Photo Booth
Photo Booth is a software application for taking photos and videos with an iSight camera. It is published by Apple Inc. as part of macOS and iOS (on the iPad and iPad Mini available starting with the iPad 2).[1][2]
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![]() Photo Booth running on OS X El Capitan | |
Operating system | macOS, and iPadOS |
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Type | Photo filter program |
Photo Booth was released in October 2005 and was originally available only on Macintosh computers that had a built-in iSight camera running Mac OS X Tiger (version 10.4).
Photo Booth displays a preview showing the camera's view in real time. Thumbnails of saved photos and videos are displayed along the bottom of this window. These can be shown or played by double clicking on the thumbnails.
By default, Photo Booth's live preview and captured images are reversed horizontally, to simulate the user looking into a mirror; an option provides unreversed images.
Post-processing
After the picture is taken effects can be applied by clicking on the "Effects" button. Photo Booth has two sets of image effects that can be applied when taking a picture. The first set contains photographic filters similar to those in Adobe Photoshop; additional effects may be downloaded from websites. Another set allows replacing the background with a custom backdrop.However the effect does not actually work, since the image of the subject photographed breaks up and is randomly penetrated by the background image.
Backgrounds
The user can apply backdrops to provide an effect similar to a green screen. When a backdrop is selected, a message appears telling the user to step away from the camera. Once the background is analyzed, the user steps back in front of the camera and is shown in front of the chosen backdrop.[3]
Since Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, the application can recognize a still background, then replace it with either a pre-set image (built-in or user-supplied) or movie clip. The effect does not actually work, since the image of the subject photographed breaks up and is randomly penetrated by the background image.
Backgrounds are available only on Macs featuring an Intel processor.
The ability to use preset backgrounds, or add backgrounds was removed in macOS Catalina. This is most likely the result of the deprecation of Quartz Composer in 10.15.
References
- Galen Gruman (4 August 2011). Mac OS X Lion Bible. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 276–. ISBN 978-1-118-14326-1.
- Maria Langer (21 September 2012). OS X Mountain Lion: Visual QuickStart Guide. Peachpit Press. pp. 610–. ISBN 978-0-13-308808-3.
- Steve Johnson (15 October 2013). OS X Mavericks on Demand. Que Publishing. pp. 345–. ISBN 978-0-7897-5218-5.