Vancouver Wedding Photographer: Lyndsay London

Let me just first start by saying that I am not the photobooth expert. But I DO get this question a lot and it is rather simple to set up a basic wedding photobooth if you’ve got the right stuff, baby. Get it? NKOTB? I saw them in concert. Well, anyways…

Keep in mind that what I do at weddings for my photobooth is not what other Vancouver photobooth specialists do. I do not provide on the spot prints, nor do I have a monitor for guests to view. I don’t specialize in booths, I specialize in wedding photography so what I offer is not the same.

Gear I use:

My camera ;).

A high output flash (I use the Canon 580 EXII).

A light stand.

Pocket wizards (I use the Flex TT5 and the Mini TT1 for Canon) or a cord that is long enough to allow your camera to “talk to” your off camera flash.

A white “shoot through” umbrella to bounce your flash off of.

A backdrop (go with something around 8×8 or 8×10). Fabric works for this. Rig a frame for this or simply tape it to the wall. White is always a safe bet. Try to stay away from highly reflective material.

My 35mm lens (I use the Canon 35mm f1.4 L ).

Go and visit Scott at Lens and Shutter in Vancouver, BC. He will hook you up with the things you need.

Okay great. So first up, I attach my Mini TTI Pocket Wizard to the top of my Canon 5d Mark II. Next, on my light stand, I attach my umbrella and then my flash (which I have also connected to the top of my Flex TT5 pocket wizard). Note that my flash is facing directly into the white umbrella. Be sure to set your pocket wizards to the same channel and to turn them both on ;). My off camera flash stand and umbrella is then placed directly next to my camera, which I have now attached to a second camera stand and have placed at about eye level to my guests and in the center of my backdrop. The backdrop should fill the frame of the shot when you take it. You can back up or move forward as necessary to make the adjustment.

My camera settings. I place my aperture at f5 or a little higher so that my subjects are all in focus. If you don’t have high speed sync with your flash gear, start your shutter speed at 1/200 but no faster. Adjust to a slower speed as needed. I do have high sync speed but I still usually end up at 1/160 ish. My ISO is usually set around 800. Again, adjust as necessary in order to expose for the background and subjects. My flash is set to ETTL.

I also set my camera to shoot JPG. This helps to minimize the editing required on a few hundred images. I set my camera to all points auto focus and automatic selection of focus points. I always have Adam taking the shot/manning the camera (we have to use the back button focus button first (but we don’t need to look into the view finder or anything crazy) before taking the picture to improve the focus) – but you could look into getting a remote so that the photo booth patrons can take it themselves.

Finally, it’s great to have a box of props and costume items for the guests to play around with. Pop by a dollar store and pick up a few hats and glasses. Adam and I wear something silly while manning the booth so guests are feeling more comfortable with us. They usually demand we get in the photo with them. We’re that awesome.

One thing I have learned is that it might help to put an X on the floor with easy to remove tape indicating where the guests should stand. For some reason, they end up way off to the right/left (not even close to the center) of the frame. I find human behaviour to be pretty darn funny sometimes. But it gets a little frustrating to constantly ask the guests to come stand in front of the camera so that they are completely in the frame and not just their one shoulder. A final thing I have observed is that guests under the influence can’t seem to help themselves from trying to trip over the light stand while taking their own image of the backdrop. It can’t hurt to find a way to “fence” off your working zone to prevent any liability issues.

That’s all I have for you. If it helps you at all, leave some love in the comment section.

xo

Lyndsay