If you’ve been Googling wedding photography, you may have come across different photographers offering a ‘second shooter’ or ‘second photographer’. You may have seen this and thought, why? Why when I’m paying all this money can the main photographer not cover my wedding? What are the benefits of having two photographers? And what is the cost of having a second photographer?
So, what is a ‘second shooter’ or ‘second photographer’? Basically, a second wedding photographer is someone who works alongside the main photographer, to photograph different angles, different situations and assist the photographer throughout your wedding day.
It’s all about perspective
A photographer cannot be in two places at once. It’s as simple as that.
One photographer can’t be photographing the bridal prep and groom prep at the same time. They can’t be at the back of the service photographing the glint in the grooms eye when he first sees the bride and the ear-to-ear grin on the bride’s face as she walks down the aisle. And when it comes to the service itself they can’t capture a wide shot from the back of the service and the intimate moments between the bride and groom. Two photographers, means a greater variety of angles and a more comprehensive coverage of the day.
Multiple visions
We photographers are a creative bunch, we have an eye for seeing things slightly differently from everyone else but also from each other. If you’ve got two photographers, you’ve got two different creative inputs into your wedding photographs and you’ve got two different creative eyes. Each time I photograph with another photographer, I’m learning. Learning from their style, their approach and their photographs. This blend of creative styles makes for a more comprehensive and creative documentation of your wedding day.
Two photographers means more photographs
Simply put, if you have two photographers, you’re going to end up with a lot more photographs! This means more of those magic moments are going to be captured on your wedding day allowing you to retell the story of your big day that bit easier.
Speeds up group shots
We love to photograph relaxed weddings and document real moments of weddings, however we know how important it can be to have that whole family shot. But we don’t want to keep you away from your epic party for long, this is just one of the ways a second photographer can help speed things up. Along with a bridesmaid, or best man, second shooters can be great at gathering groups together, getting the next shot ready before the last is done. On top of that, Amy is awesome at posing groups. As one couple recently told us, she’s ‘just the right level of bossy!’ – she can arrange people and sort everyone out without spoiling the fun wedding vibes.
An extra backup
Every professional photographer should have a watertight backup plan, and a backup backup plan. They should have backup cameras. They should have a camera with two memory card slots for instant backup. And they absolutely should absolutely have backup storage for after the wedding.
On top of all this though, a second photographer also acts as a backup photographer. On your wedding day, if they photographer trips whilst walking backwards down the aisle, comes down with one of those stomach bugs or even something epic happens whilst the main photographer has nipped to the loo, you want to have a backup. That backup can be a second photographer. A second photographer who can step in to take over if necessary.
A wedding photographer is under a lot of pressure on a wedding day. They’ve got to capture everything and can’t miss a shot, so may hold back from taking the risks that can lead to those epic photographs. A second photographer however, doesn’t have this same pressure. They have more freedom to take the risks and often, as hard as it is for me to admit, second photographer’s photographs are often the truly awesome ones from a wedding day.
You can never really know what you’ve got until it’s missing, but if you can stretch to it, I seriously doubt you’ll ever regret it. We’ve certainly not met anybody yet that has regretted spending more on their wedding photography.