FAQ - Frequently asked questions

Is my Camera supported?

Some DSLR and Compact Cameras are not supported by this project. Please check for your specific model here.

Is Pi Camera supported?

Yes it is.

If you're able to capture a picture via raspistill / libcamera-still from terminal you're good to go!

You need to allow the webserver to use raspistill / libcamera-still. You need add the webserver user to video group and reboot once:

sudo gpasswd -a www-data video
reboot

Once done you need to adjust the configuration. Open the admin panel in your browser localhost/admin and make the following changes:

"Take picture command on Pi OS based on bullseye":

libcamera-still -n -o %s -q 100 -t 1 | echo Done

"Take picture command on Pi OS based on buster":

raspistill -n -o %s -q 100 -t 1 | echo Done

Raspistill / libcamera-still does not give any feedback after the picture was taken, workaround for that with "echo".

(Thanks to Andreas Maier for that information)

You've the possibility to add more parameters if needed (define ISO, exposure, white balance etc.). Type raspistill -? / libcamera-still -?in your terminal to get information about possible parameters / settings.

I've found a bug, how can I report?

Please take a look at the issue page here, if your bug isn't mentioned already you can create a new issue. Please give informations detailed as possible to reproduce and analyse the problem.

I've a white page after updating to latest Source, how can I solve this?

On v1.9.0 and older:

It could be your local config.json file doesn't match latest source. This file is generated if you've used the admin panel to change your config. Remove the file and try again!

sudo rm /var/www/html/admin/config.json

How do I change the configuration?

Open http://localhost/admin in your Webbrowser and change the configuration for your personal needs. Changed options are stored inside config/my.config.inc.php to prevent sharing personal data on Github by accident and to make an update of Photobooth easier.

How to change the language?

Open http://localhost/admin in your Webbrowser and change the configuration for your personal needs.

How to update or add translations?

Photobooth joined Crowdin as localization manager, join here to translate Photobooth.

Crowdin gives a nice webinterface to make translating easy as possible. If there's different translations for a string, translator can use the vote function on suggested translations.

With Crowdin and your help translating we're able to get high-quality translations for all supported languages. Also it's easy to support a wider range of languages!

Your language is missing? Don't worry, create a localization request here and we'll add it to the project.

How can I test my current photo settings?

Open http://localhost/test/photo.php in your Webbrowser and a you can find a photo that is created with your current settings.

How can I test my current collage settings?

Open http://localhost/test/collage.php in your Webbrowser and a you can find a collage that is created with your current settings.

How can setup a custom collage design?

In the collage settings you can select the layout private/collage.json. This references a file with the given name in the photobooth's private folder. This file has to be created manually.

Photobooth config must be saved again via Admin panel after private/collage.json was modified!

Content of the file is an array of arrays. The outer array defines the number of images, the inner array defines the horizontal position, vertical position, width, height and rotation (in that order) of one image. For calculation of the values the variables x and y get converted to the width and height of the collage respectively, additionally math operations +, -, *, / and () can be used to calculate values. The following example should look exactly like the 1+2 layout (this layout looks more complicated than it is due to the decimal places).

[
[ "0",                     "y * 0.055",           "1.5 * y * 0.55546",   "y * 0.55546",   "10"       ],
[ "x * 0.555",             "y * 0.055",           "1.5 * y * 0.40812",   "y * 0.40812",   "0"        ],
[ "x * 0.555",             "y * 0.5368",          "1.5 * y * 0.40812",   "y * 0.40812",   "0"        ]
]

[ "horizontal position",   "vertical position",   "width",               "height",        "rotation" ]

Please note that if the number of images in a collage design was changed the admin page has to be saved again to calculate the correct number of photos to be used for a collage. Other value changes can be checked on the collage test page immediately with a simple reload - so it's quite easy to configure a layout with the help of http://localhost/test/collage.php. The file collage.json needs to be a well-formed json array and something like a missing quotation or a trailing comma can be enough to make a design fail.

If you want to configure additional properties of the collage layout you have to wrap this array in a json object like this:

{
  "portrait": false,
  "rotate_after_creation": false,
  "width": "1800",
  "height": "1200",
  "text_custom_style": true,
  "text_font_size": "50",
  "text_rotation": "10",
  "text_locationx": "200",
  "text_locationy": "220",
  "text_font_color": "#420C09",
  "text_font": "/var/www/html/resources/fonts/GreatVibes-Regular.ttf",
  "text_line1": "This is",
  "text_line2": "a",
  "text_line3": "Custom Collage",
  "text_linespace": "100",
  "apply_frame": "once",
  "frame": "/var/www/html/resources/img/frames/frame_stone.png",
  "background": "/var/www/html/resources/img/background.png",
  "layout": [ # the array from above ]
}

portrait changes the orientation of the collage before the images are added while rotate_after_creation rotates the collage after all images were added. Collage width must be greater than hight to take effect. width and height (optional) can be defined in pixel to change the resolution of the collage. Note: both dimensions must be defined, else the default collage configuration will be used. text_custom_style set to true if you want to apply text, false to disable. The following properties can override the config from Adminpanel, else the text on collage configuration will be used from Photobooth:

text_font_size
text_rotation
text_locationx
text_locationy
text_font_color
text_font (real path to font)
text_line1 (text, can also be empty)
text_line2(text, can also be empty)
text_line(text, can also be empty)
text_linespace

frame (optional) the real path to the frame to be used, else the default collage frame configuration will be used. apply_frame needed if frame is defined. Needs once or always to be defined, else the default collage configuration will be used. background (optional) the real path to the background image to be used.

How to keep pictures on my Camera using gphoto2?

Add --keep (or --keep-raw to keep only the raw version on camera) option for gphoto2 via admin panel:

gphoto2 --capture-image-and-download --keep --filename=%s

On some cameras you also need to define the capturetarget because Internal RAM is used to store captured picture. To do this use --set-config capturetarget=X option for gphoto2 (replace "X" with the target of your choice):

gphoto2 --set-config capturetarget=1 --capture-image-and-download --keep --filename=%s

To know which capturetarget needs to be defined you need to run:

gphoto2 --get-config capturetarget

Example:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ gphoto2 --get-config capturetarget
Label: Capture Target
Readonly: 0
Type: RADIO
Current: Internal RAM
Choice: 0 Internal RAM
Choice: 1 Memory card

My external flash is not working after using the live preview

The reason for this might be that the camera is still in PC mode.

Try setting the output setting to Off in your capture command, for example like this:

gphoto2 --set-config output=Off --capture-image-and-download

Cromakeying is saving without finishing saving

Checking the browser console you'll see a 413 Request Entity Too Large error. To fix that you'll have to update your nginx.conf

Follow the steps mentioned here: How to Fix NGINX 413 Request Entity Too Large Error

Can I use Hardware Button to take a Picture?

Yes, there's different ways!

Key code using connected HID devices

An HID device connected to your hardware can trigger different actions on your device. The HID device must be connected to the device you're accessing Photobooth from!

For example use https://keycode.info to find out the key id of the button you like to use.

Related configuration:

PICTURE section:
- Key code which triggers a picture: define
COLLAGE section:
- Key code which triggers a collage: define
PRINT section:
- Key code which triggers printing: define

Remotebuzzer Hardware Button & LED feature using GPIO connected hardware (Raspberry Pi only)

Important: Works if you access Photobooth via http://localhost or http://your-ip-adress, but accessing via the loopback IP (127.0.0.1) does not work!

Broken support on Linux 6.6 Kernel (April 2024): While PiOS now comes with a Linux 6.6 Kernel Photobooth is not able to handle the GPIO buttons via sysfs. If you're able to downgrade to a Linux 6.1 Kernel you can continue reading and set-up your Raspberry Pi.

The Hardware Button feature enables to control Photobooth through hardware buttons connected to Raspberry GPIO pins. This works for directly connected screens and as well for WLAN connected screen (i.e. iPad). Configuration takes place in the admin settings - Hardware Button section.

Using the Remotebuzzer feature makes the button action taking effect at the same time on all devices accessing Photobooth!

The Hardware Button functionality supports two separate modes of operation (select via admin panel):

Buttons: Distinct hardware buttons can be connected to distinct GPIOs. Each button will trigger a separate functionality (i.e. take photo).
Rotary Encoder: A rotary encoder connected to GPIOs will drive the input on the screen. This enables to use the rotary to scroll through the Photobooth UI buttons, and click to select actions.

Both buttons and rotary encoder controls can be combined.

Photobooth will watch Button GPIOs for a PIN_DOWN event - so the hardware button needs to pull the GPIO to ground, for to trigger. This requires the GPIOs to be configured in PULLUP mode - always.

For the LED Support GPIOs need to be set as OUTPUT.

On a Raspberry Pi 5 you need to adjust the GPIO definition via Admin panel (experimental view) to the high-values of the gpio-sysfs:

GPIO sysfs Pi 3/4	GPIO sysfs Pi5	PIN
0 (ID_SD)	399	PIN 27
1 (ID_SC)	400	PIN 28
2	401	PIN 3
3	402	PIN 5
4	403	PIN 7
5	404	PIN 29
6	405	PIN 31
7	406	PIN 26
8	407	PIN 24
9	408	PIN 21
10	409	PIN 19
11	410	PIN 23
12	411	PIN 32
13	412	PIN 33
14	413	PIN 8
15	414	PIN 10
16	415	PIN 36
17	416	PIN 11
18	417	PIN 12
19	418	PIN 35
20	419	PIN 38
21	420	PIN 40
22	421	PIN 15
23	422	PIN 16
24	423	PIN 18
25	424	PIN 22
26	425	PIN 37
27	426	PIN 13

Troubleshooting / Debugging

Important: For WLAN connected screens you must make sure to set the IP address of the Remote buzzer server in the admin settings. The loopback IP (127.0.0.1) does not work, it has to be the exact IP address of the Remote buzzer Server.

Having trouble?

Set Photobooth loglevel to 1 (or above). (admin screen -> general section)
Reload the Photobooth homepage
Check the browser developer console for error logs
Check the server logs for errors at the Debug panel: http://localhost/admin/debugpanel
If there is no errors logged but hardware buttons still do not trigger:
- GPIO interrupts might be disabled. Check file /boot/firmware/config.txt (on PiOS Bullseye and prior /boot/config.txt) and remove / disable the following overlay dtoverlay=gpio-no-irq to enable interrupts for GPIOs.
- Button GPIOs may not be configured as PULLUP. The configuration for this is done in fie /boot/firmware/config.txt (on PiOS Bullseye and prior /boot/config.txt) by adding the GPIO numbers in use as follows - you must reboot the Raspberry Pi in order to activate changes in this setting.
  
  Raspberry Pi 3 / 4
  
  gpio=5,6,7,8,16,17,20,21,22,26,27=pu
  
  Raspberry Pi 5
  
  gpio=404,405,406,407,415,416,419,420,421,425,426=pu
- LED GPIOs may not be configured as OUTPUT. The configuration for this is done in fie /boot/firmware/config.txt (on PiOS Bullseye and prior /boot/config.txt) by adding the GPIO numbers in use as follows - you must reboot the Raspberry Pi in order to activate changes in this setting.
  
  Raspberry Pi 3 / 4
  
  gpio=9,10,11,12,18,19,23,24,25=op
  
  Raspberry Pi 5
  
  gpio=408,409,410,411,417,418,422,423,424=op
For the shutdown and reboot buttons to work, www-data needs to have the necessary sudo permissions. This is done by the install-photobooth.sh script or can be manually added as sh cat > /etc/sudoers.d/020_www-data-shutdown << EOF www-data ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /sbin/shutdown EOF

As of Photobooth v3, hardware button support is fully integrated into Photobooth. Therefore the button.py script has been removed from the distribution. In case you are using this script and for continued backward compatibility please do not activate the Remote Buzzer Hardware Button feature in the admin GUI. Please note that continued backward compatibility is not guaranteed and in case of issues please switch to the integrated functionality.

Button Support

The server supports up to four connected hardware buttons for the following functionalities:

Picture Button
Short button press (default <= 2 sec) will trigger a single picture in Photobooth
Long button press (default > 2 sec) will trigger a collage in Photobooth

Note:

If collage is configured with interruption, next button presses will trigger the next collage pictures.
If collage is disabled in the admin settings, long button press also triggers a single picture
If the collage button is activated (see next), the picture button will never trigger a collage, regardless
Collage Button
Button press will trigger a collage in Photobooth.

Note:

If collage is configured with interruption, next button presses will trigger the next collage pictures.
If collage is disabled in the admin settings (Collage section), this button will do nothing.
Shutdown Button
This button will initate a safe system shutdown and halt (shutdown -h now).

Note:

Hold the button for a defined time to initiate the shut down (defaults to 5 seconds). This can be adjusted in the admin settings.
The shutdown button will only trigger if there is currently no action in progress in Photobooth (picture, collage).
Print Button
This button will initiate a print of the current picture either from the results screen or the gallery.
Reboot Button
This button will initate a safe system shutdown and halt (shutdown -r now).
Video Button
This button will initiate the recording of a short video.
Custom Button
Button press will trigger a single picture in Photobooth
Move2USB Button
This button will initiate the copy/move of all pictures an videos (jpg, gif und mp4) to a USB-thumb.
In the admin panel you can choose between disabled, copy and move.

After any button is triggered, all hardware button remain disabled until the action (picture / collage) completed. Once completed, the hardware buttons re-arms / are active again.

The wiring layout is

Button            Raspberry

Picture     ---   GPIO 21
Collage     ---   GPIO 20
Custom      ---   GPIO  5
Video       ---   GPIO  7
Shutdown    ---   GPIO 16
Print       ---   GPIO 26
Reboot      ---   GPIO  8
Move2USB    ---   GPIO  6
All         ---   GND

Rotary Encoder

A rotary encoder (i.e. KY-040) is connected to the GPIOs. Turning the rotary left / right will navigate through the currently visible set of buttons on the screen. Button press on the rotary will activate the currently highlighted button in Photobooth.

The wiring layout is

Rotary
Encoder    Raspberry

CLK  ---   GPIO 27
DT   ---   GPIO 17
BTN  ---   GPIO 22
+    ---   3V3
GND  ---   GND

LED Support

LED's can be used to show the current status of remotebuzzer server actions.

The wiring layout is

LED                   Raspberry

Photolight      ---   GPIO 25
Picture LED     ---   GPIO 19
Collage LED     ---   GPIO 12
Custom LED      ---   GPIO 24
Video LED       ---   GPIO  9
Shutdown LED    ---   GPIO 23
Reboot LED      ---   GPIO 18
Print LED       ---   GPIO 10
Move2USB LED    ---   GPIO 11

Known limitations:

Delete Picture: in order to be able to access the Delete button through rotary control, please activate admin setting General -> "Delete images without confirm request"

The following elements are currently not supported and not accessible through rotary control navigation

Full Screen Mode button: Looks like modern browser only allow to change to full screen mode upon user gesture. It seems not possible to change to full-screen using Javascript.
Photoswipe download button: Not needed for Rotary Control. (well, if you can come up with a decent use-case, let us know).

Remote trigger using Socket.io (experimental)

The trigger server controls and coordinates sending commands via socket.io to the photobooth client. Next to a hardware button, any socket.io client can connect to the trigger server over the network, and send a trigger command. This gives full flexibility to integrate other backend systems for trigger signals.

Channel: photobooth-socket
Commands: start-picture, start-collage, collage-next, start-custom, start-video, print, rotary-cw, rotary-ccw, rotary-btn-press, move2usb
Response: completed will be emitted to the client, once photobooth finished the task

Remote trigger using simple web requests

Note: This feature depends on the experimental Socket.io implementation and needs option Hardware Button - Enable Hardware Buttons to be active.

Simple GET requests can be used to trigger single pictures or collages. Those endpoints can be found under http://[Photobooth IP]:[Hardware Button Server Port] where:

[Photobooth IP] needs to match the configured value under General - IP address of the Photobooth web server and
[Hardware Button Server Port] the value from Hardware Button - Enable Hardware Buttons

The available endpoints, depending on enabled features and hardware button options, are:

[Base Url]/ - Simple help page with all available endpoints
[Base Url]/commands/start-picture - Triggers a single picture
[Base Url]/commands/start-collage - Triggers a collage
[Base Url]/commands/start-custom - Triggers custom button action
[Base Url]/commands/start-print - Triggers print
[Base Url]/commands/start-video - Triggers a video capture
[Base Url]/commands/reboot-now - Triggers reboot command
[Base Url]/commands/shutdown-now - Triggers shutdown command
[Base Url]/commands/rotary-cw - Focus next element
[Base Url]/commands/rotary-ccw - Focus previous element
[Base Url]/commands/rotary-btn-press - Triggers a click action
[Base Url]/commands/'start-move2usb - Trigger picture move to USB

These trigger URLs can be used for example with myStrom WiFi Buttons or Shelly Buttons (untested).

Installation steps for myStrom WiFi Button

Be sure to connect the button to the same network as the photobooth
The button can be configured using the following commands sh curl --location -g --request POST http://[Button IP]/api/v1/action/single --data-raw get://[Photobooth IP]:[Hardware Button Server Port]/commands/start-picture curl --location -g --request POST http://[Button IP]/api/v1/action/long --data-raw get://[Photobooth IP]:[Hardware Button Server Port]/commands/start-collage

How do I enable Kiosk Mode to automatically start Photobooth in full screen?

Autostart on Pi OS Bookworm

Modify ~/.config/wayfire.ini as stated. If there is a section [autostart] already, just add the line chromium = ... otherwise insert the complete section.

[autostart]
chromium = chromium-browser --kiosk --disable-features=Translate --noerrdialogs --disable-infobars --no-first-run --ozone-platform=wayland --touch-events=enabled --start-maximized http://localhost

Autostart on Pi OS Bullseye and prior

Add the autostart file:

sudo nano /etc/xdg/autostart/photobooth.desktop

now add the following lines:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.3
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Name=Photobooth
Exec=chromium-browser --noerrdialogs --disable-infobars --disable-features=Translate --no-first-run --check-for-update-interval=31536000 --kiosk http://localhost --touch-events=enabled --use-gl=egl
Icon=/var/www/html/resources/img/favicon-96x96.png
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false

save the file.

NOTE:

If you have installed Photobooth inside a subdirectory (e.g. to /var/www/html/photobooth), make sure you adjust the kiosk url (e.g. to http://localhost/photobooth) and the Icon path (e.g. to /var/www/html/photobooth/resources/img/favicon-96x96.png).

The flag --use-gl=egl might only be needed on a Raspberry Pi to avoid a white browser window on the first start of kiosk mode! If you're facing issues while using Photobooth on a different device, please remove that flag.

How to hide the mouse cursor, disable screen blanking and screen saver?

Pi OS Bullseye and prior only

There are two options to hide the cursor on Pi OS Bullseye and prior. The first approach allows you to show the cursor for a short period of time (helpful if you use a mouse and just want to hide the cursor of some time of inactivity), or to hide it permanently.

Solution A

To hide the Mouse Cursor we'll use "unclutter":

sudo apt-get install unclutter

Edit the LXDE Autostart Script:

sudo nano /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart

and add the following lines:

# Photobooth
# turn off display power management system
@xset -dpms
# turn off screen blanking
@xset s noblank
# turn off screen saver
@xset s off

# Hide mousecursor (3 describes the time after which the cursor should be hidden)
@unclutter -idle 3
# Photobooth End

Solution B

If you are using LightDM as display manager, you can edit /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf to hide the cursor permanently. Just add xserver-command=X -nocursor to the end of the file.

How to use a live stream as background at countdown?

There's different ways depending on your needs and personal setup:

Preview "from device cam"

If you access Photobooth on your Raspberry Pi you could use a Raspberry Pi Camera. Raspberry Pi Camera will be detected as "device cam" on PiOS bookworm inside Firefox which is shipped with the OS.

Admin panel config "Preview mode": from device cam

Currently there's an issue on PiOS bullseye with the new camera stack which avoids the Pi Cameras being detected as Webcam inside the Browser. Theres nothing we can do against this, hopefully the Pi Foundation finds a solution in future.

Note:

Preview "from device cam" will always use the camera of the device where Photobooth get opened in a Browser (e.g. on a tablet it will always show the tablet camera while on a smartphone it will always show the smartphone camera instead)!
Secure origin or exception required!
- Prefer Secure Origins For Powerful New Features
- Enabling the Microphone/Camera in Chrome for (Local) Unsecure Origins
Admin panel config "Device cam takes picture" can be used to take a picture from this preview instead using gphoto / digicamcontrol / raspistill / libcamera-still.

Preview from DSLR

By now the DSLR handling of Photobooth on Linux was done exclusively using gphoto2 CLI (command line interface). When taking pictures while using preview video from the same camera one command has to be stopped and another one is run after that.

The computer terminates the connection to the camera just to reconnect immediately. Because of that there was an ugly video gap and the noises of the camera could be irritating as stopping the video sounded very similar to taking a picture. But most cameras can shoot quickly from live-view.

The underlying libery of gphoto2 CLI is libgphoto and it can be accessed using several programming languages. Because of this we can have a python script that handles both preview and taking pictures without terminating the connection to the camera in between.

From Photobooth v4.1.0 a preview from DSLR depends on the "Preview from device cam" config

To use gphoto-python, first execute the install-gphoto-python.sh if you have not already installed "a service to set up a virtual webcam that gphoto2 can stream video to" while using the Photobooth installer on initial installation:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PhotoboothProject/photobooth/dev/scripts/gphoto/install-gphoto-python.sh
sudo bash install-gphoto-python.sh

Change your Photobooth configuration:

"Live Preview": "Preview Mode": "from device cam"
"Commands": "Execute start command for preview on take picture/collage":
- if enabled: "Commands": "Command to generate a live preview": python3 cameracontrol.py --bsm
- if disabled: "Commands": "Command to generate a live preview": python3 cameracontrol.py
"Commands": "Take picture command": python3 cameracontrol.py --capture-image-and-download %s

Further information:

The "Command to generate a live preview" is only executed if the "Preview Mode" is set to "from device cam".

There's no need to define the "Command to kill live preview" while using the cameracontrol.py, so just empty that field. The "Command to kill live preview" is only executed if defined.

If you want to use the DSLR view as background video, enable "Use stream for live preview as background" and disable the "Execute start command for preview on take picture/collage" setting of Photobooth, which is enabled by default.

If you're worried about the sensor of your DSLR but still want to use background video you can use --bsmtime.

python3 cameracontrol.py --bsmtime 1

With the parameter --bsmtime you can define a number of minutes after which the camera preview ends. Please note the last image of the preview stays for a few seconds before the background turns to black. Additionally you should add python3 cameracontrol.py to the pre-photo command to restart the preview if it got disabled by the timeout. Restarting the preview takes a few seconds.

If you don't want to use the DSLR view as background video enable the Execute start command for preview on take picture/collage setting of Photobooth and make sure --bsm was added to the preview command.

python3 cameracontrol.py --bsm

If Execute start command for preview on take picture/collage is enabled, the preview video is activated when the countdown for a photo starts and after taking a picture the video is deactivated while waiting for the next photo.

As you possibly noticed the params of the script are designed to be similar to the ones of gphoto2 CLI but with some shortcuts like -c for --capture-image-and-download. If you want to know more check out the help of the script by running:

python3 /var/www/html/api/cameracontrol.py --help

or on subfolder installation of Photobooth

python3 /var/www/html/photobooth/api/cameracontrol.py --help

If you want to keep your images on the camera you need to use the same capturetarget config as when you were using gphoto CLI (see "How to keep pictures on my Camera using gphoto2?"). Set the config on the preview command like this:

python3 cameracontrol.py --set-config capturetarget=1

If you get errors from Photobooth and want to get more information try to run the preview command manually. The script is in Photobooth's api folder. To do so end all running services that potentially try to access the camera with killall gphoto2 and killall python3 (if you added any other python scripts manually you might have to be a bit more selective than this command).

Finally if you just run venv/bin/python3 cameracontrol.py --capture-image-and-download %s as take picture command without having a preview started it only takes a picture without starting any kind of preview and ends the script immediately after the picture.

In theory cameracontrol.py might be able to completely replace gphoto2 CLI for all DSLR connection handling in the future.

Note

Liveview must be supported for your camera model, check here
Give permissions to /dev/video*: sudo gpasswd -a www-data video (this was done automatically if you used the installation script) and reboot once.
Requires Photobooth v4.1.0 or later! (Instructions for older versions have been removed from the FAQ, but an FAQ with instructions matching your installed Photobooth version can always be found at http://localhost/faq).
You need to access Photobooth directly via http://localhost, you won't be able to see the preview on a different device (e.g. Tablet).
There's a delay of about 3 seconds until the preview starts, to avoid that disable the Execute start command for preview on take picture/collage option to generate a preview in background. This results in a high battery usage and also a general slowdown.
Chromium sometimes has trouble, if there is another webcam like bcm2835-isp, it will take it by default instead. Disable other webcams, e.g. sudo rmmod bcm2835-isp.
Make sure the countdown is long enough to start the preview, for best user experience the countdown should be set at least to 8 seconds.

Troubleshooting

In some cases, the v4l2loopback doesn't seem to be working after an update and breaking the preview from DSLR.

Run v4l2-ctl --list-devices from your terminal to see if everything is fine.

If it works you get the following output:

GPhoto2 Webcam (platform:v4l2loopback-000):
        /dev/video0

If it doesn't work:

Cannot open device /dev/video0, exiting

If it doesn't work, you might need to compile the v4l2loopback Module yourself by running the following commands:

curl -LO https://github.com/umlaeute/v4l2loopback/archive/refs/tags/v0.12.7.tar.gz
tar xzf v0.12.7.tar.gz && cd v4l2loopback-0.12.7
make && sudo make install
sudo depmod -a
sudo modprobe v4l2loopback exclusive_caps=1 card_label="GPhoto2 Webcam"

Now again check if everything is fine (v4l2-ctl --list-devices).

If you having problems with this version (v0.12.7), especially if you see these errors:

[video4linux2,v4l2 @ 0x641d7f294f00] ioctl(VIDIOC_G_FMT): Invalid argument
[out#0/video4linux2,v4l2 @ 0x641d7f287e00] Could not write header (incorrect codec parameters ?): Invalid argument
Error while filtering: Invalid argument
[out#0/video4linux2,v4l2 @ 0x641d7f287e00] Nothing was written into output file, because at least one of its streams received no packets.

Then please try using version v0.12.5 or even the latest (untagged) version of the github repo.

Another problem could be, that your system has secure boot enabled. Disable secure boot in the BIOS and try again.

If you're still having trouble feel free to join us at Telegram to get further support.

Preview "from URL"

If you like to have the same preview independent of the device you access Photobooth from:

Make sure to have a stream available you can use (e.g. from your Webcam, Smartphone Camera or Raspberry Pi Camera)

Admin panel config "Preview mode": from URL
Admin panel config "Preview-URL" example (add needed IP address instead): url(http://192.168.0.2:8081)

Note

Do NOT enable "Device cam takes picture" in admin panel config!
Capture pictures via raspistill or libcamera-still won't work if motion is installed!
Requires Photobooth v2.2.1 or later!

Setting up a stream from your DSLR

If you want to use a stream from your DSLR, add the --mjpeg flag when running the install script. This will install go2rtc and automatically setup a stream from your DSLR. go2rtc can be accessed at http://localhost:1984. Use url("http://localhost:1984/api/stream.mjpeg?src=dslr") as "Preview-URL" (replace localhost with Photobooths IP for remote access). To be able to also capture images you need to adjust the capture command. "Commands": "Take picture command": capture %s

PiOS bullseye and PiCamera

If you like to use the Pi Camera only for preview, you're able to setup motion and use the preview from URL option to use the motion stream.

To use the Pi camera for preview and capture on PiOS bullseye you'll also have to setup the Photobooth-app and adjust your preview and capture config:

This can also be used on PiOS bookworm if you like to have a remote preview and capture with a PiCamera.

Remote preview and capture workaround for PiOS bullseye

This workaround, requires the python mjpeghttp_streamer installed - replace _localhost with the desired ip-address as needed:

sudo pip install mjpeg-http-streamer

TAKE PHOTO CMD:

wget http://localhost:8080/snapshot -O %s | echo Done

PREVIEW URL:

url(http://localhost:8080/stream)

PRE-PHOTO CMD:

libcamera-vid -t 0 --width 1920 --height 1080 --framerate 30 --inline --codec mjpeg -o - | python3 -m mjpeg_http_streamer -l 0.0.0.0 -p 8080

POST-PHOTO CMD:

kill $(ps aux | grep '[l]ibcamera' | awk '{print $2}')

Can I use a live stream as background?

Yes you can. There's different ways depending on your needs and personal setup:

On Photobooth v2.4.0 and newer you can use the option "Use stream from device cam as background" inside admin panel.
- If enabled, a stream from your device cam is used as background on start screen. It's still possible to use preview from your device cam as background on countdown and also still possible to take pictures via device cam or using raspistill / libcamera-still for Pi Camera.
You need to change the background URL path via config or admin panel. Replace url(../img/bg.jpg) with your IP-Adress and port (if needed) as URL. Example:

sh - url(../img/bg.jpg) + url(http://192.168.0.2:8081)

To use a Raspberry Pi Camera module Motion is required, but you won't be able to use the Raspberry Pi Camera for preview at countdown!

sh sudo apt-get install -y motion

/etc/motion/motion.conf needs to be changed to your needs (e.g. starting on boot, using videoX, resolution, etc.).

If you're accessing Photobooth from an external device (e.g. Tablet or Mobile Phone) replace 127.0.0.1 with your IP-Adress.

For reference: https://github.com/andreknieriem/photobooth/pull/20

I've trouble setting up E-Mail config. How do I solve my problem?

If connection fails some help can be found here, especially gmail needs some special config.

Should be obvious but the photobooth must be connected to WIFI/internet to send photos live.

Otherwise, tell them to check the box to send them the photo later and it will add everyone's email to a list for you.
For gmail you need to generate an app password if you have 2-factor authentication on.

Tested working setup:

gmail.com
- Email host adress: smtp.gmail.com
- Username: *****@gmail.com
- Port: 587
- Security: TLS
gmx.de
- Email host adress: mail.gmx.net
- Username: *****@gmx.de
- Port: 587
- Security: TLS
web.de
- Email host adress: smtp.web.de
- Username: ***** (@web.de is not needed in your username)
- Port: 587
- Security: TLS

How to only open the gallery to avoid people taking pictures?

Open http://localhost/gallery in your browser (you can replace localhost with your IP adress).

Chromakeying isn't working if I access the Photobooth page on my Raspberry Pi, but it works if I access Photobooth from an external device (e.g. mobile phone or tablet). How can I solve the problem?

Open chrome://flags in your browser.

Look for "Accelerated 2D canvas" and change it to "disabled".

Now restart your Chromium browser.

How to adjust the `php.ini` file?

Open http://localhost/phpinfo.php in your browser.

Take a look for "Loaded Configuration File", you need sudo rights to edit the file.

Page will look like this:

CLICK ME

Automatic picture syncing to USB stick

This feature will automatically and in regular intervals copy (sync) new pictures to a plugged-in USB stick. Currently works on Raspberry PI OS only.

Use the install-photobooth.sh script to get the operating system setup in place.

Note: If you have declined the question to enable the USB sync file backup while running the install-photobooth.sh you need to run the following commands to get the operating system setup done:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PhotoboothProject/photobooth/dev/scripts/enable-usb-sync.sh
sudo bash enable-usb-sync.sh -username='<YourUsername>'

The target USB device is selected through the admin panel.

A USB drive / stick can be identified either by the USB stick label (e.g. photobooth), the operating system specific USB device name (e.g. /dev/sda1) or the USB device system subsystem name (e.g. sda). The preferred method would be the USB stick label (for use of a single USB stick) or the very specific USB device name, for different USB stick use. The default config will look for a drive with the label photobooth. The script only supports one single USB stick connected at a time

Pictures will be synced to the USB stick matched by the pattern, as long as it is mounted (aka USB stick is plugged in)

Debugging: Check the server logs for errors at the Debug panel: http://localhost/admin/debugpanel

Raspberry Touchpanel DSI simultaneously with HDMI

When using a touchscreen on DSI and an HDMI screen simultaneously, the touch input is offset. This is because both monitors are recognized as one screen.

The remedy is the following:

xinput list

remember the device id=[X] of the touchscreen.

xinput list-props "Device Name"

Get the ID in brackets (Y) of Coordinate Transformation Matrix

xinput set-prop [X] --type=float [Y] c0 0 c1 0 c2 c3 0 0 1

adjust the coding c0 0 c1 0 c2 c3 0 0 1 with your own data.

You can get the values of your screens with the following command:

xrandr | grep \* # xrandr uses "*"

to identify the screen being used

c0 = touch_area_width / total_width
(width of touch screen divided by width of both screens)
c2 = touch_area_height / total_height
(height touch screen divided by height of both screens)
c1 = touch_area_x_offset / total_width
c3 = touch_area_y_offset / total_height

and execute the above command again with your own coding!

Example:

xinput set-prop 6 --type=float 136 0.3478260869565217 0 0 0.55555555555556 0 0 0 1

Now unfortunately the settings are only valid for the current session. So create the following desktop startup file with your own values:

nano ~/.config/autostart/touch.desktop

Example:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=TouchSettingsAutostart
Comment=Set up touch screen setting when starting desktop
Type=Application
## Adapt command to own values
Exec=xinput set-prop 6 --type=float 136 0.3478260869565217 0 0 0 0.55555555555556 0 0 0 1
Terminal=false

If you want to use the touchscreen as photobooth and the second monitor for the standalone slideshow for example, open the autostart file:

sudo nano /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart

and enter/adjust the @chromium-browser entries as followed (adjust the value 1920 to your own resolution and URL if necessary):

@chromium-browser --new-window --start-fullscreen --kiosk http://localhost --window-position=1920,0 --user-data-dir=Default
@chromium-browser --new-window --start-fullscreen --kiosk http://localhost/slideshow/ --window-position=0,0 --user-data-dir='Profile 1'

How to administer CUPS remotely using the web interface?

By default the CUPS webinterface can only be accessed via http://localhost:631 from your local machine.

To remote access CUPS from other clients you need to run the following commands:

sudo cupsctl --remote-any
sudo /etc/init.d/cups restart

How does the connection to the FTP server work?

The connection to the FTP server needs 4 distinct properties.

baseURL which is the url where all requests will be made
port for ssl connection (the default value is 21)
username the username of the user authorized to interact to the FTP server
password the password of the user

With these four variables you can test the connection to the FTP server to check if everything is alright.

The next variables are for the place where you want the pictures to be stored:

baseFolder is the folder of your website (if you have multiple websites living on the server with this property you can choose on which of these the file should be stored)
folder the folder dedicated to the upload of the files
title if you are doing an event you can set the title of the event to create another folder (the system will slugify the string)
appendDate just like a simple blog websites, when articles are uploaded, the date is added to the url as the path. So if you want, the system will create a set of folder with this template: yyyy/mm/dd
upload_thumb if you want you can upload next to the processed picture also the thumbnails

In the end the processed picture, and the thumbnails, will be uploaded in the folder according to these variables.

If you have a website, you can use the following variables to generate the qr codes that will point to the photos uploaded to the ftp server

useForQr to enable this functionality
website accessible from the internet, it will be the base of the qr code link
urlTemplate starting from the previous set of variables, you have to define the template which will be used to generate the qrcode link (each variable should be written whit '%' before e.g. %website/%folder/%date)

Last but not least you can upload a php file on the title folder on the FTP server to create an online gallery which is updated with every new picture (and collage) taken. The variable to manage this feature are the following:

create_webpage to enable this functionality
template_location which is the location of the index.php file, which is formatted with the title of the current event and uploaded to the FTP server

In the end you can enable the delete functionality that will delete photos (and collages) from the ftp server when they are deleted from the photobooth gallery (no admin reset)

I get the error message "Something went wrong." while taking a picure, what can i do?

There's different reasons if you get the error "Something went wrong. Please try it again. Photobooth reloads automatically." while taking an image.

First of all, please set the Loglevel to 2 via admin panel (GENERAL section, http://localhost/admin) and try again. You'll still see the error message, but we make sure to log enough information to see what's wrong.

Now open the Debug panel (http://localhost/admin/debugpanel) and check the Photobooth log for error messages. You should see something like this:

2023-01-03T08:34:37+01:00:
Array
(
    [error] => Take picture command returned an error code
    [cmd] => gphoto2 --capture-image-and-download --filename=/var/www/html/data/tmp/20230103_083437.jpg 2>&1
    [returnValue] => 1
    [output] => Array
        (
            [0] =>
            [1] => *** Error ***
            [2] => Could not detect any camera
            [3] => *** Error (-105: 'Unknown model') ***
            [4] =>
            [5] => For debugging messages, please use the --debug option.
            [6] => Debugging messages may help finding a solution to your problem.
            [7] => If you intend to send any error or debug messages to the gphoto
            [8] => developer mailing list , please run
            [9] => gphoto2 as follows:
            [10] =>
            [11] =>     env LANG=C gphoto2 --debug --debug-logfile=my-logfile.txt --capture-image-and-download --filename=/var/www/html/testa/data/tmp/20230103_083437.jpg
            [12] =>
            [13] => Please make sure there is sufficient quoting around the arguments.
            [14] =>
        )

    [php] => takePic.php
)

Most of the time the error messages are self explained (in our case no camera was detected, the cable wasn't plugged in), if you're still having trouble you can check the following information about possible known problems.

GPhoto2 troubleshooting

Please note, that GPhoto2 is an own software we can use to take images via Photobooth. The full documentation can be found at http://www.gphoto.org/doc/.

Here are some general known problems you should know about:

Make sure "Image capture" is supported by GPhoto2 for your camera (http://gphoto.org/proj/libgphoto2/support.php)

Try another camera mode.

Sometimes not every camera mode is supported by GPhoto2.

Make sure your camera is set to "JPEG/JPG only", Photobooth isn't able to use RAW images.

Reducing the image quality on your camera can have a positive effect to the performance - especially on low end hardware like a Raspberry Pi.

Disable the auto-focus.

GPhoto2 won't be able to take a picture if your camera can't find a focus.

Turn off the WiFi of your camera (if available).

There might be issues on the connection if WiFi is turned on on your camera.

Make sure a SD-Card is inserted into the camera.

GPhoto2 sometimes has trouble to trigger an image if no SD-Card is inserted.

Make sure pictures aren't taken into the RAM of the camera.

Sometimes we need to define the Capturetarget to the memory card manually. To find out the right capturetarget type the following into your terminal and press enter:

gphoto2 --get-config capturetarget

Your output will look like this:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ gphoto2 --get-config capturetarget
Label: Capture Target
Readonly: 0
Type: RADIO
Current: Internal RAM
Choice: 0 Internal RAM
Choice: 1 Memory card   <--- !!!

Adjust your take picture command via adminpanel accordingly:

gphoto2 --set-config capturetarget=1 --capture-image-and-download --filename=%s

Hardware issues

Enough power on the USB port?

Defect USB cable?

Permission problem

It's easy to check if there's an issue with the permissions. The Photobooth installer takes care about needed permissions and shouldn't be a thing.

Sometimes permission can be wrong after an update.

Open your terminal and try to take an image:

gphoto2 --capture-image-and-download --filename=test.jpg

Everything works?

No: Please again read previous information.
Yes: let's test further!

Now try to take an image as "www-data" User:

cd /var/www/html
sudo -u www-data -s
gphoto2 --capture-image-and-download --filename=test.jpg

Everything working?

Yes: Check your Photobooth configuration for issues. Maybe reset the config to restore the default settings.
No: It looks like there's an issue with the permissions! But we can fix that!

Set the ownership for Photobooth to the "www-data" User:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/

Also make sure the "www-data" User is able to access the USB device (reboot required!):

sudo gpasswd -a www-data plugdev
reboot

Everything working?

No: The camera might be claimed by a different process. The gvfs-gphoto2-volume-monitor is known to cause trouble and shouldn't be executed. The Photobooth installer should take care about it, but maybe something went wrong and we should change it manually (reboot required!):

sudo chmod -x /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs-gphoto2-volume-monitor
reboot

Does it work?

No: Try updating gphoto2 and libgphoto. Run the following commands to install latest development version of gphoto2 and libgphoto:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gonzalo/gphoto2-updater/master/gphoto2-updater.sh
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gonzalo/gphoto2-updater/master/.env
chmod +x gphoto2-updater.sh
sudo ./gphoto2-updater.sh --development
sudo chmod -x /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs-gphoto2-volume-monitor
reboot

Now try again! Does it work?

No: Sorry, we're am almost out of ideas! Please check the special notes below and feel free to contact us at Telegram if you still have issues.

Special notes

Canon EOS 1300D

To capture an image gphoto2 might need some time. Add –wait-event=300ms to the take picture CMD. Your take picture CMD should look like this:

gphoto2 –wait-event=300ms –capture-image-and-download –filename=%s

Source: https://www.dennis-henss.de/2020/01/25/raspberry-pi-fotobox-fuer-hochzeiten-und-geburtstage/#comment-1211

How to upload pictures to a remote server after picture has been taken?

Goal:

After a picture is taken with the photobox upload it automatically to a remote server.

Usecase:

You have a remote server (e.g. with your website on it) or another Raspberry Pi to which you’d like instantly synchronizing your taken pictures. Also you could upload the pictures to a remote server and make them available through the QR code over the internet. By this you would not require people to access a local Wifi to download the picture from your local device which is running your Photobox.

How to:

You should have a remote server with an SSH login. Know your username and password: (e.g.: [username.strato-hosting.eu]@ssh.strato.de)
We will be using the Post-photo script / command of the Photobox which you can find in the admin panel in the section Commands.
The command is being executed after the picture has been taken and gets the picture’s name as an attribute.
Command:

scp /var/www/html/photobooth/data/images/%s [username@remotehost]:/[path_to_where_you_want_to_store_the_pictures_on_the_remote_host]

If we keep it like that the remote server would require the source server to type in a password each time a picture is being copied to the remote server. An SSH connection using a private/public SSH key needs to be established:
Create a public/private key-pair for the www-data user on the source machine (why for that user? The www-data user is executing the Post-photo script/command in the background) – Do not enter a passphrase when prompted.

sudo -u www-data ssh-keygen -t rsa

Copy the public key to the remote (destination) server

sudo -u www-data ssh-copy-id [username@remotehost]

You can now manually test whether the connection works. Try to copy anything to the remote server and change the file in the below example to a file that you actually have on your source machine. You shouldn’t be prompted with a password, but the copy and transfer should complete successfully just with the following command. If that is going to be successful, copying your pictures automatically should work now.

sudo -u www-data scp /var/www/html/photobooth/data/images/20230129_125148.jpg [username@remotehost]:/[path_to_where_you_want_to_store_the_pictures]

You can now use the URL with which you can access your remote server from the internet and paste it into the QR code field in the Photobox admin panel. Now using the QR code your pictures can be downloaded from your remote server.

How to use the image randomizer

To use the image randomizer images must be placed inside private/images/{folderName}. For hassle-free (ssh/sftp-free) upload, you may want to use the integrated images uploader: http://localhost/admin/upload.

Use for PICTURE FRAMES:

Upload / Copy all the (transparent) frames you want to private/images/{FrameFolder}
Enable picture_take_frame
specify picture_frame url : http://localhost/api/randomImg.php?dir={FrameFolder}

Use for COLLAGE FRAMES:

Upload / Copy all the (transparent) frames you want to private/images/{FrameFolder}
Enable collage_take_frame (always or once)
specify collage_frame url : http://localhost/api/randomImg.php?dir={FrameFolder}

Use for BACKGROUNDS:

Upload / Copy all the backgrounds you want to private/images/{BgFolder}
specify collage_background url : http://localhost/api/randomImg.php?dir={BgFolder}

NOTES:

Replace "localhost" with your IP-Adress.
Same thing can be applied for collage_placeholderpath so a random holder image takes place.
You can specify a diffrent {FrameFolder} for collage frames if needed.

FAQ - Frequently asked questions

Is my Camera supported?

Is Pi Camera supported?

I've found a bug, how can I report?

I've a white page after updating to latest Source, how can I solve this?

How do I change the configuration?

How to change the language?

How to update or add translations?

How can I test my current photo settings?

How can I test my current collage settings?

How can setup a custom collage design?

How to keep pictures on my Camera using gphoto2?

My external flash is not working after using the live preview

Cromakeying is saving without finishing saving

Can I use Hardware Button to take a Picture?

Key code using connected HID devices

Remotebuzzer Hardware Button & LED feature using GPIO connected hardware (Raspberry Pi only)

Troubleshooting / Debugging

Button Support

Rotary Encoder

LED Support

Known limitations:

Remote trigger using Socket.io (experimental)

Remote trigger using simple web requests

Installation steps for myStrom WiFi Button

How do I enable Kiosk Mode to automatically start Photobooth in full screen?

Autostart on Pi OS Bookworm

Autostart on Pi OS Bullseye and prior

How to hide the mouse cursor, disable screen blanking and screen saver?

Solution A

Solution B

How to use a live stream as background at countdown?

Preview "from device cam"

Preview from DSLR

Preview "from URL"

Can I use a live stream as background?

I've trouble setting up E-Mail config. How do I solve my problem?

How to only open the gallery to avoid people taking pictures?

Chromakeying isn't working if I access the Photobooth page on my Raspberry Pi, but it works if I access Photobooth from an external device (e.g. mobile phone or tablet). How can I solve the problem?

How to adjust the php.ini file?

Automatic picture syncing to USB stick

Raspberry Touchpanel DSI simultaneously with HDMI

How to administer CUPS remotely using the web interface?

How does the connection to the FTP server work?

I get the error message "Something went wrong." while taking a picure, what can i do?

GPhoto2 troubleshooting

Hardware issues

Permission problem

Special notes

Canon EOS 1300D

How to upload pictures to a remote server after picture has been taken?

Goal:

Usecase:

How to:

How to use the image randomizer

Use for PICTURE FRAMES:

Use for COLLAGE FRAMES:

Use for BACKGROUNDS:

How to adjust the `php.ini` file?