What is a photo booth? Also a photobooth or selfie booth

A photo booth is a machine with a camera, a screen and usually a printer, which your guests use to take their own photos and take them home straight away. Nobody has to take the picture: you tap the screen, pose and about 10 seconds later your print rolls out. Anyone looking for a photobooth, selfie booth or photo kiosk for a party usually means the same thing.

Why do we say photo booth?

The word simply combines photo and booth, a small enclosed space or stall, as in phone booth. It's the name most people know, and you'll also see it written as one word, photobooth. In Dutch it's often spelled fotobooth, which is where our own name, Foto-booth.be, comes from. They all mean exactly the same.

In one way the name doesn't quite fit. A booth suggests a closed cabin with a curtain, like the ones you used to find in train stations. Our booths stand open in the room, on legs or as a column, so a whole group can get in the picture and the rest of the party can watch and laugh along. In the US, that's often called an open-air photo booth.

What other names do people use?

There are dozens of names around, and no official distinction between them. Every hire company picks its own word. Here's what people generally mean, and what you get for it with us.

Where does the photo booth come from?

The photo booth is older than you might think. Machines that took photos automatically already existed around 1890, but the booth as we know it comes from Anatol Josepho. He put the first one on Broadway in New York in 1925. For 25 cents you got a strip of eight photos after about ten minutes. Around 280,000 people used it in the first six months.

That machine was called the Photomaton, a name still used in French for a photo cabin. Only when digital cameras and compact printers became affordable early this century did the booth move from the train station to the party.

What's inside a photo booth?

Our photo booths are made up of four parts:

• An 18 megapixel reflex camera with built-in lighting. That keeps the photos sharp, even in a dark party room.
• A touch screen. This is where guests start the photo and see themselves pose.
• A professional photo printer. It prints strips of 5 x 15 cm or a 10 x 15 cm photo in about 10 seconds.
• A box of props. Hats, wigs, boas, glasses and paper props.

A QR code on the screen also puts the photo on your mobile straight away. The Social package is digital only, with no printer.

How does a photo booth work on the day?

For you, it starts with the design of your print and ends when your photos arrive. On the day itself, there's almost nothing for you to do.

1. Before the party. After your booking, our designer creates a print design with your text, logo or photo. We agree when we'll deliver and collect.
2. Delivery. We bring the booth, set it up and test it. That takes about 15 minutes. You provide one power socket and some clear space.
3. During the party. Guests pick a prop from the box, tap the screen and pose. A roll of paper lasts for about 8 hours of non-stop printing, and a member of staff is on stand-by if anything comes up.
4. Collection. We pick up the booth at the agreed time. If it really has to be at night, that's possible with a night collection.
5. After the party. Within about two weeks you get all your digital photos via a personal web link.

Want to read every step in detail, from booking to payment? It's all in how to hire a photo booth, step by step.

Which photo booth suits your party?

That mainly depends on the kind of party. So we have a separate page for every occasion:

• Photo booth hire for your wedding
• Corporate photo booth hire for events and trade shows
• Photo booth hire for your sweet 16
• Photo booth hire for your birthday
• Photo booth hire for a communion or spring party
• Photobooth hire for a school party or graduation

You'll find the prices under all packages and options, with delivery and installation across Belgium included.