A Videographer and Photographer’s Thoughts: Working in Harmony

As a videographer one of the concerns that our couples often have is how we will work alongside the wedding photographer. It’s often a last minute conversation and for me is not something that has ever been an issue, however the truth is that photographers and videographers working together is not always easy.

Just as there are different styles of photography there are also many different styles of videographer and it’s important to make sure that the two are compatible. The fact is that although of course professionals will always do their best to work together, sometimes it’s not quite as simple as that.

A documentary photographer is going to have a much harder time getting candid photographs and make use of that beautiful natural light if your videographer is shining a video light directly in everyone’s faces. Similarly if your videographer is looking for discrete natural shots and your photographer is all about posed imagery and directing the action then again it’s a clash of styles that may potentially cause problems. Neither individual may be at fault, but it’s automatically going to be more difficult if the two parties are looking for completely different things.

The problem is that you’re paying two different people (or organisations) each to get the best possible shots and they have to do so in the way they deem necessary. That might mean videographers needing to put tripods or sound equipment in a position that could potentially limit the photographer’s shot, or perhaps photographers needing to position themselves occasionally in the way of the video camera in order to get the best angle. It’s a careful balancing act, and making sure that you’re putting together the right people on the day can really help so that they can help each other to get the best shots possible for both the photos and video.

So how can you help to ensure that you’re not going to end up with photographers and videographers scrapping over positions and getting in each other’s way?

• Firstly look at the style of each – do they match up? Do they look like they could go together well? Is a massive video crew going to get in too many of the shots of that documentary photographer and do you therefore need a smaller team? Is that photographer using flash all the time going to show up on the video? Do both like to do lots of posed shots and how much time is that going to take out of the day to pose for each?
• Secondly have they worked together before? Many photographers and videographers recommend each other because they’ve already established a good working relationship and understand how to help each other out and make sure both are getting the shots they need without getting in each other’s way. Ultimately it is of course more important to book your photographer and videographer based on how much you like their work, but these working relationships are certainly something you might want to consider during the research process.
• Make sure you let the photographer and videographer know who it is they will be working with well in advance of the day itself so hey can get an idea of how each other work and potentially talk through how each prefers to do things and see if any compromises may need to be made.
• This is a careful balancing act, but for some couples either photography or videography may be more important to them for either all or part of the day and (as long as you don’t make the person fulfilling the role of lesser importance to you feel like you don’t care about what they do!) it’s sometimes good to let both parties know who has priority should any issue arise. This shouldn’t mean one has to stop shooting completely, but for example if the photographer normally shoots the first dance very close in, thereby blocking the videographer’s shot, if you’ve told them that the video happens to be more important to you at this point then the photographer will know to step back and try a different type of shot and vice versa.

At the end of the day though it’s up to the professionals to find a way to work together, all you can do is try to make that as easy as possible. Whether it’s photographers, videographers, priests, planners, florists…we’re all there to serve the best interests of the happy couple and make sure that both before and after your big day your wedding memories are absolutely perfect. Most of the time you won’t find a problem and photographers and videographers will work together almost seamlessly and can even help each other by letting the other know if something’s about to happen they might have otherwise missed. In the best cases you sometimes find your photographer and videographer working together to create stunning portraits that work for both the photographs and the video too.

It’s all about harmony and getting the best out of those who just want to do the best possible job for you, and with the right team you can ensure you have magical photos and videos to help remember your perfect day forever.

Cartoons by Emily Pithon