Getting The Most Out of Your Wedding Photographer/Cinematographer: Second Shooter
To get or not get a second shooter for your wedding that is the question. We at Lunar Light Productions believe that hiring a second shooter will make the most out of the energy, money, and resources that you have dedicated to curating a beautiful wedding day experience for you and your significant other. The question that is always asked about this is “why would I need a second shooter?”. So today I am going to go over the reasons for ensuring you have a second shooter for your wedding day photography and cinematography experience. A second shooter whether it is for film or photos can capture your wedding day from a different angle, allow photos/film to be captured at various locations at one time, and give you the confidence to know that all of the memories from your wedding day (whether your present or not) can be captured. A second shooter can capture the exact same moment as the lead shooter, but with a different angle and/or focus on the smallest details that will allow for more diversity and angles for your wedding day memories.
The ability to capture multiples angles on your wedding day is such a valuable commodity. Your wedding day will happen so fast and be gone in the blink of an eye, and the memories that are made that day will go just as fast. On your wedding day you are going to want to make sure that every memory is captured in the best possible angle because every angle is another memory that can be shared with your family for generations. Additionally, one of the angles might end up being a better angle. Multiple angles are also very important to be able capture things one photographer/cinematographer couldn’t such as the bride’s reaction and the groom’s reaction or the front of the wedding dress as the bride walks down the aisle and the back of the dress. Ultimately the more angles you are able to capture the better your film and pictures are going to turn out in the end. The second reason to hire a second shooter for your wedding day is to be able to have a photographer and cinematographer at various locations.
Having the ability to have multiple locations allows your film or photo team that you hire to capture as many memories as possible from your special day. There are moments on your wedding day that you are not going to be able to be there for because there is simply too much going on that day; however, if there is a second photographer/cinematographer while your lead photographer/cinematographer is getting romantics/intimate shots the other one could be capturing all the memories of cocktail hour such as your guests interacting and mingling. For cinematography there might have been a film captured of someone that one day might not be there and that memory can be stored for you to look back on over and over. One good idea for film is to ask your cinematography team about buying the raw footage of the wedding day to have all of these memories for you to keep. Having a team that can be in multiple locations also allows one member to capture the bride getting ready while the other one can capture the groom getting ready. The ability to capture multiple locations will add so much value to your wedding day by ensuring that it is captured in the best possible way.
On your wedding day you want to have confidence that all of the energy, time, and money spent in curating this amazing day will be captured to be shared with your family for generations. This wedding day only happens once, and for our wedding day we didn’t hire a second shooter which we regret. There were many more experiences that could’ve been captured and memories held onto. The people that you invite are very important to you, and the point of hiring a photographer/cinematographer is to be able to capture memories with and of these important people. Ultimately the reason to hire a second shooter is so that these memories can be carried on and shared with those that come after us. Our pictures and film are our legacy to our family.
