Questions you should ask before renting a photo booth for any event.
1. How long have you been in business?
Many new photo booth companies exist in the market today. Some are offering low ball pricing. You need to know how much photography and photo booth experience they have. Experience and professionalism matter! As with most things in life: you get what you pay for.
2. How many photo booth events have you successfully completed?
3. Are you a full-time photo booth company?
4. Is your booth a metal box or a cloth room type booth? Booths come in all sizes, styles, and designs. Some are more elaborate and ornate than others. You’ll find booths from a vintage look to beautiful, custom-designed, stand-up booths made of stained oak wood with real brass rails and appointments. Some booths are designed as stand-alone, decorative pieces while others are designed to enhance and blend with any decor. Some booths restrict the number of people that can fit inside the booth, whereas some can handle groups of 15 or more people. Ask if the booth is designed to be wheelchair friendly.
5. Do you bring full, backup equipment to the event? What happens if the printer breaks or runs out of ink? What will be the down time? Some photo booth companies have backup printers, cameras, computers; every cable and switch is right there at your venue. Many companies include this safety feature in their contract and advertising. Does yours? This is the most important question you can ask. Can you imagine: the photo booth is broken, all your guests are waiting to get in the booth, and no one can fix it? It happens. Should the booth malfunction, how many minutes will pass before it is corrected? Your event is special, so you want a company this is prepared to give you a stress-free photo booth experience every time.
6. Do you use professional equipment? Today’s photo booths are usually equipped with the latest digital equipment. Ask if they are always upgrading their equipment.
7. Do you use a black background? Black backgrounds absorb a lot of light, so many times all you see is the front of the guest(s) lit up in the booth. With lighter color backgrounds, the whole booth area lights up well and you can see all the people in the booth much better, resulting in bright and clear photos that look more like studio shots. Ask if they offer different color backgrounds – many companies do, and give choices.
8. Are your photos dark and/or out of focus? It’s important to take the time to make the proper camera adjustment to provide the best, quality photo available. Photo booths often function in near-dark conditions as found at weddings, dances, and proms. A credible photo booth operator brings adjustable lighting so they can be prepared to light up the area when needed, in order to produce professional, quality photos. Take a look at their photos online and compare.
9. Do you sell photo booth photos? Some companies post the individual photos and photo strips on their website for free downloading and printing, copyright free. Some even go the extra mile and format, enhance, and brand all the photos for easy printing and downloading. Ask if the company does this and how large each downloaded photo can be printed. Some companies allow you to print as large as 8 x 12.
10. Do you offer additional options? Most companies have an assortment of options that can be added to your package, ranging from double sets of prints to external slide show monitors or video guest books, to high impact DVD slide shows of the booth photos set to music.
11. Price…there’s a huge range, why?
The range of pricing varies from company to company depending on the quality of equipment, level of service, quality of product, additional options, experience, and expertise, including a strong degree of protection against problems arising at your event. Many photo booth companies are insured, which also has to be considered.
12. Are you affiliated with any professional organizations?
Check and see if they are members of any area chambers, professional organizations, or the Better Business Bureau.
NO – ALL PHOTO BOOTHS AND COMPANIES ARE NOT THE SAME! Talk with brides and organizations that have used their services. Always conduct your due diligence when hiring anyone for your wedding. Photo Booths are no exception.
Scott Jones is a professional photographer, Shots by Scott Event Photography, and owner of Mississippi PhotoBooths, LLC. For more information, visit www.msphotobooths.com.