Open Booth Or Closed Booth?

Open Booth Or Closed Booth?

So here we have it, the debate of the century. For almost 100 years photobooths were closed. That is, they had 4 sides or walls and the picture taking was a somewhat private experience, sometimes behind a curtain. In a couple of instances I read about certain locations removing the curtains off the photobooths because of activities that were going on inside.

With the current batch of photobooths, some are more open than others. Today you can even place some of the smallest photobooths on a tripod.

People who like to hold on to nostalgia will probably like the closed booths better, as that is what their grandpa was used to. And of course there are some people who prefer private booths for whatever privacy reasons. I won't go there, but it is generally not something I have personally run into in this business. But then I have always worked with open booths.

I personally like working the more open booths because the entertainment aspect attracts people to the booth. When people see other people having fun in the booths, well, it makes them want to take part too, not to mention the fact that it gives them something to look and laugh at.

Open photobooths are also as a general rule much more portable than closed ones, though there are exceptions to the rule.

The two other big reasons that I like open booths is that they are more handicap accessible generally and it is much easier to accommodate large (15-30 person) groups in an open booth. And if green screen is part of your repertoire, it is hard to argue that you should have an open booth properly lighted to achieve the best picture quality.

The other thing I like about open booths is that you can always close up an open booth where people for whatever reason desire privacy (I hope they realize these pictures go on a hard drive-lol) by adding a tent or other enclosure.

On the other hand you can almost never open up a closed booth.

I have nothing against closed booths and there is a market for all types of booths, but for the ones I purchase for my own business I am all for the open booth with backdrop. We are in the entertainment business after all.