Shooting in portrait with DSLR Remote Pro

This tutorial explains how to shoot portrait oriented photo booth images with Breeze DSLR Remote Pro aka Booth (DSLR + Windows).

Introduction

There are 3 different parts of your system which can be orientated in landscape (horizontal) or portrait (vertical). DSLR Remote Pro lets you have any combination of these. They are

1. Camera
2. Screen
3. Outputs ( prints and GIFs)

Most photo booths use a landscape/horizontal orientation for both screen and camera, with room for lots of people in the photo. The default for DSLR Remote Pro is to do the same. If you want to shoot in portrait orientation, you need to make some simple changes to the way DSLR Remote Pro runs, and turn the camera through 90 degrees.

Tell DSLR Remote Pro the camera is shooting ‘portrait’ orientation

Mount your camera in portrait orientation, and start DSLR Remote Pro. Click on View and then Portrait (90 degrees CCW) or Portrait (90 degrees CW):

Portrait and landscape oriented screens

You can run DSLR Remote Pro with both screen and camera in portrait orientation. Magic mirrors are usually set up this way. You can also shoot portrait photos with the booth screen in landscape.

 

The simplest way to create a set of screens in the correct orientation is to

1. Setup the monitor/screen in portrait or landscape mode
2. Start DSLR Remote Pro* and use the photo booth setup wizard to create the screens

*If you have more than one screen, move DSLR Remote Pro to the screen used for the booth

More on screen design

Run the Photobooth Setup Wizard

The setup wizard will automatically create a set of photo booth screens with the correct aspect ratio for the current  screen.

• When the monitor is in landscape, the wizard creates a set of landscape oriented screens.
• When the monitor is in portrait, the wizard creates a set of portrait oriented screens.

 

Run the Photobooth Setup Wizard.  At Step 2 you can choose the live view display:

Normal 3:2 sets the booth up with a portrait oriented live view without cropping the image

Use full screen live view with a portrait oriented screen for a larger portrait oriented live view.

Note: When you  choose full screen live view, the wizard automatically crops the images on your prints to match the shape of the screen.

Adding a live view overlay to the Ready screen (optional)

When adding an overlay to your Ready screen, use a landscape oriented live view overlay (usually 960 by 640 pixels).

This is necessary because the live view overlay is applied before the image is rotated. Portrait oriented live view overlays may appear distorted on screen.

Running a touch free booth in portrait

If you are running contactless and scanning QR codes with a web camera, you may want to adjust the position of the web camera live view on screen. When QR codes are scanned by the booth camera, you can skip this.

Portrait and landscape oriented prints

Don’t confuse image orientation with print orientation. You can print on landscape or portrait oriented media. Use the large Printer Setup button to choose the print orientation as well as the print size.

Note: DNP printers swap portrait and landcape when you print 4×6 inch (100 x 150 mm) prints

Once you have setup your printer, open the Print Layout Editor to rotate the image(s) and make any other changes to the print.

Print Layout Editor

If you are new to DSLR Remote Pro, check out the video introduction to the Print Layout Editor.

Rotating image(s) in the Print Layout Editor

You may need to rotate the image(s) through 90° to display them correctly.  More details

Add  overlay, captions and logos to the print layout as usual.

When running AI background removal, use Import background… to add the new background to the print.

Reprints & the reprint selection screen

Guests often ask for an extra print after their session has finished. DSLR Remote Pro includes options to display a reprint selection screen and/or to reprint the last set of photos. When your screen is in portrait orientation, you may want the buttons at the top of this screen.

Choose Icon Placement: Top in the Reprint Selection Screen Settings window :

Add hidden (or clear) actions for to access the reprint selection screen and/or reprint buttons from the Ready screen.

See the section Adding a hidden action here  for more detail.

Boomerang/Burst GIFs

When shooting boomerang GIFs, the GIF width and height must be at least as wide and high as the image.

Magic Mirrors

Magic mirrors usually shoot in portrait. Essentially a magic mirror booth is  a normal photo booth with the screen images displayed on the mirror and the camera hidden behind a half-silvered portion of the mirror.  Breeze DSLR Remote Pro is a popular choice for powering mirror booths worldwide.

When running DSLR Remote Pro as a mirror, consider

At Step 2 of the Setup Wizard

• use a black Screen background color and contasting Text color
• uncheck the boxes to Preview each photo after it is taken & Display print preview* before printing to keep the sense of magic
• keep Display print preview checked if you want to offer virtual graffiti or adding frames to prints
• replacing captions with animations. How to remove and change captions

Remove the live view

• Guests see themselves posing in the mirror; so go to Advanced Settings and  uncheck the option Enable live view

Audio and animations

You can  add audio and animations to almost all DSLR Remote Pro screens.

• Tutorial showing how to animate the welcome/idle screen
• Other screens are animated in a similar way. More details
• Breeze don’t provide sets of mirror animations. You can design your own or buy them in from several suppliers. You can find suggestions for animation suppliers here

Summary

This tutorial has explained how to run DSLR Remote Pro with portrait oriented images. screens and prints. There is specific advice on running a touch free or mirror booth in portrait, plus tips on customizing the reprint selection screen.

©Breeze Systems June 2020