6 Reasons To Choose Film Wedding Photography

Analog camera on a table with photos

Are you torn between doing digital or film wedding photography? Well, then we are here to stitch you up again—film vs. digital wedding photography is a choice that many professional photographers face today.

With the rise of digital cameras, many wedding photographers have switched to shooting with solely digital equipment. However, is it better? Not necessarily. Here we discuss six reasons why film wedding photography still reigns supreme. Let's read on.

6 Reasons Why You Should Use Film

There are multiple reasons why film photography is better, but we will be discussing six of them today. Here are six reasons why you should use film to do wedding photography:

Film Photography Captures The True Essence Of A Moment

A couple looking back taken by a film camera

When photographers only shoot with digital cameras, they often take several shots of the same people or scenes. It may be because it may be possible to photoshop the individuals into looking better after being edited.

There is no need for this when doing film wedding photography—each image will create its own unique story and isn't susceptible to manipulation. It forces you to capture the moments as they are for there are less options for editing afterward, which ensures that every moment is genuine and frozen in time exactly how it happened.

Additionally, film photography as a whole can be more challenging. It forces you to find the proper lighting, get the correct angles, and capture the pure moment. You might think it sounds like more work, and it is, but it is worth it.

Film Photos Have A Timeless Quality 

A board at a wedding that was photographed by a film camera, it reads I will follow you until the end of time.

Digital photography can only go so far. It was previously said that digital camera dynamic range was inferior to film. With recent advances in digital sensors, this may no longer be the case. Film, however, does have some amazon dynamic range.

Film wedding photography captures the true colors of the images and their tones. As a result, film images will almost always look better than digital images, regardless of what computer you view the image on. With film wedding photography, your photos will always look timeless. Is this our opinion? Yes, but we believe we are right!

Film Photos Are Unique And Special

When you take a film image, you will get only one shot if you're conservative with your film, while with digital cameras, you can shoot countless pictures of the same scene. Additionally, when you have a film roll developed at a professional lab, the images come back with your negatives containing all of your pictures—with digital photography, you will only have the digital version.

Why is that relevant? Film negatives are timeless. They can be stored for later use and are a physical piece of captured time. Many families have their negatives from their lives still able to be scanned today!

Wedding couple at a lake photographed with film

Film Creates An Emotional Connection With Viewers

There is no denying that film photography has an emotional connection to viewers. The slightly blurred images and muted colors can cause people to empathize with the subjects of the photos.

It also makes the viewer want to touch the photo as if they could reach out and feel what the person in the photograph feels—creating a connection between subject and viewer.

Couples want to be able to look back and feel their wedding kiss or walk down the aisle again. They want to remember what it was like laughing with their family or dancing with their loved ones. Film photography gives them precisely that.

Film Photography Is Becoming More Popular For Weddings

Nowadays, you can't go to a wedding without seeing at least one film photographer there. The growing popularity is primarily due to the quality and timelessness of film photography and its ability to create an emotional connection with viewers.

If you want your photography company to stand out from others, you must choose something unique like film wedding photography.

Film Gives You Complete Creative Control

A bride at the ocean photographed with film

Being a professional photographer is about more than just taking photographs—it is about telling a story through those images.

With film wedding photography, you have the power to capture the moments exactly as they happened and create an image that looks how it should look. With digital wedding photography, you would need to manipulate the image in almost every way to get it to look right. Don't spend countless hours editing your images, let us develop and scan them for you!

Film wedding photography is all about capturing the story rather than creating an altered version.

Using Digital Alongside Your Film

At this point, you might be thinking, how am I going to change over to film after shooting digital for so long? The answer is simple; you don't have to. We aren't encouraging you to leave the world of digital photography behind but to broaden your scope as a photographer instead.

An excellent way to get around this is to use both styles alongside one another. Digital cameras are ideal because they are easy, quick, and allow for mistakes. Film photography is not so forgiving and takes more time to set up. So, capture your weddings using both a film and digital camera to get the most out of your shoot.

A bride at a wall looking at her flowers with the groom in the back

One of the concerns you may have about film photography is the fear of losing your photoshoot because of a damaged camera or lost film. Something to consider is that photos are always in danger, whether digital or film.

Digital cameras damage just as easily as film cameras, and the chances of losing a memory card are the same as losing your film. So, that brings us back to using both styles when doing a wedding photoshoot.

Do Fantastic Film Photography

Film photography has been making a comeback in recent years, and for a good reason. There are many benefits to using film over digital, from making you think about composition to the unique look and feel of resulting photos.

If you're not sure where to start with film photography or are hesitant to switch from digital entirely, try using both mediums side by side. It will allow you to appreciate the best aspects of each while still maintaining the convenience and flexibility that comes with shooting digitally.

For all your lab processing and film equipment needs, visit our website. Alternatively, you can keep learning more about film photography on our blog.


6 comments


  • Lisa

    Interesting article! I have heard some photographers specializing in both digital and film.

    https://www.lisavillellaphotography.com/


  • Imran

    I went through your blog, and it is quite interesting, would really like to see more such blogs with amazing content and information. Keep sharing more such blogs.
    Sony World


  • Nadeem

    I went through your blog, and it is quite interesting, would really like to see more such blogs with amazing content and information. Keep sharing more such blogs.
    Sony World


  • Eve Mitchell

    I love the trend of weddings being shot and photographed like movies, and I’d love to do that for my wedding. I’m getting married in 8 months, so I’ll have to look and find someone who specializes in that style. I loved that you mentioned that this allows you to capture moments exactly as they were. https://phillyphotoandphilm.com/video-production/527-2/


  • Eve Mitchell

    I loved what you said about wedding films being able to capture moments exactly as they happen. I’m hoping that I can hire a wedding videographer sometime this week to help at my reception. I’m hoping that I can find someone that has filmed religious weddings before. https://www.lonaweddings.com/films


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