Film wedding photography is having a moment. Not because digital isn’t working — it is — but because there’s something about film that digital has never fully replicated. I started on film. I know what it does that nothing else does.
Here’s what you need to know.
What is Film Photography
First of all, let’s talk about what film photography is. Film photos are any photos that are taken on an actual roll of film. In comparison, digital cameras take digital photos that are instantly visible and stored on SD cards.
With film photography, there are a few different types of cameras that you will see (especially in the wedding world). First is a 35mm camera. This is most likely the camera you think of when you think film photography.
These cameras still have various settings that you can adjust and take photos on a single roll of film. Once that roll is filled, you then have to take it out and develop it to see how the photos turned out.
The other form of film photography you’ll most likely see associated with weddings is instant film. For these, think about your Polaroid or Instax cameras that instantly print out a picture.
Both of these cameras use a roll of film to actually develop the image, the main difference is that instant film cameras don’t need to be manually developed while 35mm cameras do!
Is it Coming Back?
Now, that is all great, but isn’t film photography a thing of the past? I mean why else would we have digital cameras?
While it is a valid point, we do have digital cameras, film is starting to make a comeback. There is something special when it comes to film photography. It is actually where I got my start and it carries with it a sense of nostalgia that digital photos just don’t.
Think about when you were sitting with your grandparents looking over their wedding photos while they talked about how amazing their wedding was. Even though their photos were old and maybe not even fully colored, there was something special about them.
It felt like they were somehow more emotional even though the photo itself felt like it was fuzzy or didn’t capture all of the small details.
Well that nostalgic feeling and that sentimentality is what is making a comeback in the wedding industry today. Vintage will never go out of style and while there are so many different trends in the wedding world year in and year out, nothing is going to change the fact that film photos are heavily ingrained in the heart of wedding photos.
Flash forward to today, almost every wedding photographer you see will be using a digital camera, maybe even a few. But, the addition of film and even Super 8 video to wedding photography packages is becoming more common.
This is because people are craving that nostalgia and that emotion in their wedding photos. They don’t want something that is just a photo. People want something that they can look back on and remember each and every moment of that day.
They want those photos that their grandparents had that they cherished so deeply.
So, yes, digital photography is not going anywhere, but neither is film. It is definitely still a big part of wedding photography and is starting to become even more popular again.
Digital and Film Wedding Photography Together
So, if film wedding photography is becoming more popular, are we going to stop seeing digital photography at weddings? The short answer is no. Digital photography is still a very important piece of capturing a wedding day and there are some things that digital photos can do that film photos just can’t.
For instance, when it comes to film photos, you take the photo and you have no idea how it turned out. Yes, you can adjust settings on things like 35mm cameras, but there is no guarantee that the image that is taken is the perfect image.
When it comes to a day like your wedding day (where there are no do overs) you want to make sure that you are getting the best images right away. If there are any adjustments that need to be made, you want to make sure that they are made.
Digital photography allows for this. Your photographer, for example, can take a photo, immediately look at it and decide if their settings are correct for the type of light that is in that room, and adjust them to capture the photos in the best way possible.
These are the types of things that you want for your wedding photos and on your wedding day.
You also have to think about the scale of modern weddings. When we are looking at the photos that are going to be taken, you have getting ready photos, couples portraits, wedding party and family photos, ceremony pictures, cocktail hour, and reception photos. That is a lot of photos over the course of a single day.
With film cameras, most rolls of film can hold anywhere from 24 to 36 images. Your photographer is taking hundreds or even thousands of photos throughout the day and swapping out film every 36 pictures just isn’t realistic.
Instead, what you can do is have a combination of film and digital photography at your wedding. This allows you to have the best of both worlds. You will still be able to capture the whole scale of your wedding and your photographer will be able to make any adjustments necessary on the spot.
But, you’ll also get those really sentimental and nostalgic moments on film. Oftentimes, you’ll see that a lot of the wedding will be captured by a digital camera, but your couples portraits will be taken with film.
This only helps to elevate the emotional feelings in those intimate moments and makes them even more memorable for you and your partner.
So, when it comes to your wedding, having a combination of both digital and film is really great idea. You’ll get those dreamy couples photos on film and the rest of the wedding captured on digital to see all of those incredible moments throughout the day!
Final Thoughts on Film Photography for Weddings
If you’re considering adding film to your wedding photography coverage, the combination approach — digital for the full day, film for couple portraits — is genuinely the right call. You get the reliability of digital and the quality of film where it matters most.
If that sounds like what you want, I’d love to talk about it.
