Wedding Photography - Is digital better than film?

In Wedding Photography, like most other types of professional photography, digital has overtaken film.  But is that a good thing?  Is digital better than film, or is film better than digital for shooting weddings?

At the time of this writing, 2007, I can honestly say that shooting weddings digitally is far superior to shooting film.  Some might argue that film, especially medium format film, gives you a higher resolution image over digital media.  I have to concede that point, but higher resolution isn’t the only factor when deciding what’s best. 

While medium format film does have a higher resolution than most digital cameras, there is such a thing as “overkill”.  Wedding photographs usually only get blown up to 8x10, and seldom larger.  The majority of wedding albums average 8x10 in size, which is a well within the resolution of most professional digital cameras.  So, the higher resolution offered by film, is usually wasted on most wedding photography applications.  The only exception to this might be the occasional print, usually the formal wedding portrait, for the wall.  And even then, larger prints are usually viewed from a distance, lessening or negating the need for the higher resolution of a film camera. Sure, if you really want to move in and take a really close look, you’ll find that a print made from a medium format film camera will have a higher resolution (sharper, less grain) than the same image shot with a digital camera, but most people won’t ever notice the difference.  You could even take that same comparison and try to justifying shooting weddings with large format (4x5) cameras, which would even give you a sharper image for those large blow-ups.  And why not take that even farther and look for a photographer that shoots 8x10 film?  Why, because it’s just not practical.  That’s why…

Probably the biggest advantage to shooting wedding photography with a digital camera is price.  You might think that the cost of film over digital might just add a couple hundred bucks to shooting a wedding, but in fact, there are other expenses you need to consider.

If a wedding photographer is using film, he will probably have a target amount (budget) of film that he plans on shooting.  Anything over that budgeted amount of shots, will most likely put him over budget, which translates to less money in his pocket.  If every time a photographer presses that shutter release, it costs him money, he will tend to shoot less images, which means he’s less likely to get that “perfect” shot.  Many wedding photographers that shoot digital will “double tap” or even “triple tap” the shutter the shutter to make sure that he avoids blinks and increases his chance of getting good expressions.  This technique of shooting double or triple the amount of images for a given shot, would be cost prohibitive for a film shooter.

And then there’s all those “unplanned” shots that a wedding photographer comes by.  Film shooters may take a few extra shots here and there, but a digital shooter will have not motivation NOT to keep shooting.  Wedding receptions can tend to be a little boring for a wedding photographer, why not just spend some time shooting the kids on the dance floor or the grandparents talking with their friends.  All those extra shots can mean treasured memories for the family, but most likely never be taken by a photographer shooting film, because of the expense.

So if you have choice between either shooting film or shooting digital at a wedding, choose digital and shoot a lot.