Re-Inventing the Photo Booth. DSLR tethered to Lightroom + Greenscreen?

Mgarber

My friend is getting married in January and asked me to create a photo booth for him. His idea is roughly as follows:

1. It should operate automatically at the push of a button, so no photographer will be required to sit out the party.
2. It should have a green screen for compositing funny backgrounds.

I've never shot tethered, but I'm wondering if I can use tethering to leave a DSLR with a remote wire plugged into a laptop, and then have an action script in Photoshop run the composite and save jpegs to a folder that will be visible on some other device.

Does anyone have any experience with something like this? Equipment-wise I think I have everything that should be required, but I'm not sure what the software is capable of.

Matrixphoto

Hi
I have ,
You don't necessarily need to shoot tendered.The set up I used involved an old Rebel with a remote output too a TV so people could see them selves. The background has too be super evenly lit no shadows wrinkles etc...... none.....

I haven't heard of a PS script that can do it automatically, we used a piece of software from

http://fxhome.com/photokey-5-pro

It has batch capabilities

FYI: You still need a attendant at the Booth for a couple of reasons

A. Equipment failure EG Remote stops working
B. The drunker people get the closer they want to get to the camera ETC

Mgarber

Thanks Matrix!
You raise a couple of good points at the end there... so my first step will be borrowing somebody else's camera.

I have experience with greenscreens so I should be able to wrangle that one. I'll research Photokey over the weekend and start making diagrams for a setup that possibly puts some plexiglass between the expensive stuff and the celebrants.

groomsphoto

i haven't tried a green screen background but i did something similar at a wedding a few months ago setting up a photobooth. i was using the flash to bounce off a sidewall and ceiling. the last of the photos did not come out so well as the flashes batteries died. i used a setting close the the ambient light so they were still usable but just not as good. so that is something that an operator should check on periodically even if not there all the time.

i will be doing something similar again at a bat mitzvah in January. only i will be better prepared this time.

dslrbooth

checkout dslrbooth.com for pretty neat photo booth software that lets you run a photo booth from a-z for very cheap and highly professional. No live green feature yet but shoot them an e-mail as they're very open to requests.

sovaphotos

Maybe check this software. Looks like it has more for photo booth shooting. Green screen, flip books, numerous templates, live view, etc.
http://www.breezesys.com/downloads.htm

Mgarber

Thanks guys! I've got about a month to get this together.

Rolf

I've been thinking about doing this at a night event that I shoot in a couple of months and hopefully charging for prints. It's a fund raising event and has older people and has dinner and music. I think it'll a blast too for the patrons - if it is done right. So how do we do this right?

I d/loaded the dslr booth and breezesys trial copies - liked the dslr booth better. They have a pro version that supports greenscreen now. I found it to be slick and real easy! (no I am not associated with them in any way).

So I am curious if anyone has tried this for real - using DSLR booth or something else and a green screen. Any tips and tricks?

Greenscreen: This looks like good bang for buck; large enough, portable and versatile.
http://www.amazon.com/Cotton-Muslin-Backdrops-Ravelli-Background/dp/B002S9KDKS/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pdT1_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=3998HAKG1HFSG&coliid=I2JKSTJON7MLXW

Software: DSLR Booth. Or something better? Cheaper? I like the functionality on DSlR booth. If any one has reservations....please share (but do so kindly, please..;).

Backgrounds: Best source to d/load some backgrounds or a good package? don't need sports or city backgrounds...thinking simple. I might create my own...

Manpower: I'll likely have to have someone to man the booth esp if we are printing.

Pricing models and Rates: ?

Printer: any suggestions? print sizes? offer more than 4x6?

Would love some feedback from folks. Thanks