Hybrid film wedding photography

IMPERFECTLY REAL: wedding photography on on 35mm film

I am a perfectionist. You’ve already seen part of my portfolio and have seen my work is often polished, clean, and modern. But then there’s 35mm film. Wedding photography on film is more difficult, slower, and comes with a little bit of risk. I offer 35mm film wedding photography alongside my usually digital workflow, and here’s why you might want it.

Although I do bring my film images into my usual editing software, I’ve decided to not use any sort of AI object removal, masking or generative fill. These photos are authentic, imperfect, and real. Sometimes a bit gritty, sometimes utterly magical.

No AI

With digital I deliver virtually everything in both colour and black and white. With film, I choose a roll of film based on the light and the situation, and that’s what you get. You’ve got to trust me. Hell, I’ve got to trust me too!

Colour vs Black and White

This is subjective. Your digital photos will absolutely capture your day, the feelings, and the moments. My colouring process for digital actually matches the RAW camera data to Fuji Pro400H film. Digital allows me to capture more, and arguably ‘better’ wedding moments, but the imperfect look of 35mm film photos offers a different kind of excitement and a softer look.

'More real than digital'
Slower

Working with film is a bit slower, so when we’re doing couple pictures, we might go a little slower. I’m constantly deciding whether to shoot film or digital, and you need to be ok with some images being digital only or film only. There’s a slightly more collaborative approach with film. Also it really helps if you opt for a second photographer when booking film - more about that below.

How much is it to add film to my wedding photography?

Film photography comes with costs for the film itself and for development. Different film comes with different costs. Here are some options as a guide:

  • 10 x rolls of Kodak Portra 400 - professional, fine grain, beautiful colours (most comparable to my digital look): £1350

  • 5 x rolls of Kodak Portra 400 - add £750

  • 3 x rolls of Ultramax 400 (colour) or HP5 (black and white) - budget friendly, more saturated (in the case of Ultramax), more grain, more obviously retro and ‘filmy’: add £450

There are 36 exposures (photos) on a roll - you should expect between 60-80% of those to be delivered.

I recommend a second photographer when booking a substantial film package.

Thoughts on film wedding photography

With digital we can take thousands of images on a wedding day and select only the best: eyes open, great expressions on faces, perfect light, dress falling perfectly - we can choose the moment later. If we don’t like the photo we can just delete it. Most of the best wedding photography you’ve seen has been shot on digital and as a result the standard and expectations for wedding photography have never been higher.

When shooting film these advantages are gone, and now it also costs much more than when film was the main medium for wedding photography. So modern film photography at weddings these days brings about a concentrated need for intentionality and consideration for each press of the shutter. But when you get that film developed and see the moments in all their imperfect (or occasionally, absolutely perfect) glory, it does hit different.

Having part of your wedding day shot on film is bold, but rewarding. You actually open yourselves up to greater risk to some extent, but also to great reward. And I do too. Digital camera workflows should be bulletproof and files are instantly backed up, but with film there’s one copy, there on that roll, until it's developed and scanned. This is why I shoot digital for most key moments, and supplement with film. It’s also why having a second photographer present to shoot digital should be considered when you want a lot of film.

Delivery

When you book a film wedding photography add-on, you receive the images digitally via the same gallery platform I use for your digital photos. If you would like physical prints it’s very easy to order these - in whatever size and paper stock you prefer - via the gallery. I recommend doing this as part of your overall physical product order - because you really want to be getting some prints - folios, albums, etc - that include your digital photos too.

As a huge fan of printed photos, I can’t tell you strongly enough how special it is to have prints made, whether taken on a digital camera or a film one. Getting these incredibly special memories off your phone and laptop screens and into your hands, or onto your wall, is the final and most life-impacting part of experiencing your wedding photos. Those images become core memories and remind us where we were, WHO we were, and remind us where we’re coming from. So print, print, print!

To find out more about adding a unique film photography choice for your wedding just fill in the contact form below and mention it.