How To: Set Up a DIY Photo Booth Using Your Computer (Free Software Download Included)

By: Bruno Nov 09, 2010

A DIY MacBook photo booth (use a colorful shower curtain or table cloth as a backdrop)

If you have a computer and a printer, then you also have a DIY photo booth just waiting awesome-ize the next birthday party, wedding, or celebration you attend. Some people think photo booths are lame or cheesy; I assure you, they are not. They're a ton of fun, help guests get to know each other, and make guestbooks great. 

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Some friends of ours just got married (read about our DIY wedding gift for them here), and I wanted to set up a photo booth for their reception. It had to be easy (no work involved for the guests), print automatically, and take a series of timed photos in sequence. 

A little Googling turns up a lot of similar, but slightly unsatisfactory (for various reasons) solutions. To save you the hassle of wading through the internets in search of the one true DIY photo booth that will just work, I'm sharing mine with you here (see below for download/instructions).

What I came up with is an Automator workflow (read more) that makes the whole process seamless.

***Note: The software only works on Mac OS X computers. The approach will still apply to Windows or Linux machines, but you'll need to search for the appropriate software.

 

 

Just want the download? Click here to skip the details and get to the goods.

 

 

When you run the software, it:

  1. Prompts the guest to enter their name
    Prompts for the guest's name 
  2. Creates a folder specific to that guest
  3. Snaps three photos using the computer's built-in camera
    Uses iSight camera to snap 3 pictures 
  4. Saves the photos to the guest's folder (individually)
  5. Combines the three photos into a vertical strip 
    example photo strip 
  6. Prints the strip 
    Photostrip printing 
  7. Sleeps the computer, using the pictures taken so far as the screensaver
    Screensaver with photobooth photos 

Here are some examples from the wedding:

                   DIY MacBook photobooth examples

You can download the entire Automator workflow using the link below.

If you end up using this for a party of your own, please let us know in the comments (and include some pics!).

Enjoy!

Download:

Requirements:

- A Mac running OS X 10.6.4 (Snow Leopard) or later, with a built-in or USB iSight camera
- A standard ink-jet printer and sheets of 4x6 photo paper 

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47246 views | Comments (87)

Comments

SAW I have the same issue on 10.6.8. I tried copying the file to the other location and its still not working. damn

 

Does anyone know how to get it to print vertically instead of horizontally?  My printer won't accept 4x6 paper horizontally.

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Will this work on a macbook with 10.4.11 version?

I really wish someone would fix this darn thing. I really want to use it!!!

I'm very interested in this program for my own upcoming wedding but we can't get it to take. We're running Leopard 10.6.8 and everything goes smoothly until the error "the action 'New PDF Contact Sheet' encountered an error. Check the action's properties and try running the workflow again." appears. Any advice to solve this blip?

after downloading it, I can't ope nit.... my Mac says "The action "Find Finder Items" could not be loaded becuase it could not be located. Try Reinstalling the action".... 
I tried, but stil the same mesasge.... what should I do? Thank you for helping us! :)

 

@ Filipe (or anyone else who understands the workings of Leopard)

Your post had some helpful information about making this program compatable with Snow Leopard. However, it seems that you solution of copying the MakePDF.app from the Leopard system required having the Leopard osx install disk. I have followed every other fix, so I'm assuming that it is this compatibility issue with my Snow Leopard software that is causing the error.

Can anyone share the MakePDF.app from their Leopard software? Do you think this is something that can be dome at the Mac Genius Bar?

Thanks!

(If it would just create the final image, this would be AWESOME for our DIY wedding photobooth. We had already planned to use Mac photobooth but were concerned about the number of steps needed to print.)

@ Filipe (or anyone else who understands the workings of Leopard)

Your post had some helpful information about making this program compatable with Snow Leopard. However, it seems that you solution of copying the MakePDF.app from the Leopard system required having the Leopard osx install disk. I have followed every other fix, so I'm assuming that it is this compatibility issue with my Snow Leopard software that is causing the error.

Can anyone share the MakePDF.app from their Leopard software? Do you think this is something that can be dome at the Mac Genius Bar?

Thanks!

(If it would just create the final image, this would be AWESOME for our DIY wedding photobooth. We had already planned to use Mac photobooth but were concerned about the number of steps needed to print.)

Hey, I wrote a photobooth for our wedding a couple of months ago. I made it more of like a kiosk since I wanted it to look like one of those really expensive booths. It has a bunch of features on it now and I'll be adding more as time goes on. My weding isn't till Octoboer so I'm sure there will be a lot of adding. As of now it is full screen, runs on Windows and can use just about any webcam. I'll be adding an optional logo to the filmstrip soon, and you can fully customize the full screen window with your own background or move everything around.

PLEASE let me know what you think as I'm trying to get it working really nice before October.

I know this sounded like a sales pitch, but it's actually free and open source on google code.

hit the download link at:

http://code.google.com/p/monobooth/

im trying to make it run but i am encoutering the screen saver problems }: how do i fix it!

 

I'm having a couple problems. When I try to type my name in I am unable to type. Then I can't type anywhere when I close the program out... Also Interested in adding a watermark and making it full screen. Is there a way to do any of these things? Thank you and it's an awesome program!

Hi all, here's how I solved the 'PDF error'

''The underlying MakePDF.app called by the New PDF Contact Sheet action doesn't workand is the wrong directory in Snow Leopard. 

To fix the problem, get to a Mac running Leopard. Copy

/System/Library/Image Capture/Tools/MakePDF.app

and then put it in the same location on the SL machine. (Or use Pacifist to extract that app from Leopard installation discs, then put the file in the proper directory on the SL Mac.)

Note: Moving the SL version of MakePDF.app from /System/Library/Image Capture/Automatic Tasks/ to /System/Library/Image Capture/Tools/ will not work. The New PDF Contact Sheet Automator action requires the Leopard version of MakePDF.app and expects to find it where it was located under Leopard.''
 
Good luck!
 

Great info. However for those wishing to use their dslr cameras and are not followers of the mac cult, you can do the same thing with windows as the article mentions. You will need to tether using  Adobe Lightroom, Canon ZoomBrowser, or Nikon Capture. This will get you the pictures from the camera to your pc. After that, you can use the dslrbooth.com software to put several pictures together and print them automatically.

Thanks Amy! Yes, someone... please!!!

If anyone has had any progress on figuring out the "New PDF sheet converter failed" error, and how to fix it, would you please post DETAILED instructions? Bruno, if you, or someone knowledgeable could update this file, many of us would be most greatful!

@ Dougie Smooth - How did you create an Automator flow with your DSLR? 

Is there functionality I could strip away to make it compatible with Leopard? Thanks!

THIS IS GENIUS!  Thank you SO very much for this program.  My son will be turning 1 soon and I wanted so badly to have a photobooth as part of the party, since it will be mostly adults and will be a fun thing to participate in.  Question:  where are the files stored after they've been printed?  I'm having trouble finding them!

Again, thanks SO much for this PERFECT program.  You absolutely rock!!!

How do I do this with Windows and a Nikon D5000? Lol, been trying to figure this out...

Thanks! Btw, awesome idea!

is there a way to connect a different camera to the computer instead of just using the built in camera? i would LOVE to do this for a party i'm having. feel free to email me!

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