DIY Photobooth Rig with Custom Button

Computers & Mobile Photography & Video
DIY Photobooth Rig with Custom Button

Given the responsibility of creating a photo booth for an annual work party, Pete Prodoehl from Rasterweb decided he wanted to use Sparkbooth, an Adobe AIR-based application that can turn a computer into a photo booth. Normally, a partygoer activates the software by pressing the spacebar on a keyboard. However, in order to simplify the set up, Pete created a custom button and enclosure based on the same hardware as The AWESOME Button: a Teensy USB. The button acts as a USB keyboard that serves one purpose, pressing the space bar. The arcade-style yellow button is much more robust and—I’m guessing—more enticing for guests to press than the spacebar on a keyboard.

Also be sure to check out David Cline’s DIY photo booth write up in MAKE Volume 24.

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6 thoughts on “DIY Photobooth Rig with Custom Button

  1. jackie Spellen says:

    This is awesome!  If I have a party in my house, I will use my 27″ iMac and Macbook 2.7 just like the way you have it in the above images.  I already know the quality of the camera’ is poor.  However, by using the correct lighting, some images are really good!

  2. msleman says:

    If you want better quality, you can use a dslr camera tethered to your pc. Take a look at http://www.dslrbooth.com for instructions on how to do this and the software needed.

  3. Bran says:

    Why not connect the button mechanically to the spacebar?

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Matt Richardson is a San Francisco-based creative technologist and Contributing Editor at MAKE. He’s the co-author of Getting Started with Raspberry Pi and the author of Getting Started with BeagleBone.

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