Open air photo booth or enclosed?

Posted 12/02/14 in: New Jersey New York

Open air photo booth or enclosed?  In the past few months, I’ve had many people approach me asking about our photo booth services.  Often times, in the midst of the conversation, I realize that we’re visualizing two completely different photo booths.  So, I thought it would be helpful to write a blog post to help clarify the difference between an open air photo booth and an enclosed photo booth.  Just in case you find yourself throwing a party somewhere in NYC and you’re looking to hire a photo booth for your next event.  The first question you may want to ask is: open air photo booth or enclosed?

1) An open air photo booth typically has a camera set-up with an open backdrop.  The printer is located somewhere either on a table or inside a pod that houses both the camera and the printer.  I’ve seen some beautifully designed pod units recently.  Other open air photo booth set-ups simply have the printer on a table or underneath the camera itself.  Usually, the open air photo booth set-up has various backdrops.  There are some open air photo booth companies that offer green screen background, allowing the user to choose the different types of settings for their photo.  It can get a bit technical, but these photos can be quite entertaining if done well!  Most open air photo booth set-ups require a significant amount of space in the venue with limited or no privacy when you take the photo.

2) In contrast to the open air photo booth you have an enclosed photo booth.  This varies from company to company, but the enclosed photo booth set-up usually has several pipes with curtains draped around it to create a tent-like set-up.  Recently, I saw a company using an inflatable booth (sort of like a bounce house) to enclose the photo area.  For enclosed photo booths, the set-up is similar to an open air photo booth – a camera and printer in a pod with a backdrop.  There is a bit more privacy with the enclosed photo booth.  These stand-in enclosed photo booths also typically require a fair amount of venue space as well.

3) We offer a third option, which we think provides an experience similar to the original, vintage photo booths that originated in the early 20th century.  Our vintage photo booth aims to retain the authenticity of the original photo booth, in which the guest sits down on a bench, pulls the curtain and pushes a button.   Our photo booth prints the strips out from booth itself, adding the element of mystery and the joy of reaching into the machine and grabbing their prints.  Our vintage photo booth requires a space of 6 feet by 3 feet and has the versatility to fit into tight NYC restaurants or large extravagant NYC hotels.

Our classic photo booth rental at an event in NYC
Guests posing in our classic photo booth rental at a recent event

At the end of the day,  these things are a matter of taste.  I thought writing a post clarifying some of these differences between an open air photo booth, an enclosed photo booth, or a more traditional, classic photo booth would potentially be beneficial to anyone looking to hire a photo booth for their next event in NYC.  Either way, we love photo booths and we are happy to see people enjoying them again!