Why do you need a second Wedding Photographer?
We always tell our clients to book at least two photographers from us, when creating a wedding photography & cinematography package for them. There are numerous advantages to having multiple wedding photographers to shoot your perfect day. Below are some of the top reasons why one must seriously considering having a second wedding photographer. And these are the same reasons why any photographer worth his salt will always suggest having a second photographer.
Being at two places at the same time:
There is an inherent need to be at two places at the same time during any wedding. Especially at the start of the wedding when the bride & groom both are located at two different physical locations. The bride starts at her home or a rented out room in the Hotel and the groom respectively at his. The getting ready shots can become very difficult to capture, in case there is only one photographer who has to jettison back and forth, trying to do justice to moments at both places.
How do you be at two places at the same time? A second lens-man.
The bride getting ready in her room.
A shot of the groom getting ready at the same time, taken with the help of a second photographer.
Looking at two faces at the same time:
A wedding ceremony is such that it always entails the coming together of people and performing rites or sacraments. When they do this, they are facing each other, or inwards towards the altar or the pyre. Which means, from any angle, you are most likely to see the back of someone.
Also in the most special moments of the marriage, there will always be the bride looking at the groom or the bride looking at her father, where emotions will peak out, tears of joy will roll and the best smiles smiled. In situations like these too, you will invariably end up with at least someone facing the other side of where the camera is. How do you handle these situations? A second lens-man.
Wedding coverage & Creative Candids:
The primary motive and goal of a wedding photographer is to ensure he has covered the wedding well, from the point of view of what the accepted industry standard of good coverage is (I add this because everyone will have their own ideal of what coverage should be). The only way to ensure good coverage of the bride & groom is for the photographer to be parked right in front of the bride & groom and ensure that all the events of the wedding are covered clearly from the front, so that the person going through the photographs feels like he is at the front-row in the wedding.Now this is all good, but another very important aspect of what separates average wedding photography from brilliant wedding photography is the creative side. Creative photos are almost always clicked from odd angles and places, capturing candid moments that were unexpected. If a photographer has to be parked in front of the bride & groom, how is he supposed to get that odd creative angle, or that extra-ordinary side portrait with dreamy creamy bokeh in the background? Not that it is not possible. It just makes the task more challenging and stressful for the photographer. How do I ensure that there are enough creative pictures shot at the wedding? A second lens-man.
A longshot of the groom in the baraat, taken from a distance through the crowd. Would not be possible if there wasn’t a second photographer who was shooting continuously up front.
Lens Usage:
This is a bit of a technical point. The best lenses in the trade are the prime lenses. Prime lenses are fixed lenses (without zoom) that have high quality glass in them that focusses more on image quality. Zoom lenses are larger and have more glass in them which gives them the ability to zoom in and out, but the negative trade-off is image quality when compared to a prime lens. Thus a photographer might need a 12-24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, 105mm lenses in additional to the regular pro-zoom lenses in his kit. Having a second photographer will only help the photographer to switch between various primes more confidently as he knows that when doing the switches, he isn’t missing a moment as the secondary photographer has his back! The overall end result, better photos on your wedding day!
Two different angles can be shot effectively by two photographers using two different lenses of varying focal length. The picture on the left is taken using a higher focal length, while the one on the right is taken using a lower focal length.
Emergency Back-up:
Backing up the wedding data is one of the most important responsibilities of a wedding photographer, and we at Knots & Vows take this very seriously. You can read our Data Management Policy/Strategy, where we explain how we manage our back-ups. But still, having a second wedding photographer always helps, not only as a data back-up but beyond that as well. What if one of the photographers fell ill or had an accident. Or one of the cameras stopped functioning right in the middle of the wedding after taking every precaution possible. Or one of the cards that the photographer was using went corrupt. These are usually rare and do not happen with professional photographers who always use new and good equipment, and usually have back-up photographers they can call in. But in the peak of the wedding season, where almost everyone is booked and all the equipment is rented out, there still lies a risk. A second photographer works as a back-up too.
These are the main reasons we always suggest that the client have at least two wedding photographers for an event. Do you know of any more reasons or advantages that come along with having more than one photographer at a wedding? If yes, or any other inputs, please comment below.
