize any uncertainty. Channel the spirit of your photographer idol of choice and become that person for the evening.
- Chimping. IMPORTANT. Right after you snap your frame and “chimp” (review your shot via the camera’s LCD), be very mindful of your reaction. Did itt make you smile? Did you nod approvingly? Did you put up devil horns and eat a live bird? Right after your strobes pop, the attention of your subjects (and some of the people in line) is squarely on you and your face will tell them everything about the photo you just took. If you say, “FUCK YES” right after chimping, your subjects will be ecstatic that they chose to sit down with you in your weird chamber of flashing lights and embarrassing poses. If you fucked up, be humble, and say something like “oh come now, we can do better than that!”
- Take breaks! If you start noticing yourself being short with otherwise pleasant people or simply running out of things to say, politely tell the next group waiting that they’ll be the last group you shoot before your break. Step outside, have some alone time, whatever works.

Most of all, enjoy yourself. You won’t make a fortune, but you’ll network and sharpen your skills. Thanks for reading!