As a destination wedding photographer, my goal is to always give you a wedding gallery that feels layered and completely true to how your day felt. With that being said, I use many different photography mediums to capture weddings.
It’s important to me that your final wedding photos have variety, and I achieve that through thoughtful observation and a knowledge of how to best capture moments as they’re unfolding in front of me.
See my guide to all the photography mediums you’ll find me using when I’m photographing a wedding, when I use each, and what the differences between them are.
Top photo: Drone photography
Bottom photos: Digital photography
What Different Photography Mediums Work For Wedding Photography?
At any given moment on a wedding day, you’ll find me with a few different cameras on my person to be ready to capture whatever moments are happening around me.
I don’t force every medium into every moment, though. My approach isn’t a checklist of which camera needs to be used when. Instead, I let the light, movement, energy, and feeling of the moment guide what I reach for.
The photography mediums you may find me using throughout a wedding day include:
- Digital photography
- 35mm film photography
- 120 film photography
- Super 8
- Drone footage
Being prepared with each of these means that I’m always able to read the room to step right into whatever the current moment needs.
Let’s get into what each of these photography mediums looks like!
Top photo: Digital photography
Bottom photo: Drone photography
Digital Wedding Photography
Digital wedding photography is the classic, most commonly seen wedding photography medium. If you’ve scrolled on Pinterest at any point in your wedding planning journey, you’ve seen digital wedding photos. They’re the ones that are crisp, focused, and modern, captured digitally rather than on physical film.
While I can take digital photos any time, digital photography works especially well for portraits, detail photos, and moments where there’s a lot of movement (like dancing). It beautifully captures the energy of the day through vivid colors and sharp shapes. When there’s movement in a frame, the blur feels intentional and honest. When you’re still and posed, the photos feel sleek and editorial.
Above all, I love digital photography for its versatility. It allows me to move seamlessly between quiet moments, intentional portraits, fast movement, and everything in between.
Photos: Digital photography
Film Wedding Photography
Film wedding photography is the right photography medium for the parts of the day that feel lived-in. The cocktail hour, where everyone is mingling with a drink in hand. You and your partner holding hands at your sweetheart table, not because you were told to do so, but because you wanted to. The moments you didn’t even know were happening, like your childhood best friend and current best friend connecting over their love for you.
Film photos invoke a feeling of nostalgia every time. The soft grain and the way the light hits always add layers to a gallery.
Top gallery: 35mm film photography
Bottom gallery: 120 film photography
35mm Film Photography vs 120 Film Photography for Weddings
As a film wedding photographer, I capture weddings through two different film photography mediums: 35mm film and 120 film. The main difference between the two is the format. 35mm is smaller format, grainier, quicker, more spontaneous, and nostalgic whereas 120 is a medium format. That means larger negative, greater detail, smoother tonality, and a slower, more intentional process.
You’ll often find me reaching for 35mm while I’m standing back and observing, while medium format gives me the opportunity to slow down and create something more intentional.
Photos: 120 film photography
Film Wedding Photography vs Digital Wedding Photography
I intentionally use both film and digital photography on wedding days as a destination wedding photographer, sometimes even for the same exact moment. The film photos end up feeling deeply nostalgic, whereas the digital ones feel real and honest. Having the same moment captured in both of those ways adds depth to your gallery, which is always a goal of mine as your photographer.
Photos: 35mm film photography
Super 8 Film
Super 8 is a motion-picture film format that produces, essentially, a moving image. It captures moments frame by frame on motion-picture film, creating movement that feels tactile, imperfect, and deeply nostalgic.
The best part of Super 8? The imperfections are a part of it. There may be some blur, grain, or light flares in your imagery, but that’s what makes it feel real.
I love to capture Super 8 in the biggest moments of the day – your ceremony, your reception entrance, your first dance. It gives a new format to some of your most special memories, letting them unfold in a different way.
Drone Footage
Lastly, capturing drone footage is a photography medium that I find incredibly underrated. Being able to get a full picture from several different angles tells the full story of your day and adds context to your gallery.
Drones help contextualize the location with its landscapes and architecture, show the scale of your celebration, and give aerial perspective when conditions and venue rules allow. You also get the added bonus of being able to capture every single person who’s there to celebrate you all in one frame!
All photos taken by with drone photography
Leslie Carbajal | Destination Wedding Photographer
At the end of the day, my main focus is to preserve the moments you’ll miss while you’re busy living them. Digital, film, Super 8, and drone are different ways of holding onto the same day and preserving the same memories. So, when you choose a photographer who knows what camera to reach for based on light, movement, people, and feeling, it creates a gallery that feels layered, honest, and personal to that couple.
If you’re ready to learn more, inquire about booking me here.
Top photos: 35mm film photography
Bottom photo: Digital photography
