*Seriously… Don’t Rent A Photo Booth Until You Read This!!!

Want to learn how to quickly weed out all the bad photo booth companies?

In this article we reveal the best questions to ask before renting a photo booth.

1. What are ALL the fees?

We receive a lot of inquires and sometimes customers let us know that they’ve found a cheaper price on Groupon or Thumbtack. Later they find out that the initial quote didn’t include all the extra “add-on” fees. Some of these companies are charging fees for mileage, parking, valet, meals, delivery, setup, take down, props, print fees etc. Make sure what you order includes everything you need.

2. Do you have liability insurance?

We know, it’s a photo booth, what could possibly go wrong? The reality is most venues require that outside services have liability insurance. But not all vendors will show up with a certificate of insurance. Venues are busy and don’t always have the time to collect proof of insurance from every vendor. Sometimes photo booth companies will get booked at the last minute and fly under the radar. This question will separate the fly-by-night companies from the professional ones. Those who just run a photo booth business on the side will not be willing to pay the costs of having insurance.

3. Do you have references?

The best indicator of the future is the past. Employers, landlords, and others ask for references, why shouldn’t you. This is your event and everything needs to run perfectly. Feel free to ask us for references or testimonials before deciding.

4. What will the photo booth and setup look like at my event?

This is your wedding (or special event), one of the most important days of your life, and everything needs to be perfect. The last thing you want is a beautiful reception decor, with a cheesy, makeshift blowup booth with neon lights in the corner. We have seen some interesting booths over the years. Some appear to be DIY, homemade, constructed with painted wood, shower rods, exposed PVC pipe, and shower curtains attached.

5. What are the quality of the photos?

It may seem simple, but there is actually a lot that goes into capturing a high-quality photo in a photo booth. Ask the company to see examples of galleries. You don’t want to assume the sample images on their site is what you will get. Inspect full galleries and compare the images by downloading several examples. You want to see the final outcome of your images before deciding on a booth. Look out for images that look too dark or overly bright. Avoid images that look pixelated and small in size. You’ll want the images to be high resolution so you can print them out after. Compare galleries to see is their colors are consistent. You don’t want your images to be too cool or too warm. If you don’t have an eye for these things just send it off to a friend with a good eye for detail. They may actually enjoy giving you their “professional” opinion.

Tip – Some photo booth companies will buy stock footage or hire professional photographers to create sample work but deliver much lower quality images.

6. What kind of camera do you use and why?

Most photo booth cameras are hidden inside the booth. You don’t want to find out later that a cheap webcam or camera phone was used to capture the pictures. Booths with DSLR cameras such as Canon or Nikon are ideal. This isn’t to say that just having a nice camera means great pictures. You still need someone operating the booth that has a good understanding about photography and lighting. Lighting is probably just as important as the camera and lens. Having nice bright soft light is essential to making a great photo.

Tip – This tech talk might not make sense to you but all you have to look for when asking this question is how they answer it. If they glaze over the question or barely give you a good answer it may be reason to be skeptical about it.

7. What kind of printer do you use and why?

DNP 620A or DS40 “Dye Sublimation” printers are going to be your best bet for professional onsite printers. The reason for this is they print fast (roughly 10 sec), no ink messes, rarely ever jam, fast to swap out the ink/paper, accurate color and sharpness and best of all their images last a long time. We’ve seen photo booths with slow ink jet printers and its just not fun for the guest to be waiting in line.