Open photo booth lighting help needed.

[Sanjay]

Hi

i was asked to do a photo booth for a charity event and setup as in the picture below but was not happy with the result. I have another charity event in two months time and need your help.

111611

On the night I used a 40w led builders light I got from bunnings as the venue lighting was low.

Im looking to to make the picture quality much better and I have a budget of about $300-400 to do this. I want the equipment to be mains powered(no messing with batteries). Camera I'm using is a canon 5d mk2.

there sometimes could be groups or couple of people in the picture at a time as per attached sample pictures.

what would I need ?

thanks for your help

[wmphoto]

I think firstly you need to put more distance between your subject and background to make it darker. Your lighting also needs to be stronger than the ambient to avoid white balance issues. But I really think your best bet is a couple of speedlites and remote triggers. With your budget look at the Yongnuo range on eBay. You could get 2 flashes and a set of remote triggers and still have change. I use them daily in my work and have had no issues. Set them up on half power and battery life shouldn't be an issue.

[ricktas]

To me, a photo booth..needs a booth. Your above image is just a studio type setup, not a photo booth.

Photobooths tend to be more enclosed and thus the lighting used is more controllable, bouncing off the walls of the booth etc. Excellent picture quality is about using good quality lights, good gear, good setup location and photographer ability. I think you are doing yourself and your photography a dis-service by using 'cheap'. If you want to make a go of this type of photography, invest in it.