Make: Volume 52

EVERYBODY LOVES CLOWNING IN A DIGITAL

PHOTO BOOTH AT PARTIES AND WEDDINGS,

THEN SHARING THE PHOTOS ONLINE. But

who wants to risk a laptop getting doused with

margaritas or champagne?

These days, cheap single-board computers

make it easy to roll your own standalone photo

booth that can connect to the internet with no

help from your precious PC. Here’s a simple build

that’s based on the Raspberry Pi mini computer

and Pi Camera Module. It’s touchscreen-

controlled by partygoers, and it automatically

emails your photos (if you wish) and uploads

them to Google Photos where anyone with the

password can see and share. All the software is

open source.

Our gang at WyoLum originally made a

Raspberry Pi photo booth to write custom images

for E Ink badges at the Open Hardware Summit

in 2013, pairing the Pi with our popular AlaMode

Arduino-compatible development board. The

touchscreen display we used (also used in the

“PiPad” tablet in Make: Volume 38, makezine.com/

go/pipad) was nice, but expensive. Since then,

the official Raspberry Pi Touchscreen has been

released, and the new Raspberry Pi Model 3 has

integrated Wi-Fi. Perfect for this project!

So we redesigned our OpenSelfie photo booth

KEVIN OSBORN lives

in Boston, Massachusetts.

He started messing around

with computers when they

were still in big buildings

and soon after college was

making office appliances,

video games, and enterprise software. He

builds prototypes by day, and spends his nights

creating open source electronics.

JUSTIN SHAW

co-founded WyoLum and

now lives in Washington,

D.C. His training is in

mathematics but lately

he’s been enamored with

interacting with the “real

world.” After experimenting with BASIC Stamp

and PIC microcontrollers, he came across the

Arduino platform and has never looked back.

JENNY CHING

studied at Loyola

Marymount University

where she got her bachelor’s

in mechanical engineering

and minor in Chinese

(Mandarin). She is passionate

about designing and building, and loves

spending time working in the wood shop with

her dad. jenniferching.weebly.com

as the TouchSelfie, and tied it all together with

a minimal set of mounting brackets you can 3D

print (or laser-cut) to mount the whole thing on

a tripod. You can also design and build your own

amusing enclosure if you prefer.

BUILD YOUR TOUCHSCREEN

WI-FI PHOTO BOOTH

First you’ll set up the Pi with the right software,

then connect all the hardware. I like to use a

wireless keyboard for setup, but you can use a

wired keyboard, or after initial configuration, you

can use SSH.

1. CONFIGURE THE PI’S OPERATING

SYSTEM

If this is your first Pi project, follow the Quick Start

Guide at raspberrypi.org/help/quick-start-guide.

Download the latest version of Raspbian, the

official Linux operating system for Raspberry Pi,

from raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian.

Then copy the Raspbian-Jessie.img file onto

your SD card (Figure

A

), using Apple Pi Baker

(Mac) or Win32DiskImager (PC).

Place the SD card in your Pi, and plug the Pi

into a monitor and keyboard. Plug in your camera

module too (you’ll connect the touchscreen later).

Now power up the Pi, open Terminal, and run

the command:

sudo raspi-cong

Follow the Setup Options (Figure

B

) to:

a) Expand Filesystem, b) Enable Camera,

c) Change User Password, and d) set your

Internationalization Options (locale/time zone).

Now reboot the Pi.

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Materials

» Raspberry Pi 3 single-board

computer with microSD Card.

If you use an older model you’ll

need to add a Wi-Fi dongle.

» Raspberry Pi Camera Module

v2 (8MP) or v1 (5MP)

» Raspberry Pi Touch Display,

7" with included standoffs,

screws, and jumper wires

» Micro-USB power supply like

a wall phone charger or battery

pack — providing at least 2A

at 5V for the Pi 3, or 700mA at

5V for earlier, lower-powered

Pi models.

» Machine screws, M2.5:

10mm (2), 6mm (2) for the

tripod mount. Substitute two

14mm and two 16mm if you

make the tabletop mount.

» Machine screws, M2×6mm

(4) for mounting the camera.

You could also use double-

sided foam tape, or M1.5×8mm

screws with nuts.

» Mounting brackets and/or

enclosure (optional) You can

3D print our desktop stand or

tripod stand, and print or laser-

cut our camera mount; get the

files at github.com/wyolum/

TouchSelfie/tree/master/

fabricate. Or mount the project

your own way in an enclosure

of your choice.

» Hex nut, ¼-20 (optional)

for the 3D-printed tripod

stand. For bigger enclosures,

try a speaker tripod mounting

bracket like Yamaha #ADP138.

Tools

» Computer with internet

connection for initial setup of

the Raspberry Pi. You’ll also

need free software to flash

the SD card: ApplePiBaker

for Macs (tweaking4all.com/

software/macosx-software/

macosx-apple-pi-baker) or

Win32DiskImager for PCs

(sourceforge.net/projects/

win32diskimager).

» Monitor, keyboard, and

mouse for setup only. Once

the project’s done, you can

operate it using just the

touchscreen.

» 3D printer or laser cutter

(optional) if you’re making our

custom brackets

A

B

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