film wedding photographer
All of your questions about film wedding photography answered here
Why choose Film Wedding photography for your wedding: A complete guide
I. Introduction to Film Photography for Weddings
Discover the charm of film in wedding photography.
When I think of wedding photos, I always recall the timeless images of JFK and Jackie Kennedy’s wedding. These photos have a documentary and nostalgic look that remains appealing even today. Film uniquely captures moments as they are, making us feel as though we're reliving them. It’s the only medium that looks like a memory feels, with its unique combinations of film stock, camera, and shooting style. I personally love the slight blur or grain that gives images a nostalgic feel.
Many people seek a film photographer for the specific feel of their images, using words like:
Timeless
Nostalgic
Candid
Documentary
These terms perfectly describe the charm and unique properties of film photography, which encapsulates these qualities in a magical way.
I’m drawn to film because it looks the way we remember moments. It feels real, unproduced, and timeless, always retaining a touch of magic that digital can't replicate. Film forces me to slow down and carefully consider each shot, capturing moments as they naturally unfold. My grandmother’s film photos of our family evoke a deep connection, and many of my clients seek that same nostalgic feeling in their wedding documentation.
II. Why Film Photography Is Ideal for Weddings
Capture timeless moments with a unique aesthetic.
Film is ideal for weddings because of its timeless quality. These images will be treasured for generations, immune to fleeting editing trends. Think of how our early-2000s Instagram posts now seem dated—film photographs will never elicit that reaction.
Evoke emotions and nostalgia for lasting memories.
Film’s documentary feel captures genuine emotions and nostalgia without over-production, letting true emotions shine through.
Embrace a process-oriented approach to storytelling.
Shooting a wedding on film requires a unique, thoughtful approach. Film photographers need to be adept with their gear and selective about the moments they capture. This intentionality ensures each shot is impactful, well-composed, and valued by the couple.
III. Benefits of Film Photography in Wedding Shoots
Rich, vibrant colors and exquisite depth:
Film captures the true look of your wedding day, preserving the authentic colors and ambiance.
Skillful handling of light and shadows:
Film’s range allows for capturing details and colors in various lighting situations, ensuring a cohesive and consistent gallery.
Genuine, sincere moments captured authentically:
Film’s organic feel, with its grain and occasional softness, creates sincere and authentic images, enhancing the emotional impact.
IV. Essential Equipment for Film Wedding Photography
Selecting the right cameras, lenses, and film stocks:
I use specific cameras and lenses for different looks. For instance, a 35mm camera gives a documentary feel, while a medium format camera offers a fine-art look. Film stocks are chosen based on lighting conditions, ensuring the best results.
V. Effective Shooting Techniques for Film Weddings
Preparation strategies for flawless wedding day coverage:
Selecting the right cameras, lenses, and film stocks:
I use specific cameras and lenses for different looks. For instance, a 35mm camera gives a documentary feel, while a medium format camera offers a fine-art look. Film stocks are chosen based on lighting conditions, ensuring the best results.
V. Effective Shooting Techniques for Film Weddings
Preparation strategies for flawless wedding day coverage:
- Understand Your Vision: Detailed meetings to understand your preferences.
- Venue Scouting: Identifying good spots and understanding lighting.
- Equipment Preparation: Bringing reliable cameras, lenses, and film.
- Film Handling: Proper storage and quick loading/unloading.
- Lighting: Utilizing natural and artificial light effectively, per my artistic discretion.
- Shooting Strategy: Detailed shot lists, timelines, and freedom in shooting.
- Technical Proficiency: Mastering manual settings, metering, and focus.
- Backup Plans: Extra equipment and possibly an assistant.
- Post-Wedding Workflow: Using a reputable lab for development, scanning, and editing.
- Practice and Preparation: Test shoots and portfolio reviews.
Techniques for capturing natural light and environments.
I love shooting during golden hour for its soft, warm light, using spot metering for accurate exposures, and selecting appropriate film stocks. Filters manage reflections and brightness. I look for natural elements to enhance composition and creatively use reflections and shadows. Patience and keen observation are key to capturing stunning, timeless images.
Focus on storytelling and narrative in wedding photography.
From pre-wedding preparations to intimate portraits and candid moments, I aim to tell a complete story of your day. Using natural light and creative composition enhances the narrative. Selecting and editing photos to represent the couple’s journey, and designing albums with a narrative flow, ensures the story unfolds beautifully.
I love shooting during golden hour for its soft, warm light, using spot metering for accurate exposures, and selecting appropriate film stocks. Filters manage reflections and brightness. I look for natural elements to enhance composition and creatively use reflections and shadows. Patience and keen observation are key to capturing stunning, timeless images.
Focus on storytelling and narrative in wedding photography.
From pre-wedding preparations to intimate portraits and candid moments, I aim to tell a complete story of your day. Using natural light and creative composition enhances the narrative. Selecting and editing photos to represent the couple’s journey, and designing albums with a narrative flow, ensures the story unfolds beautifully.
VI. Advantages of Film Over Digital in Wedding Photography
VII. Overcoming Challenges of Shooting Film at Weddings:
VIII. Client Testimonials
Real wedding examples linked in my galleries include film throughout. I recommend clicking on the galleries page and viewing all of my film images.
IX. Conclusion: Choosing Film Photography for Memorable Weddings:
Using film for wedding photography brings unique benefits and challenges. The benefits include a timeless, classic aesthetic with rich, authentic colors and a tangible quality that digital can't replicate. Film encourages a more thoughtful, deliberate approach to shooting, leading to beautifully composed and meaningful images. However, film also presents challenges, such as limited exposures per roll, the need for precise manual settings, and the reliance on natural light. Managing these aspects requires careful planning, technical skill, and meticulous post-wedding processing to ensure every shot captures the essence of your special day.
- Minimize reliance on extensive post-processing - which means you get your images back much faster. Shooting digital requires more time to ensure the digital images match the film well.
- Preserve cherished memories in archival formats - having the film negatives allows for you to keep the originals and keep them for future generations.
- Deliberate, unhurried shooting process for quality results - Every single shot matters and rather than shooting just to document, I purposefully watch and wait for a poignant moments that I know will matter to my couples. I find that it is much more powerful to have a smaller gallery with quality images, than a large gallery with a large amount images that couples won’t look at or print.
- Commitment to detail and exceptional craftsmanship - Film photography enhances the commitment to detail and craftsmanship in wedding photography by requiring a thoughtful and deliberate approach. The manual settings, careful selection of film stock, and reliance on natural light demand precision and skill. Each shot is composed with meticulous attention, capturing genuine emotions and intricate details that add depth to the story. The tangible nature of film, with its unique aesthetic and timeless quality, underscores a dedication to creating beautifully crafted, memorable images.
VII. Overcoming Challenges of Shooting Film at Weddings:
- Manage limited exposures per roll with precision - To manage the challenges of shooting film at a wedding, especially with limited exposures per roll, I focus on careful planning and precision. Before the big day, I create a clear shot list and familiarize myself with the venue to minimize guesswork. During the event, I keep track of exposures and label film rolls to stay organized. Mastering manual settings and using a light meter ensures I get the shots right the first time, reducing the need for retakes. I often use multiple cameras with different film stocks to avoid frequent roll changes and might have an assistant to help with gear. Staying adaptable and embracing the unique qualities of film, I aim to capture the spontaneity and essence of your special day with creativity and efficiency.
- Adapt to changing lighting conditions seamlessly - This happens through taking a moment to meter the light before taking another shot. It only takes two seconds to pull out the light meter, meter the light and then change my shutter speed to accurately expose in the changing light.
- Invest time and effort in meticulous post-wedding processing - After the wedding, I invest a lot of time and effort into meticulous post-wedding processing to ensure your film photos are perfect. This involves carefully developing the film, choosing a reputable lab, and scanning the negatives at high resolution. I then review each image to ensure it captures the emotion and beauty of your day. Any necessary touch-ups are done thoughtfully to maintain the natural look and feel of film. This meticulous approach in post-processing helps create stunning, timeless images that truly reflect the essence of your wedding day.
VIII. Client Testimonials
Real wedding examples linked in my galleries include film throughout. I recommend clicking on the galleries page and viewing all of my film images.
IX. Conclusion: Choosing Film Photography for Memorable Weddings:
Using film for wedding photography brings unique benefits and challenges. The benefits include a timeless, classic aesthetic with rich, authentic colors and a tangible quality that digital can't replicate. Film encourages a more thoughtful, deliberate approach to shooting, leading to beautifully composed and meaningful images. However, film also presents challenges, such as limited exposures per roll, the need for precise manual settings, and the reliance on natural light. Managing these aspects requires careful planning, technical skill, and meticulous post-wedding processing to ensure every shot captures the essence of your special day.
Yes - absolutely! Typically people worry that shooting film in low light as it is difficult, however, if you have flash, or if there is enough ambient light during the reception, you can shoot film the entire time. Preparation and knowing your gear helps a lot.
I personally prefer to shoot a combination of digital and film to give my couples the best possible image. Mainly because I can push my digital much further in low light situations. I have found that I reach for my digital camera less and less.
I recommend thinking about the space ahead of time and planning what kind of film and gear to bring so that shooting the entire wedding day on film is easier.
Can you shoot a whole wedding with a film camera?
FAQ's
No - The hardest part is getting over the fear of shooting film. If you already know how to shoot a manual digital camera, you should have no problem shooting film. My top pieces of advice:
1) Never underexpose film - you can't fix it. Film is safe to over expose a few stops, so don't worry about accidentally over exposing.
2) Learn to use a light meter.. trust me, it is easier to learn than you think. just one youtube video and you've got it.
3) Still not convinced? Take my course below:
Is film photography harder to do than digital?
ULTIMATE FILM COURSE
Short answer is yes - film is more expensive than digital per shot.
On average, one 35 mm roll costs anywhere from 12-18 dollars to buy. Then to develop and scan, it costs 20 dollars.
That means each roll will cost you 32-38 just for 36 shots. If you shoot medium format, it is more expensive per shot since you have fewer shots on the roll. I recommend adding a film package before offering it to everyone. Allow clients to choose it before incurring the cost if you're worried about spending too much on film.
IS FILM PHOTOGRAPHY MORE EXPENSIVE THAN DIGITAL?
A digital camera is a machine that is trying to replicate what it thinks it is seeing. It basically takes light and turns it into digital squares - this creates a rendered picture that sometimes looks to sharp, too perfect.
Film, on the other hand, uses a gel emulsion on a thin piece of plastic basically. When light hits it, it is more of an organic natural rendering of the scene in front of it. Any imperfections on the lens, shake of the hand, and depth of field is also imparted on the photo. It just isn't as perfect and defined as a digital camera. Because of this difference in how the image is captured, you will see that there is a difference between digital and film.
WHY DO FILM PHOTOS LOOK BETTER THAN DIGITAL?
This totally depends on the wedding, however on average, I will shoot around 25 rolls of film for a full wedding day.
When I started, I shot 2 - 4 rolls mainly because I was getting used to managing both digital and film and film just seemed daunting and time consuming.
Now because I rely on my hand-held light meter, I can be confident in shooting and knowing quickly what settings to put my film camera on and know that the shot will come out properly exposed.
HOW MANY ROLLS OF FILM DO YOU SHOOT AT EACH WEDDING?
Creative fulfilment, and to best serve my couples. When I graduated high school, the first class that I signed up for in college was film photography. I have always been fascinated with it and wanted to do film photography.
I loved the magic that happened when the image appeared on the paper in the darkroom. It was like I had worked some kind of miracle. I couldn't explain the delicious softness of the image, but it got me to my core the first time I saw my images appear on paper.
Early on in my wedding photography career, I didn't think to use film as it was slower and more deliberate. I need to work quickly on wedding day. However, I found that when I started shooting film, I became more deliberate, and took much better shots by focusing on waiting for the good moments.
Film is now my inspiration. I am always wanting to see what new and unique or unexpected image I can create by mixing light and lens together.
Film also endures trends and editing styles. It will look good 30 years from now, and that is what I want to ensure for my couples.
why do wedding photographers shoot film?
Film is made of a transparent film base coated in a photo-sensitive material.
When light hits the film, it creates a slight chemical reaction that results in an image.
Film must be developed by a chemical process to fix the image permanently - this is developing the film.
Film camera Basics
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Film cameras allow light to come through the lens and hit the film in varying intensities. The shutter speed and f-stop control this.
The light meter in the film camera can tell you if the resulting image will be too bright or dark.
Typically it is best to use a hand-held light meter to make sure the exposure is correct.
There are two formats for film photography that I use.
The first being 35mm which is what many film cameras are. Most people who start in film photography start with this film size.
The second being 120mm which is a larger film format and results in images with finer detail.
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My favorite film stocks
KODAK PORTRA 400, 800
KODAK GOLD 200
TRI-X 100 BLACK AND WHITE
ILFORD 3200 BLACK AND WHITE
35 mm
MY FAVORITE 12O MM FILM STOCKS ARE:
KODAK PORTRA 400, 800
ILFORD 3200 BLACK AND WHITE
120 Film
where can you buy and develop film?
I recommend going to your local photography store first. You can buy packs of film or individual rolls. If you want to buy film and get them developed, I recommend these film labs:
- Indie Film Lab
- Photo Vision Prints
Also - one roll of film can cost around $15 depending on the film stock, and developing and scanning is around $20. So price your packages accordingly, otherwise you may eat into your profit.
Film faq
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Which film cameras do I use on wedding day?
For my 35mm, I use two cameras, the Contax g2 - and the pentax espio 410v.
For my medium format, I use the Contax 645.
Which film cameras should a newbie start with?
If you are starting out in film, I recommend the Canon AE-1. It is widely available on ebay and at local camera stores. It is reliable and will allow you to dip your toe into film before moving up to different cameras.
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What parts of the day do i shoot film?
I try to shoot film as much as possible, but honestly fitting it in when the timeline isn't scrunched is what the reality is - unless my couple has opted for a film add on package, in which case, my associate helps me with coverage so I can focus on film. I love photographing details in film as well as some portraits. I get a few shots of the ceremony on film and sunset bridals. I love shooting flash on film during the reception.
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common mistakes when shooting film
Some of the most common issues I have had with shooting film are all centered around not metering the light correctly and underexposing the film.
Film is different than digital - underexposing film will not result in a good image and you can't fix it. Instead it is better to err on the side of overexposing. You can overexpose up to 6 stops or more and the image still looks great! That is completely different from a digital image, which overexposing will result in an image that you can't fix.
metering incorrectly
It is really easy to forget to change your shutter speed or f-stop between changing locations and lighting situations.
The one habit that I use is to meter the light every time my feet move. As soon as I walk and stop somewhere new, I meter the light and change the settings on my camera. Typically this is just a change in shutter speed. But this is critical because it is easy to forget to change your settings and then you shoot and accidentally underexpose your image.
Forgetting to change settings
Still need more support to feel confident in film?
THIS COURSE IS FOR YOU IF...
1. If you are wanting to be able to shoot a larger portion of your sessions on film.
2. You want to find a way to quickly get film developed and scanned to sent to your clients.
3. You're not sure which cameras or formats you want to use and need someone to show you.
4. If you are not sure where to start with film and need step by step instructions.
5. You want to know which film stocks to choose and why.
6. You want to know how to shoot film in difficult lighting situations.
learn more about my ultimate film course
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