raspberrypi.org/magpi The Official Raspberry Pi Projects Book 61
PHOTO BOOTH Projects
Guests press the large
arcade button to start
a new photo sessionLight from a strip of ultra-
bright LEDs is diffused by
an angled piece of woodThe LCD screen gives
instructions and then a
live view of the guests
to aid positioning>STEP-01
Wooden cabinet
Jack used pieces of plywood joined
with brass brackets to make the photo
booth’s cabinet, sawing out a carefully
measured section of the front panel to
fit the LCD screen.>STEP-02
LED light diffuser
An angled piece of wood is used to diffuse
the light from a strip of white LEDs. Rather
than acting as a flash, Jack opted to keep
the LEDs turned on, which avoided tricky
timing issues.>STEP-03
Wire it up
Currently, Jack is using three separate
power sources – one each for the Pi, LCD
screen, and LEDs. However, he’s looking
to switch over to a dual rail power supply
(5 V plus 12 V) soon.BUILD A PHOTO BOOTH
camera perfectly with the hole,
but he says this is optional. The
Pi itself was also taped to the rear
of the front panel. For improved
lighting of indoor shots, Jack
placed a strip of white LEDs across
the top, later adding a simple light
diffuser using an angled piece
of wood.
Jack set up the Python software
so that when a guest presses
the button, a seven-second
countdown is started. “During
the first four seconds of the
countdown, an instructional slide
is shown (‘Get ready for photo 1’).
For the final moments of the
countdown, the participants
can see themselves live on the
screen and they can also see
the timer counting down. This
helps the participants to position
themselves in front of the shot,
before the photo image is taken.”
Once the first photo is taken, the
cycle repeats to capture a total of
four images.
So, how did it work out on
the big day? “The guests were
impressed that I’d been able
to build it myself,” says Jack.
“It served as a great topic of
conversation, and helped get some
of the guests mingling. Oh, and
yes, there has been interest from
people asking to borrow it.”The happy couple, Jack and Pam,
trying out the homemade photo booth Image credit: Jonathan Lang Photography