Photo Ops

[SCfearfarm]

Hey guys/gals,
We had a lot of requests for photo ops this year......We had que line characters outside that took photos with customers, but people still asked for some other ops. I really want to do something that I can put on my website etc. on so that I can turn it into good advertising on facebook etc. A few of the haunts I attended this year had photo ops and I was wondering what most of you used? Do you take them and put them online and let the customer print them out? Do you just let the people take pictures with a "cut-out" type prop that they put their face in? Do you charge for them or are they free? We had a lot of birthday parties, college sports teams etc. that wanted a big group picture as well and we didn't really know how to accomidate a group pic and still get our advertising out of it. Any suggestions on this would be great! I would really like to keep it something free that either they could take theirself or go online and get once they leave.......but what does everyone do? I dont like the idea of "forcing" pictures on you like the big theme parks when you walk through the gate, but I want a way for the people who want pictures at our haunt to be able to get them.

[hauntedkimmy]

We visited Shocktoberfest in PA last weekend and they had a stage with a plywood steampunk themed backdrop on their midway. The steampunk tied in the theme of their newest attraction. Anyhow, it was well lit with a photographer manning it at all times. He took the pics as people walked to the stage. Some posed with their roaming creatures, others just acted goofy or took a normal photo. They had a banner with website incorporated into the backdrop as well. They post all of the photos onto Facebook at the end of an evening.

It was a simple idea, and to me seemed highly effective. Patrons could print the photos off at home and do whatever with them, and best of all, it was free advertisement from Facebook. Genius idea and so simple. Many groups went up and had their photos taken and it was purely voluntary with several good sized posters stating they were free photos.

[Dreamreaper]

We visited Shocktoberfest in PA last weekend and they had a stage with a plywood steampunk themed backdrop on their midway. The steampunk tied in the theme of their newest attraction. Anyhow, it was well lit with a photographer manning it at all times. He took the pics as people walked to the stage. Some posed with their roaming creatures, others just acted goofy or took a normal photo. They had a banner with website incorporated into the backdrop as well. They post all of the photos onto Facebook at the end of an evening.

It was a simple idea, and to me seemed highly effective. Patrons could print the photos off at home and do whatever with them, and best of all, it was free advertisement from Facebook. Genius idea and so simple. Many groups went up and had their photos taken and it was purely voluntary with several good sized posters stating they were free photos.

This is a great idea, we also have had people ask for places to take pictures and this year we are going to do something. I like this idea!

[sean]

A long time ago, we used the polaroids. Then we bought a swell digital camera and printed the pics out on site for a fee. This happened about the same time as the myspace explosion and now all the others. People would pose with actors for a fee, etc. Then they started taking their own pics and we would hear, right after they looked at it, "Ohh, that's going on myspace", etc. So we let 'em take as many pics as they want....we put this up for a backdrop, and have actors takeing pics with people all night....sorta like a NFL coach press conference...310968_2495194421855_1312670838_2840343_1171887467_n.jpg312678_2043139843477_1393794537_31733704_699804484_n.jpg

[icandrawem2]

The step and repeat backdrops are good in that they are cheap and easy to do, but I would rather take a photo in front of a well-designed set so it feels more "personal". Plus you can have your characters interact with the guests in the photo. If you have a good looking set with characters, people are going to naturally want their pics taken. You could go with a standard halloween or fall theme, or if you have a really cool scene in your haunt, you could reproduce it to an extent for a memorable experience.