How To
OpenPhotoBooth runs a server on your computer which allows your browser (Firefox, Chrome, etc.) to operate a camera booth and save photos from a web camera.
This unique arrangement allows for extreme flexibility in layout and design of the photo booth interface, while keeping things simple for the operator.
This how-to will show you how to install and operate the server and browser, as well as give some direction to creating your own custom photo booth theme.
OpenPhotoBooth has only been tested on Windows XP at this time. This is the platform that the software is packaged for, but this does not mean it will not run on Mac/Linux system.
This guide deals with the Windows installation package only. If you would like to run OpenPhotoBooth from source, please feel free to contact us at openphotobooth@littlefilament.com for help.
To install OpenPhotoBooth go to the downloads page and get the latest copy of the installer.
At this point it is safer to uninstall previous versions. To save your photos be sure to copy them from the static folder, which is located at C:\Program Files\OpenPhotoBooth\static\photos\ by default.
To install, just execute the installer and follow the directions.
Once installed, running OpenPhotoBooth consists of two steps: 1) Starting the server 2) Starting the browser.
To start the server, look in your Start menu for the “OpenPhotoBooth” shortcut. Once found, run that and you should see a dialog similar to the following.
You can select another theme from the list, if you have several installed. Once you are ready, click the “Start” button and wait a moment. The dialog should now tell you to navigate to http://localhost:8080/.
For the next part, open up a web browser. OpenPhotoBooth is tested on Google’s Chrome browser, as it has an excellent fullscreen mode, which is desirable for a clean look.
Once you have a web browser open, go to http://localhost:8080/. You should get an interface similar to the one below.
You may not have a view of your web cam in the center though. You will probably need to allow Flash to access your camera.
Taking a photo set with the default skin is easy, just press the “c” button on your keyboard and a countdown will start, after which a photo will be captured.
To shut the system down, simply close your browser, then click “Quit” on the server application.
The photos captured are stored in the program directory, so by default you can see them at C:\Program Files\OpenPhotoBooth\static\photos\. You can move or copy them from this location at any time, it will not affect the application. If you remove them, consider also removing the thumbnails from C:\Program Files\OpenPhotoBooth\static\thumbs\.