Why do I need both a wedding photographer and a wedding videographer?
A wedding photographer cannot also be taking film at exactly the same time, so from a photographer, you will get a series of still images, some of them as the action happens and some deliberately posed to create the ideal image. The downside of taking still photos is that the photographer captures what is in the frame at the point the shutter is opened and it takes some skill to get that right as you could be smiling one second and frowning the next. So a photographer shooting non-posed photographs expects to get just a small percentage of useful images when shooting while there is action happening such as during the ceremony.
A video recording images at 25 or 50 frames per second is bound to capture the perfect moment when you both smile and have that loving look in your eyes. You might then wonder why you need a photographer if a videographer is going to capture every moment. You might wonder whether you could have just a videographer and ask them to give you still some selected frames from the video. That is perfectly possible but they will not be high-resolution images and you probably need some high-resolution images if you are going to make a good printed photo from them.
Just as a wedding videographer has certain skills and equipment relating to producing a video of your wedding, the wedding photographer will also have certain skills and equipment specifically related to shooting good quality photos with a view to having them printed and the two things do not necessarily cross over as much as you might expect.
Also, remember that a wedding video adds the extra dimension of audio to your wedding experience. Now, in years to come, you’ll be able to hear the sounds of your wedding. Remember what you sounded like when you gave your vows, remember the toast by your father, your best man, or what readings close friends made during the ceremony.
Ask yourself how would you like to remember everything in years to come? As bride and groom, you will inevitably miss many moments of your wedding because you’ll be so busy with everything else and you might not even be there to witness some amusing moments as there is so much for you to be thinking about. You have to get on with the serious business of cutting the cake and dancing. Your memory will serve as your only source aside from your still photographs, but how will you remember all the movement and sounds?
The only way to preserve these precious memories is by capturing them on video. A film can capture the day as it happens and preserve it for generations to come. It will outlast you and it will show future generations how you approached marrying the one you love as well as allowing them to make fun of your choice of music tracks being used as background music.
You'll also get a unique perspective of your wedding, a view that you could not hope to see at the time because you were a part of the action.
I actually enjoy taking stills as well. My Panasonic S5 is set up so that with a quick turn of a dial I can move from movie mode into stills mode very quickly and I often use that at certain times to capture what I think will be interesting still images. This website is full of them and I use them to enhance the videos that I produce. It can be very effective to have 3 or 4 seconds of a still image showing during a sequence of video clips on your final video. The times that I can't do that are times when there is continuous action, for example during the ceremony.
I usually add the stills I take as a folder of images that you will receive on the USB stick, alongside your full-length wedding film.
