Ignite Images are specialists in providing on-site instant photo printing at events. We have been doing it for years and our experience will ensure your event runs smoothly and meets your goals.

It is a service that we offer to both our corporate clients and private clients and is popular with both in equal measure.

We have worked with major brands such as Disney, Samsung, BT Sport, Fred Perry, Mont Blanc, and Amazon amongst others at their events with great success.

This is what we specialise in. We have worked with many leading brands providing this service as well as operating within the private event market.

Regularly we print a few hundred photographs in an hour so whether or not you have a fast paced brand activation or something smaller scale then please get in touch.

The instant on-location photo printing service is ideal for;

• corporate events
• activations
• parties
• black tie functions
• experiential events

With hundreds of successful events under our belt, you can be assured of a truly professional service.

It is highly likely that we will have covered an event the same as yours or very similar.

Book a short discovery call to see if our instant photo & video services are a fit for your event.

We'll learn about your brand, goals, and photo ideas. We can then provide honest feedback on the feasibility and options for:

• Custom styling and branding
• On-site photo printing
• Instant video
• Instant digital delivery
• Timelines and logistics

You'll leave the call with clarity on how our instant photography services can be tailored to your brand.

Whether you need printing, digital, or both, we offer flexible instant photo solutions.

Schedule a discovery call to explore possibilities with no obligation, and free.

Print size and speed of printing

The specification of the printers we use to print a 9 x 6 inch photo indicate that it takes 16.4 seconds to produce this which means that theoretically, we could print 219 photos an hour.

In practice this doesn’t happen, as often we are reliant on the guest choice of images, or simply the event we are covering will have peaks and troughs in demand.

The most popular size of print for corporate events and activations is 6 x 4 inch which takes 10 seconds to produce. We have produced 320 prints in an hour before which is close the theoretical maximum of 360 prints.

With only one printer in operation, we have often printed between 300 – 500 photos at events. If we need to print more, or the same number in a lesser time we will simply increase the number of printers and operators.

Here are the print times so you can get some feel for how long it takes for a print and the print sizes available.

6 x 4 inches  –  8.8 seconds

9 x 6 inches  –  16.4 seconds

12 x 8 inches   – 35.2 seconds

If you are looking at instant photo printing at your event these figures should provide a good guide as to what is possible.

Quality of the prints

The quality is truly superb. At every event we have attended we always have comments revolving around the quality of photos we have produced, and also the short time it has taken to print them.

This is partially helped, of course, by the fact that so many people are used to simply viewing photos on the computer these days so when the hold a high quality print they are blown away.

The resolution of our prints is 17 times that of a photo on a screen!

We have never received a single complaint at any event about the quality of the print which says something. They may not like the face they deliberately pulled for the camera but the quality of print isn’t an issue!

You will find the same type of printers (or indeed exactly the same) in the photo kiosks in the likes Boots or Jessops.

Instant on-site photo printing at events doesn’t compromise the quality of them.

Workflow & operational

This is key to our success in providing instant on-location photo printing and is crucial to the smooth running of events.

At fast-paced activations and experiential events, pre-planning is crucial. It is not professional to just turn up and hope for the best!

We will work with you pre-event so that all bases are covered and consider the following aspects;

• placement of backdrop (or set)
• location of photographer
• the flow of guests
• location of printer(s)
• cabling or wi-fi needed
• special requirements of the event or venue
• placement of lights
• assistant needed?

Some events are of course simpler than others but we will ensure we have asked the correct questions before the event. It’s not ideal to have spent £1,000s on an event only to find that the instant photo printing cannot work in a location!

We are able to work around the country and also deploy multiple experienced teams if needed.

Experiential event and brand activation photography

Much of our instant on-site photo printing work is in the brand activation, or experiential event space and it is something we do well!

We have worked with many well-known brands to provide this service, they include Disney, Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Amazon, Tesco, Cadbury, Samsung, Estee Lauder and many others.

With so many successful events under our belt we are able to advise on what will work or won’t at your event. Please contact us if you want to run an idea past us.

An experienced team is essential if the event is fast-paced. For instance, at the Pepsico event at the Champions League Final (shown here), we printed and mounted 410 photos in 80 minutes. Queuing was minimal and many happy guests enjoyed the event and their photographs.

Preparation is key to the success of this type of event. We will take the time pre-planning in conjunction with the event organiser +/or brand to ensure the event goes smoothly.

We will double-up on all our equipment at events of this nature. So, we will have two cameras, two printers, two sets of lights, double cabling etc.

Appointing us means you can de-risk this aspect of your event and concentrate on other aspects of it. We know how to operate corporate events and don’t need hand holding!

Branding of prints

At most activations and experiential events there will be some form of branding in place (or what’s the point?).

The three main areas to look at are;

• the backdrop or set
• the frames
• the print itself

Backdrop – our preference for backdrops is stretch fabric. They look far better than pull-up screens and tend to be better than vinyl backdrops from a photography perspective.

The photo above (yellow backdrop) on Freedom Day at the South Africa High Commission shows how good these can look in photos. Cost wise you are looking at about £750 for a 10ft backdrop which we source.

The print – An overlay can be added to the prints to brand them to suit the event. This may be as simple as a logo in the corner, or a bigger design showing branding more prominently.

We will work with the underlying client to ensure the branding works well with the prints.

Roaming photography with instant on-site photo printing & instant digital delivery

This is rapidly becoming one of our most popular services and it’s understandable why.

We use the system to take both ‘normal’ photos and GIFs for that extra bit of fun.

As soon as photos have been taken guests can view them on an iPad and send them to themselves by text or email.

Prints are also ordered from the iPad and will be instantly printed by a photo printer placed in a convenient location.

The service is ideal for;

• parties
• activations
• green screen
• experiential
• stores and shopping centres

Check out our full blog post for full details of this service.

Green screen photography

Green screen photography is always great fun and engaging for guests no matter their age. It’s not just for the young ones!

Green screen or chromakey photography is the process of taking photos of people against a green background and then replacing the green with a digital backdrop.

On the surface, to guests, it all looks quite simple but underlying this is sophisticated software and lighting which needs to be spot on.

We can run events with multiple backgrounds and branding overlays added to the prints, which of course printed straight away.

If you have an idea you would like to run past us then please get in touch. We have lots of photos of people against green screens and should be able to run a mock-up for you.

Meet & Greet photography

Meet and greet photography probably has the most manic workflow of everything we do due to strict time pressures.

There is little time for error or re-shooting. Often we are allowed one photo of each guest and that is it! Our current record is 550 photos taken in 90 minutes, although we have also photographed over 1,300 people in a few hours. In both cases, the subjects were famous YouTubers who are more popular than most pop stars these days.

The meet and greets we conduct are similar to many activations and experiential events with two big distinctions;

• they are typically faster paced
• we cannot make mistakes or we have very upset people on our hands!

Being used to working on fast-paced activations ensures we can cover meet and greets no matter how busy they may be. Our processed are refined and can prints instantly 100s of photos in a short space of time.

For digital, we can provide unique client galleries more or less immediately after the photo is taken where the guest can access only their photo.

Black tie photography

Over the years we have photographed hundreds of black tie and formal functions with our pop-up studio and instant photo printing service.

Typically these are;

• conference evenings
• charity balls
• award ceremonies
• Summer and winter balls
• organisations annual dinners

How we run these pop-up studios very much depends upon the individual event. At some events we only cover the drinks reception, with others it’s the entire night and then others we are part of the post dinner entertainment.

We have teams nationwide so if you are looking to for us to cover your event then please get in touch.

Digital delivery

At many event we cover the underlying brand wants to get their message out to a wider audience than just the attendees that are present.

We have developed various digital solutions which can compliment the on-location photo printing.

Tablet sharing

This is one of our most popular options and works quite simply. Once the photo has been taken it is available on a tablet for the guest to view. They can share to;

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• via text
• via email

The tablets may be on a stand or simply in a case and presented to the guest by a brand ambassador. The latter is a great option if you are looking to achieve guest engagement.

Online gallery

The main two options here are;

• Facebook Page
• Online gallery hosted by us

We can give gallery access cards with Bitly addresses and QR codes to make it simpler for guests to access their photos. Our galleries can be password protected.

Unique client microsite

This is our newest product and unique to us in the UK.

Guests are given cards with a unique access code and website to visit. They enter their code and can access their photo(s) and their photo(s) only!

The gallery can be fully branded to the client’s requirements and have clickable banners to further promote their product or company.

Presentation of the photos

How photos are presented to guests will very much depend upon your event.

We have four main options for this;

• • Card Strut Mount
  • Glass Mount
  • Bespoke Photo Wallet
  • No mount

By default we will use a strut mount although we are happy to use the mount of your choice.

If you are after branded photo wallets we will need the artwork approx a week prior to the event.

To give you some indication of cost for 500 wallets in full colour (both sides) on 350gsm stock would cost approx £190, or £130 for 250. Higher runs will obviously lead to a lower unit cost.

With the strut mounts we are able to add foil blocking provided we have sufficient notice (approx 2 weeks) and a minimum quantity is ordered.

Our favourite are the branded photo wallets as in our opinion they complete the branding aspect.

A photo mosaic wall at your event

Photo mosaic walls are a great addition to many events.

They come in various sizes and if you want digital only (on a screen we can do that too).

We create, or you supply a background image to us for the mosaic to created on/ Often this will be a logo or similar graphic.

Photo tiles (2 inches x 2 inches) will be added to the photo grid to create the final image. These tiles are tinted by our software system to match the final image.

The mosaic system is great fun in its own right yet can be used for brand promotion as we can ‘harvest’ photos from Instagram and Twitter with a pre-defined hashtag. This can gain your event significant exposure if this element is promoted well.