Every Mac that comes with an iSight is loaded with Photo Booth. When I was Mac-less, I used to frequent Apple stores and somehow Photo Booth seemed to appeal to me then. Sadly, after I bought a Mac for myself, the attraction didn’t last very long and later, I sort of forgot about this nifty application which attracted me in the first place.
To bring back the romance, I went on a search to see if I could add more effects to Photo Booth. There were only a few interesting pre-packaged ones and most of them had something to do with image distortion (squeeze, bulge, dent, mirror etc.). That was fun for a while but I need the “Wow” factor back desperately.
In my search, I managed to uncover a few sites that offer a good collection of free Photo Booth effects.
From B-L-A-C-K-O-P, I found CatEye, which is a collection of 5 sets of effects. Each set has its own theme:
I especially like the BoobToob set, it makes me feel like I’m on television. If you’re sick or bored with the default Photo Booth effects, this will definitely bring back some fun.
CatEye will only work on Leopard and is free (direct download link)
From another site called Macpoupou Factory, I found a collection of Mac Photobooth effects which has been around for quite some time: MoreIchatEffects. After adding these effects, I realised that I have been missing out on a lot of fun! The effects are incredibly awesome beyond the ones Apple provide, especially Hologram – if you’re a Star Wars fan, you’ll love this one. It’s strangely uncanny.
More iChat Effects 2.0.3 (direct download link)
Besides that, several other effects like ASCII art and Line Overlay are pretty cool.
MoreIchatEffects bundles 48 different effects and will only work on Leopard.
UPDATE: This effects bundle crashes when running on Snow Leopard in 64-bit mode. More information here.
I can’t remember how I managed to find this next site but it offers 4 Photo Booth effects (Leopard only), from which I only like one. Visit the site and guess which one it is and let me now in the comments. (Hint: Did you know that Photo Booth has the ability to record video? You can ask Bush what he thought about the shoe).
Finally, a Photo Booth effect that must not be left out: Obamafy. Following in the footsteps of President-Elect Barack Obama, you can now quickly and simply create your “Hope” posters. Remember, Leopard only.
UPDATE: Obamafy crashes Photo Booth on Snow Leopard. At the time of writing, it worked on Leopard. Save the effect in /Users/{your username}/Library/Compositions.
In order to remove unwanted effects, just delete them from the appropriate folder. Keep in mind that if you add a lot of new effects at once, Photo Booth will crash while loading them. It’s best to add one set at a time.
Also, these effects will work with iChat! So, you can fool your friends into thinking that something’s gone wonky with your iSight or that they’re really seeing you through a hologram.
Got more effects to share? Know about other ways to bring back the fun to Photo Booth? Share with us in your comments. Lastly, if you’d like to use your iSight for something more productive, check out my article on Gawker and Eyesight.
UPDATE: I strongly advise you to install each set of effects individually. Remember to quit Photo Booth before installing. To uninstall, empty the ~/Library/Compositions or /Library/Compositions folder.
If Photo Booth becomes unresponsive, Force Quit the application and delete the effects from the Compositions folder.
152 Comments -
Sangindiva
THANK YOU!! These are great!!
CadeMortem
Thanks!
Stazquatch
Hello, really cool post but not working for me! well the cat eye one isn’t anyway. i put the files into library/comp as instructed but my photobooth looks the same, am i doing something wrong?
Jones
cool
ethan
thanks man, these are awesome!
Bob
Now my photo booth crashes incessantly. Thanks!
thebeaky
They look awesome, but I’m on Leopard yet… did you find any for Tiger?
hornswaggle
i am kinda new to this but how do you download the effect?? where do you go to??
Rich
Having same problem as Bob above me. I now understand how I should have installed it properly, but what do I do now that the damage is done? How can I make photoshop work normally again? Each time I try to use an effect photoshop closes. Thanks!
Daisy
So will this only work if you have leopard or ichat4?
LoozyJones
“Obamafy???” that’s a sad oversight. should be “Shepardize.”
Samm-I-Am
These are great…. thanks so much for posting these!!!
mary
i love effects
Jackson
Lovely to see you people enjoying yourselves with these effects :)
silkina Ahluwalia
i have deleted the apps from my mac but it is still in my photobooth how do i get rid of it from my photobooth!!! its making it slow. someone help me. i went to library and everything bt i cant find the application i moved it to trash already but it’s still in my photobooth these effects!! i downloaded both the cateye and moreichateffects.
how do i delete it permanentlt??
silkina Ahluwalia
oh haha got it thank u so much. okay so now after i install one set of effect how long of a gap should i have before i start installing the next one?
i think it was jammed because i download moreichateffects together with cateye. so ya catastrophe!
OKAY THANKS SO MUCH
silkina Ahluwalia
which should i download if i only want the set with the effect “Obamafy”. Which set is that? Please let me know thanks
Patrick Gallagher
Wow, I never realized more effects could be added to Photo Booth or iChat. Cool stuff.
care f.
Hey Guys.,.
jusT lookinG for The fellow wHo made The Vieo of my band and my sonG.
i would like To conTacT Him.
my e – mail.
HowTokillmusic@Gmail.com
..
THank. y. o. u.
- c a r e.. f……
SARAh Coplan
PLEASE PLEAAAASE HELP ME
THIS IS MAKING MY COMPUTER SOOOOOOSSOSOSO SLOW
and i dont know how to delete it!
i tried the compositions thign but i dontwana delete the originall photo booth effects!
just thesseee onesss !
and theseeee ones arnt showing up in composition plllllllllllllllllllllllz plz help asap
bella Silk
how do i download only thr obamify one??
kedob
What do you think about http://www.stockfreephoto.eu
emily
THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE,
i downloted it and then they are all just in a folder what do i do now?
where do i bring it?
HELPP ?
Andreas Thaler
When i what to remove it i go to library and check after Compositions but i don’t got that folder, how the f*** am i suposed to remove them now eh?
Razan Anabtawi
heeey!
ok, so i downloaded these effects and i really like them, but there are a few that i downloaded a while ago that i wanna get rid of the, how can i do that?
its making my photo booth SLOWW
pleaseeee help mee
THANKS A LOT
kedob
Hi. What do you think about stockfreephoto.eu
Nicole12342
I do not know how 2 do it! How do u do it. I cannot download it! :C help!
taylor11792
question.
how do i UNINSTALL the effects of what you mentioned down below? i no longer want them on my macbook anymore. how do you uninstall them??
“# RetroPixels – adaptation of 60’s and 70’s video effects.
# Love For 80s – bringing back Space Invaders, Pong and VHS (yes, that’s video tape quality, ladies and gentlemen!).
# Bent Pels – optical image distortion with a twist.
# BoobToob – a set of TV screen effects.
# FewTile – tiled-images effect.
I especially like the BoobToob set, it makes me feel like I’m on television. If you’re sick or bored with the default Photo Booth effects, this will definitely bring back some fun.”
kimmy
ii dont like know hot to download it. like its confusinng. aha. well i meaan i like installed it but nothing happened to photobooth…? maybee im doing something wronng. idk!
lauren hays
there’s a lot of green lines on each effect for me how do i get rid of them
Katy
I want to uninstall the effects, because they are making my macbook extremely slow. I have deleted everything off of my computer, and the effects are no longer (nor ever were) in my compositions folder but they are still showing up. Any advice?
jay
awesome thnx
DIEGO
how do I donwload this themes?
helpme
HELP! i dont have a compositions folder in my library? what do i do?
Sam
omgg thank you SO MUCH!!
Jordan Walters
were is my obamayfy i dont have it i installed all of them
Jordan Walters
were is my obamayfy i dont see
Stevan
After reading comments and/or complaints I (speaking for myself of course) would use some UNIX comands to get rid of unwanted files and/or
apps ! At times the old way MIGHT BE THE ONLY WAY.
Stevan
lm
i like these effects but how can i delete them?
???
will this slow down my computer/make it crash/do anything harmfull to it???????????????????????????? because i REALLY want them but im afraid something bad will happen to my computer. and that would be bad because its a brand new computer and i share it with the rest of my family so everyone would get mad if i ruin the computer. please answer!!!!
lily
how do u put on photo booth???
Jackson Chung
Dear MUO readers,
Due to the large amount of comments, I am not able to answer each one individually. The article is pretty self-explanatory. Each effect set comes with its own installer.
Depending on the level which you install, whether is “For this user only” or “For all users of this computer”, your effects will either be located at /Library/Compositions or /Users/{your username}/Library/Compositions, respectively.
Do not overload PhotoBooth with a lot of effects at once because it will try to parse everything during which time your Mac might experience some unresponsiveness.
To remove, just delete the effects from the aforementioned folders where it has been installed into.
nafisaht
I wan’t photo booth !!! But i don’t have macbook !!! Can photo booth install in a laptop ??
kayla
how do i download these?
Courtz
hi can u reply to this question i have downloaded it but i dont no how to put them on photo booth i can only make them a background
hellp
McCain/Palin
YEAH, OKAy, OBAMA SUCKS, I am not DOWNLOADING THIS THING BECAUSE OF THAT. OH, AN EFFECT THAT CANT BE LEFT OUT? GIVEN ME A F*CKIN BREAK!!!WELL, I HOPE THAT YOU ALL HAVE FUN BING TOTAL LOSERS, AND DONT EVEN TRY AND COMMENT ON THIS, THERE’S NOTHING U CAN SAY TO IT. NUFF SAID
erika
how do you delete these stupid effects…they make my computer go so slow and then freeze and exit.
Emileeeeeeeeee
help!
i dont know how do download them, and i have one annoying one from a nother stuid download how do i get ride of it and how do i even get to the library help and go so slow a 3 year old can understand
Emileeeeeeeee
help i dont know how to do anyof this
first how do delete old one and how do i get to that library thingy u are talking about
then how do i download urs because they look awsome
Emileeeeeeeee
yay ok so i found out how to delete the old stupid effects
now how do download urs ONLY THE GOOD ONES
and make it easy please
deann
Hi, I followed the instruction to go to macinotsh HD/library/compositions. But there doest seem to be a compositions folder and I dont know what do. Could I please get some help with this.
danielle
how do you delete them from your photobooth
Aaron
The CatEye Effects do not show up in the compositions folder with the rest of the effects, nor can i find them anywhere on my mac, and yet they show up in photobooth and make it crash and the like. so how then can i delete them if they are not with the other effects or anywhere else?
Helpless
Hey, guys I’ve downloaded both, cat eye and the other one.Cat eye works great but some of the other ones are divided by a green bar.. that sucks does anyone knoe how to delete the green bar?
Brandon
How do i download them
Smith
is this a virus?!
Roberto Cisneros
i need to delete the effects but it keeps on saying that it is a (code-61) what do i do
caitin
how do you download them?
i cant find the button. lol
anonymous
i dont know how to download the effects
HELP ME PLZ!!!
Smith
hey Jackson Chung! there isnt anything in my compositions folder! its empty! :[ what should i do?!
manuel
Question,
Is the any way I CAN use this great effects in my sony video cam? Thanks
Shivvu
How do you download them? I really want them but I don’t know how to download them. Help me please!
nikki
i dont understand ! how do i get it and what is the leopard thing ?!
Gracie
hey !
thanks, but how do you download that second set ? with the hollagram and stuff ? there is no download button !!!
thankyouuh in advance !
xx(L)
julien menth
party
Sep
Hello, how to Delete the Blackop, cat eye? can tell Me?
bryan
dont download. these effects make photo booth really slow
russell Nicholas
this might help some of you, my photo booth started crashing also after i added in the new effects. but after i went into the ‘get info’ option on photo booth and checked ‘run in 32-bit mode’ it started to work fine :)
ee
i cant find ‘ run in 32 bit mode’ cos i only see ‘open in rosetta’
wht should i do?
russell Nicholas
open finder, then go to macintosh HD, then applications. find Photo Booth. right click and select get info. there should be a check box that says open in 32 bit mode. it should be there.
tempeste
i cant delete the ones with the 80′s and all that. ( I did the whole library/compositions/ thing and it is not working on my computer and the application keeps closing automatically. this computer is brand new so i am not sure what to do.
Franciii
how do we make a new page for effects? cuz i downloaded all of the effects on this page, but i dont know how to make a new page so that i can add them all to photobooth :(
Iza
Gosh you people are really stupid, just read everything above and stop asking every 5 seconds how to!! >.<
Jackson Chung you saved my boring photo booth, thanks man :D
Nick
Hey, I love these effects…but I’m using a school-issued Macintosh Running Leopard.
My school blocked any and all installers that edit the Applications folder, so I can’t install More iChat Effects.
Is there any place that has the individual .qtz files for download?
chase
ive deleted the effects in the composition folder but it still has the effects that say demo and stuff. how do i COMPLETELY delete all the effects and start with the basic photo booth.
this fucked up my comp
kellan
were the heck do you go to get them??
josh
uhh i dont think it works on snowleopard
Kevin
thank u soo muchh
luke
how do you downlaod them
JLS
how do you download them!!!?
Melissa Wolf
How can I get rid of this? i cant open photo booth and take a picture without it shutting down now…
Jackson Chung
Depending on the user-level for which you save these effects (for ‘All Users’ or for ‘This User Only’), they will either be saved in /Users/{your username}/Library/Compositions or /Library/Compositions. In order to remove unwanted effects, just delete them from the appropriate folder. Keep in mind that if you add a lot of new effects at once, Photo Booth will crash while loading them. It’s best to add one set at a time.
Danielle SMITH
Why is my camera on photo booth so slow
Danielle SMITH
why is my camera on photobooth so slow
Maloli Lemmen
how can i download the effects?
britty
just leopard? sucks i have snow one
Heather Jean Hunter
I am having the same problem. I have hit get info and the only box to check in open in rossetta. My ichat and photo booth dont even run anymore. Any help would be highly appericated.
John
Can somebody post the .qtz files for the ones that require an install? I’m using my school MacBook, so I can’t install them without the administrator password. Thanks.
kate
I am having the same problem with the “open in 32 bit mode” and “open using rosetta.” I just bought my macbook about two days ago and even the sales associate told me to download these effects but that it was mandatory to change it to 32 bit mode. however, when I pull up the “get info” window for photobooth and ichat, there is no checkbox for 32 bit mode. the effects are working, but I have noticed that my computer runs slower and I don’t want it to crash. please help.
s;dlfa sdlf
How do you get them?!!! wheres the download button????
Charlie
Hey i want these but how do i download them onto my photobooth?
s;dlfa sdlf
Does this work if you have a macbook?
jaye
okay, so the effects are great, but how do you download them?
novat
hihi um how do you download it? (very confuzzled)
Kate
How do you uninstall CatEye?
Meg
Hey I uploaded this photo effects then later found apple got these effects and i want to delete the other effects but it is asking me for a password for my admin account on the computer. But for some reason it wont delete and then it says it sent a message to the creater of the effects for making up passwords when i didn’t AND I JUST WANT TO DELETE IT!
Michelle
I downloaded the Cat Eye ones
I found that they were really slow and after a few minutes they would just go blank on the screen, I went to the finder they weren’t in the Compositions but under devices it had them listed so I dragged them to the trash and emptied that. I couldn’t find them stored anywhere on my account other than where I deleted them from.
I went back to Photobooth and they were still there!!!!!! I dont know what I am doing wrong, I dont want to download them again I just want them gone!! Im really upset and just want them gone… please help me!!!!!!
super villain
your effects fvcked up mai comupTureeR,
Matt
Do you know any effects for those with Snow Leopard, or is there another similar article on make use of? By the way, awesome site, my favorite.
zac
how do you even download the effects
zac
this site sucks
Brandon
hey dude thanks these effects are awesome! i coldnt jump through squares for a while but once it crahshes if u report it it kinda works better, most of them when i tae a pic they come out with the color distorted and stuff… can u help?
jackie haft
still don’t understand how to find /Library/composition file to delete downloaded effects.
can you help me?
nolan
how can i delete specific effects cause i have way to many and now my photobooth crashes, i dont know how to delete
Mysteryboygirl
HOW DO U GET THEM???
Fred
Dont get them! Screwed up my computer! Photobooth is really slow now!
DONT GET!
Hunter
my mac is extremly slow now, What the hell, thanks alot, u should have warnd us!!!
Veronique
Cool stuff, thanks!!!
awesomeness
cool effects but…. HOW DO I DOWNLOAD ‘EM!!!!!