Starting A Photo Booth Business? We Answer Your Most Asked Questions

The HootBooth Photo Booth sales team mentioned to our marketing team recently that they often receive similar types of questions when people are considering starting a photo booth business and shopping for a HootBooth DSLR-based photo booth or an iPad-based photo booth. Here are the top questions we receive from our customers:

Q: How much does it cost to rent a photo booth?

A: Usually between $700 to $1200 per event. Most photo booth companies have a minimum number of service hours which can range anywhere from 2 hours to 4 hours. However, we find that the average rental price in the US is between $200 - $300 per hour of rental. 

Q: How much money can I make from a photo booth?

A: Photo booth rental companies can make a lot! The great thing about the photo booth rental business is that the hard costs (photo media, social sharing fees) are very inexpensive and usually average around $75-$100 per event. After these hard costs, you'll need to factor in your overhead costs like labor & business liability insurance as well as variable costs such as advertising. But given the fact that most photo booth rental businesses can operate out of a home office and the fact that the average photo booth rental price is between $900 - $1200 per event, the net revenue per event, especially for an owner/operater, is very lucrative. In fact, photo booth rental businesses are so profitable that about a third of our customers come back to us when they expand their rental operation with more photo booths and larger service areas.

Q: How much does it cost to buy a photo booth?

Although all photo booths capture an image with a camera and provide photos from the photo session, there is a large range to photo booth purchase costs, from $1,500 - $9,000 or more depending on the type or classification of photo booth.

Q: Is it hard to find financing for a new photo booth business startup?

A:  While you can apply for a loan at your bank, we've found that the easiest, quickest financing is through Klarna, which is available as a payment option at checkout.! Klarna offers up to 36 months of financing for orders up to $10,000. You can get an instant 2-step credit decision when you choose the 'Pay With Klarna' payment option at checkout. Once you've been approved, you can manage your credit directly in the Klarna app,

Q: What types of events do people rent photo booths for?

A: Weddings, for sure! But that's not all. Photo Booths are popular for other private events including birthday parties, corporate events, quinceanera, bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs and anniversary parties. People also rent photo booths for corporate events, festivals, as entertainment for concert VIP areas and large marketing events such as activations and experiential events.

Q: What is the difference between an iPad Photo Booth and a DSLR Photo Booth?

iPad-based Photo Booths utilize the camera and touchscreen display from an iPad to generate digital photos. Because there is less hardware in these types of photo booths pricing is much less and can range from $2,000 to $4,500. These types of photo booths have some super fun photo features including boomerang pics, animated GIFs and regular photos that can all be shared on social media platforms. In fact, iPad Photo Booths from HootBooth include digital props and face tracking filters that are similar to Snapchat filters.

DSLR-based Photo Booths are built with a professional DSLR camera, include a separate PC and touchscreen or a tablet and usually include a photo printer. Because of these high end features, a DSLR camera delivers the absolute best image quality and can instantly print photos. DSLR photo booths contain a more powerful PC advanced photo processing and can support features such as green screen, SloMo (slow motion video) and augmented reality.

However, our new HootBooth® ILLUMIN8 MAX 12.9" iPad Photo Booth With Wireless Printing and HootBooth ILLUMIN8+ iPad Photo Booth With Wireless Printing blur the line between DSLR & iPad-based photo booths. We've integrated a wireless print server and professional dye-sublimation photo printer into these two photo booth models to bring you the best of both worlds. With this product, the photo booth prints photos wirelessly to the included dye-sublimation printing kiosk meaning no ugly cables to mess with or trip on!

Q: Can I print photos from an iPad Photo Booth?

You can print photos to a consumer-grade photo printer, such as the Canon Selphy, from an iPad Photo Booth. However, it takes a long time for each photo to print and the photo quality isn't as high as from a professional dye-sublimation (dye-sub) photo printer. The workaround that you can do is to have a PC or Mac computer act as a 'print server.' This works okay but it is a difficult set up at events and is not an aesthetically-pleasing set up.

So, we fixed this problem with the launch of our new HootBooth® ILLUMIN8 MAX 12.9" iPad Photo Booth With Wireless Photo Printing and the HootBooth ILLUMIN8+ iPad Photo Booth With Wireless Photo Printing. Our new proprietary 'hybrid' photo booths provides the ease of

The HootBooth Photo Booth sales team mentioned to our marketing team recently that they often receive similar types of questions when people are considering starting a photo booth business and shopping for a HootBooth DSLR-based photo booth or an iPad-based photo booth. Here are the top questions we receive from our customers:

Q: How much does it cost to rent a photo booth?

A: Usually between $700 to $1200 per event. Most photo booth companies have a minimum number of service hours which can range anywhere from 2 hours to 4 hours. However, we find that the average rental price in the US is between $200 - $300 per hour of rental. 

Q: How much money can I make from a photo booth?

A: Photo booth rental companies can make a lot! The great thing about the photo booth rental business is that the hard costs (photo media, social sharing fees) are very inexpensive and usually average around $75-$100 per event. After these hard costs, you'll need to factor in your overhead costs like labor & business liability insurance as well as variable costs such as advertising. But given the fact that most photo booth rental businesses can operate out of a home office and the fact that the average photo booth rental price is between $900 - $1200 per event, the net revenue per event, especially for an owner operate, is very lucrative. In fact, photo booth rental businesses are so profitable that about a third of our customers come back to us when they expand their rental operation with more photo booths and larger service areas.

Q: How much does it cost to buy a photo booth?

Although all photo booths capture an image with a camera and provide photos from the photo session, there is a large range to photo booth purchase costs, from $1,500 - $9,000 or more depending on the type or classification of photo booth.

Q: Is it hard to find financing for a new photo booth business / startup?

A:  While you can apply for a loan at your bank, we've found that the easiest, quickest financing is through Klarna, which is available as a payment option at checkout.! Klarna offers up to 36 months of financing for orders up to $10,000. You can get an instant 2-step credit decision when you choose the 'Pay With Klarna' payment option at checkout. Once you've been approved, you can manage your credit directly in the Klarna app,

Q: What types of events do people rent photo booths for?

A: Weddings, for sure! But that's not all. Photo Booths are popular for other private events including birthday parties, corporate events, quinceanera, bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs and anniversary parties. People also rent photo booths for corporate events, festivals, as entertainment for concert VIP areas and large marketing events such as activations and experiential events.

Q: What is the difference between an iPad Photo Booth and a DSLR Photo Booth?

iPad-based Photo Booths utilize the camera and touchscreen display from an iPad to generate digital photos. Because there is less hardware in these types of photo booths pricing is much less and can range from $2,000 to $4,500. These types of photo booths have some super fun photo features including boomerang pics, animated GIFs and regular photos that can all be shared on social media platforms. In fact, iPad Photo Booths from HootBooth include digital props and face tracking filters that are similar to Snapchat filters.

DSLR-based Photo Booths are built with a professional DSLR camera, include a separate PC and touchscreen or a tablet and usually include a photo printer. Because of these high end features, a DSLR camera delivers the absolute best image quality and can instantly print photos. DSLR photo booths contain a more powerful PC advanced photo processing and can support features such as green screen, SloMo (slow motion video) and augmented reality.

However, our new HootBooth® ILLUMIN8 MAX 12.9" iPad Photo Booth With Wireless Printing and HootBooth ILLUMIN8+ iPad Photo Booth With Wireless Printing blur the line between DSLR & iPad-based photo booths. We've integrated a wireless print server and professional dye-sublimation photo printer into these two photo booth models to bring you the best of both worlds. With this product, the photo booth prints photos wirelessly to the included dye-sublimation printing kiosk meaning no ugly cables to mess with or trip on!

Q: Can I print photos from an iPad Photo Booth?

You can print photos to a consumer-grade photo printer, such as the Canon Selphy, from an iPad Photo Booth. However, it takes a long time for each photo to print and the photo quality isn't as high as from a professional dye-sublimation (dye-sub) photo printer. The workaround that you can do is to have a PC or Mac computer act as a 'print server.' This works okay but it is a difficult setup at events and is not an aesthetically-pleasing setup.

So, we fixed this problem with the launch of our new HootBooth® ILLUMIN8 MAX 12.9" iPad Photo Booth With Wireless Photo Printing and the HootBooth ILLUMIN8+ iPad Photo Booth With Wireless Photo Printing. Our new proprietary 'hybrid' photo booths provides the ease-of-use of an iPad-based photo booth, including all the great social media and digital pics, with the seamless printing of a DSLR-based photo booth. We've integrated a wireless print server and professional dye-sublimation photo printer into these two photo booth models to bring you the best of both worlds. With this product, the photo booth prints photos wirelessly to the included dye-sublimation printing kiosk meaning no ugly cables to mess with or trip on! 

Q: What is the size of a photo booth print?

A: There are three standard sizes. A photo strip is usually 2 x6". A full sized photo print is available in a 4"x6" or 5"x7" size. Photo strips usually fit 3 photos on them while a full size 4"x6" or 5"x7" print allows for larger photos and more artwork such as logos and photo overlays.

Q: How do I market my new photo booth business?

Although we go into much more detail in this blog post on how to market your new photo booth business, in summary there are four key tactics to successfully market your new photo booth business:

(1) Network with other event and wedding professionals.

(2) Offer free photo booth services for wedding venues' open houses. This way you can meet prospective clients and each photo taken in your photo booth is just like handing someone your business card!

(3) Be sure to have a great website with good photos, prominently displayed pricing and an informative Contact page with your phone number, email and links to your social media profiles.

(4) Post frequently to social media especially during and right after an event. Also posting specials or new service offerings are great topics to post on your profiles.

Q: What is an 'Open Air' photo booth?

A: Traditional photo booths from back in the day were an enclosed booth with a drape that could be closed for privacy. These were a lot of fun but the drawback is that only 2-3 people could fit inside. Modern photo booths do not have an enclosed space with a drape but are 'out in the open' which allows for large groups of people to gather around for a photo booth session. Some of the many benefits of an 'Open Air' photo booth is that they are super portable, quick and easy to set up and a backdrop is not always needed!

Q: How many pictures does a photo booth take?

A: Although it depends on how many hours a photo booth is in service at an event, the math comes out to approximately 40-50 photo booth strips with an average of 120-150 single photos per hour.

Q: Can I Customize a Photo Print Or Digital Image?

A: Yes, most photo booth software packages will allow you to add a logo or other branding elements to a photo print or to a digital image.

Q: What Is A Good Size Backdrop To Have With My Photo Booth?

A: Most photo booth backdrops are 8 feet x 8 feet (8'x8') or 10 feet x 20 feet (10'x20') to accommodate large groups of people. At HootBooth, our most popular backdrop is a reversible green & white photo booth backdrop that is a great value as it allows photo booth operators to own one backdrop that can serve as either a green screen backdrop or a white backdrop which is the universal favorite for photo booths.

Q: What is the best type of photo booth for a DJ or wedding photographer to buy?

A: Photo booths are popular service rental additions for these types of businesses. Most wedding clients will want to rent a photo booth for their wedding and one-stop shopping is always easier than renting from multiple vendors. For these types of wedding related businesses, we recommend an iPad Photo Booth from our ILLUMIN8 iPad-Based Photo Booth line. This is because it is super fast to setup, they are the MOST portable photo booths and they don't require an attendant to operate since they are so easy for guests to operate.

Q: What color of photo booth is best for my business?

A: The most popular colors of photo booths are pearl white and dark grey or black. We offer our photo booths in pearl white, dark grey and black, depending on the model. Our popular HootBooth® ILLUMIN8+ COLRZ photo booth is available in a wide range of colors including Millennial Pink, Sky Blue, Yellow, Orange, Green, Lilac, White, Red and Violet. pip

use of an iPad-based photo booth, including all the great social media and digital pics, with the seamless printing of a DSLR-based photo booth. We've integrated a wireless print server and professional dye-sublimation photo printer into these two photo booth models to bring you the best of both worlds. With this product, the photo booth prints photos wirelessly to the included dye-sublimation printing kiosk meaning no ugly cables to mess with or trip on! 

Q: What is the size of a photo booth print?

A: There are three standard sizes. A photo strip is usually 2 x6". A full sized photo print is available in a 4"x6" or 5"x7" size. Photo strips usually fit 3 photos on them while a full size 4"x6" or 5"x7" print allows for larger photos and more artwork such as logos and photo overlays.

Q: How do I market my new photo booth business?

Although we go into much more detail in this blog post on how to market your new photo booth business, in summary there are four key tactics to successfully market your new photo booth business:

(1) Network with other event and wedding professionals.

(2) Offer free photo booth services for wedding venues' open houses. This way you can meet prospective clients and each photo taken in your photo booth is just like handing someone your business card!

(3) Be sure to have a great website with good photos, prominently displayed pricing and an informative Contact page with your phone number, email and links to your social media profiles.

(4) Post frequently to social media especially during and right after an event. Also posting specials or new service offerings are great topics to post on your profiles.

Q: What is an 'Open Air' photo booth?

A: Traditional photo booths from back in the day were enclosed with a drape that could be closed for privacy. These were a lot of fun but the drawback is that only 2-3 people could fit inside. Modern photo booths do not have an enclosed space with a drape but are 'out in the open' that allows for large groups of people to gather around for a photo booth session. Some of the many benefits of an 'Open Air' photo booth is that they are super portable, quick and easy to set up and a backdrop is not always needed!

Q: How many pictures does a photo booth take?

A: Although it depends on how many hours a photo booth is in service at an event, the math comes out to approximately 40-50 photo booth strips with an average of 120-150 single photos per hour.

Q: Can I Customize a Photo Print Or Digital Image?

A: Yes, most photo booth software packages will allow you to add a logo or other branding elements to a photo print or to a digital image.

Q: What Is A Good Size Backdrop To Have With My Photo Booth?

A: Most photo booth backdrops are 8 feet x 8 feet (8'x8') or 10 feet x 20 feet (10'x20') to accommodate large groups of people. At HootBooth, our most popular backdrop is a reversible green & white photo booth backdrop that is a great value as it allows photo booth operators to own one backdrop that can serve as either a green screen backdrop or a white backdrop which is the universal favorite for photo booths.

Q: What is the best type of photo booth for a DJ or wedding photographer to buy?

A: Photo booths are popular service rental additions for these types of businesses. Most wedding clients will want to rent a photo booth for their wedding and one-stop shopping is always easier than renting from multiple vendors. For these types of wedding related businesses, we recommend an iPad Photo Booth from our ILLUMIN8 iPad-Based Photo Booth line. This is because it is super fast to set up, they are the MOST portable photo booths and they don't require an attendant to operate since they are so easy for guests to operate.

Q: What color of photo booth is best for my business?

A: The most popular colors of photo booths are pearl white and dark grey or black. We offer our photo booths in pearl white, dark grey and black, depending on the model. Our popular HootBooth® ILLUMIN8+ COLRZ photo booth is available in a wide range of colors including Millennial Pink, Sky Blue, Yellow, Orange, Green, Lilac, White, Red and Violet. 

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