A: This depends to a large extent on how you’d like your evening to flow. If you’d like the booth to be off during your dinner and formal program to avoid distractions, you can add up to 2 hours (they don’t have to be consecutive) of down-time. Using down-time means that you’re not using up the more valuable active booth time when the usage may not be optimal, for example, during dinner, speeches or awards.  Often, our clients want to have a booth available during cocktails rather than only running it after the speeches. This is a great way of entertaining your guests at the start of the evening while they wait for others to arrive. Down-time also lets our clients spread out their rental over more of their evening.

A: Of course your guests will love the booth!  😛  If you think that there is a chance that you might want to extended your rental that night, let us know when you’re booking and we’ll factor this into our schedule. We can likely accommodate your request even without any early notice but you have to let your attendant know an hour before the scheduled conclusion of your rental. This is so that we can rearrange our pick-up schedule and staffing. If our driver has already arrived for the tear-down when you decide that you want more time, unfortunately, that’s too late and we won’t be able to honour your request.

A: Absolutely! We can handle this in 3 ways:

Unlimited Prints + Digital Sharing > Keep the prints unlimited and add an “extra” to the rental package that allows guests to text or email their images following their session directly from the booth.

1 Print per Session + Digital Sharing > Each session would get one print and guests can text or email their images following their session directly from the booth. We can implement this option at no extra charge.

Add our Social Media Station to your rental > With our social media kiosk placed near your booth, guests can email, text, Facebook, Tweet and Insagram their images for the duration of your rental. This separate kiosk keeps the booth more free so that larger numbers of guests can make use of it.

*Keep in mind that, although a digital sharing option is great, the best way to ensure that your keepsake remains “top of mind” for your guests after your event is to have a physical print out. Digital versions tend to get lost within folders of other photos on our smart devices while a physical print is more likely to get placed on a refrigerator, a bookshelf or fireplace mantel and viewed more often.

A: As you probably already know, Flashworks’ owner, Stephan, is a graphic designer (Bachelor of Design from the U of A). He hates templates. He’ll design all your visuals from scratch to emulate any look you already have in place. In other words, Stephan will design your graphics to match your invitations, programs, or branding so you don’t have to worry about your names simply being pasted into “your name here” template that’s doesn’t fit with your event.

Event Professionals > Stephan understands how to immerse your guests in a consistent, seamlessly branded experience that incorporates your branding (according to the usage manual) and campaigns that exist for your event in all the booth-related visuals (be it for the prints, digital overlays, booth side-screens, micro-sites, vinyl wraps, etc).

Flashworks really stands out from the pack in design and visual (photo and video) quality.

A: You’re totally free to bring your own props. We’ll make sure to keep track of them and return them once your rental concludes.

If you have a specific theme in mind, we can source some props that fit the bill. Most of the time, we’ll source these for you at no extra charge. However, if your theme is lavish or so specific that we wouldn’t be able to reuse the accessories at future events, we’d provide you with an estimate for the additional dress-up gear.

A: For the Classic and Mirror Booths, normally, we require just one 110V (regular) outlet within 20′ of where you’d like the booth to be placed. Although the booth doesn’t draw a lot of power, it peaks when printing so it’s a good idea not to have the booth on the same circuit breaker as heat lamps, kitchen appliances or coffee urns.

Light Painting, Slow Motion Booths, 360 Video Booths and Mosaic activations may require additional outlets for peripherals and extra lighting. A Social Media Station add-on will also require a separate power outlet within a few feet of where you’d like it placed.

Outdoor Events: If you plan on operating the booth outdoors inside a tent away from the mains, it should be run on a dedicated, electronics-safe (pure-sin) generator in the absence of mains power via extension cord. Something like the ultra quiet Honda EU2000 is recommended which you can also rent from us.

A: Location is important > When it comes to green-screens, the most important consideration is lighting. You want to have your booth away from windows and skylights so that the lighting across the green-screen backdrop will be consistent and uniform. The same is true of DJ lights and gobos. Any bright highlights moving across the backdrop when a photo is taken will result in a poorly rendered final image.

Image Quality > For the best implementation of your green-screen, background imagery should be at minimum 1440px x 1024px at 72dpi (landscape orientation). Video green-screens need to be 1920px x 1080px @72 dpi. It’s also a good idea to stay away from backgrounds images that are solid colours, especially white or black. If you’d like tiled logos as a backdrop, make sure that the logos are large enough that any small text doesn’t get lost.

A: Here are some things to keep in mind:

Booth Set-up > Usually we set up your booth an hour before the start time of your rental. If you want your booth in place earlier than thatm, let us know. During our busy seasons we may request to set up earlier in the day (our contract states 3 hours) or even the night before (depending on the venue). Please make sure that your venue is easily accessible without any obstructions. If there are stairs are your venue with no access to an elevator, please let us know.

Booth Tear-down > Once your rental time concludes, we’ll give you a chance at a final photo or two and will proceed to tear down your booth. Usually we have to be prompt with the tear-downs as we typically have multiple tear-downs per evening, especially during our busy seasons. Please also make sure that any load docks or required access points at your venue will be clear of obstructions or parked vehicles at the time of your tear-down.

A: We know you have a budget but we also know you want the best possible experience for your guests. It’s understood that you want all in attendance to have a keepsake of your special event and that each time they view their photo-memory, they’ll relive their awesome moment at the booth. You need that moment to be fantastic and not mediocre. With Flashworks you’re ensured of magnificent memories in 3 ways:

Experience > We’ve been doing this since 2009 so we know that works. We know how to capture fun, high quality photos you’ll love, and create beautifully designed graphics that compliment your theme or brand. We’ll make recommendations for the booth placement at your venue and the timing of your rental that encourages the most booth usage. Since our booths are all custom built, we know them inside and out and understand what options and features your guests will love.

The owner and operator of Flashworks is also a graphic/industrial designer. This means that everything, including the photography, lighting, layout graphics (designed to your specifications), booth placement, and booth interface is implemented with attention to detail. No “Comic Sans” or default “Arial” font here! Corporate clients can rest assured that their branding will be represented according to any branding manuals you supply.

Service > It goes without saying that when you pay for a service it’s expected that the hardware will function properly. But, there’s nothing memorable about that. What people remember is how they were treated. “Service” with Flashworks means that, in addition to the “Golden Rule,” you’ll always be treated kindly, with respect and appreciation, from your first phone call or email inquiry to your post-event follow-up. At your event, your booth attendant will greet you and your guests with a smile, graciously providing them with any direction they need, and keeping your booth optimized. At any time, we’re always happy to answer your questions and address any concerns.

Trust > This is probably the most important of the three. Brides and event planners alike trust Flashworks with their once-in-a-lifetime, “I need this to be perfect” events, be they gigantic or intimate. Our clients explain the vision for their event and we recommend the features and options that will work best. In 10 years Flashworks has never missed or cancelled an event; we foster relationships with our clients so they can rest assured that their activation will be worry-free.

In the end, Flashworks isn’t the cheapest photo booth service you’ll be able to find. Quite simply, that’s because we don’t cut corners or cheap out. As we’ve heard it said, “If you pay peanuts you’ll get monkeys”. We’re the masters of our photo boothing trade and our record speaks for itself. Your next event is too important to leave to chance on a “terrific deal” you found somewhere on the web. We won’t leave you with a mess.

A: Don’t worry! Give us a call or an email and describe what sort of booth functionality you’re looking for. We likely already have what you want be we simply can’t list all of our available options, extras and accessories on our site.

Custom Builds > Owner and operator, Stephan Bodnar, built all of our booths from scratch and retrofitted The Mercer Tavern‘s old-school 1980s chemical booth for digital. If there’s something totally unique and customized that you want created for your event (even a permanent booth built for installation in your venue) he can handle it.