Party Booth Software: Part 1 – Automatic Printing in OS X

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I love photo booths and I have been shooting a “photo booth” setup at weddings which has been a camera on a tripod in front of a backdrop. The only problem is that it’s a bigger setup than I would like. I came across Party Booth software and knew this could be a great solution for what I was looking for. I didn’t want to spend hundreds or thousands creating a stand alone booth since that’s not my main business. With a relatively small investment I have a great photo booth that meets mine, and more importantly my clients expectations.

My Photo Booth Gear:

• 13″ MacBook Pro
• ViewSonic’s 22″ Monitor
• Daylight balanced florescent bulbs for light source
• Bluetooth Keyboard for user input
• Agama 2050AF Webcam
• Canon Selphy CP780 4×6 photo printer (est. $.30 per print)

Part 1: Automatically printing the photos

Issue: When selecting “Print Photo” as your selected output, the user will be prompted with the print dialog.

This isn’t that much of an issue, but I would like to have a much more hands off solution so guest don’t have to click to many buttons to get their photos.

Solution: Create a Folder Action using Automator that prints any files saved to a designated folder on your drive.

The solution is really easy. OS X comes with Automator, a program that makes scripting automated jobs a no-brainer.

Instructions:

Step 1: Open Automator and choose “Folder Action” as your workflow template.

Step 2: Choose the folder that you have saved in your Party Booth output preferences.

Step 3: Add the action, “Print Finder Items” to your workflow by dragging the action from the Library to the workflow window.

Step 4: Choose your printer from the drop down menu to specify where to send your Party Booth photos.

Step 5: Save your Folder Action. The folder action is now saved in the folder [User]/Library/Workflows/Applications/Folder Actions

*Note: If you ever want to apply this folder action to another folder, it’s easy. Control-click on your folder and choose”Folder Actions Setup…” You can now apply the folder action you saved to this folder.

Over the next few weeks I am going to write a few more posts explaining in detail how I setup my photo booth using the Party Booth software. Until then have fun creating your own photo booth!