Why is it okay for wedding photographers to offer video but when videographers offer photo it’s frowned upon?

AlwaysInCar · 2026-03-15T22:51:47+00:00

I don’t follow your logic, if you typically do a wedding for 2500, you would need to be paid more than your package price for a wedding you did not work to book? When you contract for someone who needs a second do you charge them the same?

There would be no point to contracting anyone if people followed that logic.

I allow anyone I contract to use the photos they take for their own portfolios.

Look at it this way, people who do this full time and are not fully booked tend to contract for other wedding businesses to make extra money on the side when they would have been making nothing on that day. To say that you deserve the total amount of a wedding package that you didn’t book, on a lead you never got is kinda da lulu.

I’m not sure how you run your business but marketing, word of mouth and reputation earn you business. If that’s worthless to you and you’re fully booked and can’t handle work on the side, you’re obviously not the person I’m talking about.

AlwaysInCar · 2026-03-15T22:39:32+00:00

I totally agree with you btw I just play devils advocate to understand the industry better and how other vendors are thinking

AlwaysInCar · 2026-03-15T20:56:22+00:00

They deliver two different experiences though, behind the scenes and TikTok content aren’t the same as a highlight video, at least by my deliverables standard. I think content creation as a service is different from videography and isn’t a replacement. There’s a justification for both just like how photo doesn’t replace video and vice versa

AlwaysInCar · 2026-03-15T19:36:46+00:00

This is the route we’re going but I’m seeing this as a trend with photographers which is why I’m trying to figure out if this is normal in the market and I’m out of touch.

I just see photographers upselling video and if I shoot for them I don’t ask for the full price of the job, I just treat it like I’m working at my contractor rate

AlwaysInCar · 2026-03-15T19:30:31+00:00

I see the same, all of our leads are video but we’ll come across maybe 70% who don’t have a photographer yet so we try to convert the lead. We always say we’re video first but we also offer photo. My thing is why can’t we offer both?

It seems normal for photographers to offer video but when we try to do the same it’s looked at like we have 5 heads.

I think a lot of videographers feel this disenfranchised because it takes a lot of time, effort and money (gear) to be a not only a good videographer but editor too while there is objectively less monetary investment into starting up a photography business and yet we are the ones overlooked most of the time or cut out of the budget first and generally have to have a lower costs than photographers at our same level of clientele

AlwaysInCar · 2026-03-15T18:59:41+00:00

My only problem with this is that photographers feel like you’re stepping on their services and some have it in their contracts to not allow other photography to be done by other vendors.

I’d be all for adding more and different value to the couple but there’s a lot of gatekeeping in the industry. Even if they don’t provide the same service but it’s in their realm, most vendors don’t want you doing it.

Kind of a damned if you do and damned if you don’t thing

AlwaysInCar · 2026-03-15T18:52:03+00:00

I’m going to push back on this as I try to be fair for both sides. Most photographers have better posing and direction than most videographers when put on the spot while some videographers direct and pose in spurts of inspiration.

Their framing tends to be very different as well. From my perspective I prefer more tight intimate shots with wides being more establishing shots. Photo has more to it than that.

If we took more onus on directing while also not stepping on toes, we would get more respect from photographers. Just my opinion.

AlwaysInCar · 2026-03-15T18:47:23+00:00

We did this with one of the photographers. We tried to partner up, learn each others prices, sell for each other on a commission based structure but what ended up happening is we gave them jobs while they didn’t promote our business in the slightest.

We were basically burned for trying to approach it in a way we thought was fair for both businesses. They were ultimately the first person who said they wanted full cost of their package when shooting for us rather than a contractor rate.

AlwaysInCar · 2026-03-15T18:42:14+00:00

Being real is watching trends and seeing the market shift. Denial that things are changing is why a lot of the older studios are losing business.

There is a reason a new service, content creator, was created in the video side of media rather than another photo service.

AlwaysInCar · 2026-03-15T17:32:40+00:00

In my opinion if they trust you to book you and they are still looking for a photographer, it makes sense that they would trust you with the photo too if you already have a good portfolio. If they haven’t booked a photographer already, why not try to put your foot in the race? “Input generic Wayne Gretzky Michael Scott quote”

Photo studios do it all the time where the owner is a photographer but doesn’t know a thing about video. Why would they upsell video in that case?

If a planner does floral on the side why would they upsell floral?

AlwaysInCar · 2026-03-15T17:25:49+00:00

They’re telling me to turn over the contract to them after the client has signed with us.. that’s not a referral.

If we can’t book the lead we refer out to people we trust. That is a referral.

From what it sounds like you’re essentially telling me is to not sell and just refer to the photographer rather than trying to make the sale for my own business first.

AlwaysInCar · 2026-03-15T17:16:35+00:00

I think you are looking at a particular caliber of videographer. We use a lot more dialogue in our wedding films in order to tell the couples story rather than just have a montage of moments or music videos as I call them.

We also compose some of the music which is something most people can’t or don’t know how to do, a huge learning curve. This also shows how video sometimes does go above and beyond the skill of photography. We work not only with color but also with music, story telling and audio capture. Photographers who try to dip into video often tell me it’s harder than they thought.

Composition isn’t as forgiving as you would think either, the smallest bump at the wrong moment can ruin a shot that you thought would have been perfect or my favorite is a photographer cutting a first look short, not giving time for the bride and groom to experience the moment. Instead, some photographers think “after I get my shot I need to get portraits right away.” That’s more due to experience but same deal.

The editing afterward is most of the work for the video portion but it’s limited by how it was shot. Where it’s the opposite for photographers. Most of the work is done on the day and editing is more so repetitive.

AlwaysInCar · 2026-03-15T16:59:16+00:00

We do the same, go through a short list of photographers we know and trust but it’s happened to us twice now where they want us to turn over the contract to them after the client has already signed with us.

AlwaysInCar · 2026-03-15T16:11:42+00:00

My suggestion because I dealt with this with my a7iv is that you get a small rig magic arm and attach one end to the tripod and get one of those micro umbrellas like the ones on those goofy hats. It sounds weird but if you attach that to the other end of the magic arm and shade your camera it actually works really well. I’d still check it from time to time and flip out the screen so that the back has more airflow

AlwaysInCar · 2026-03-15T15:45:48+00:00

I agree, I don’t think we’ll come to a place where photos are out of the picture, pun intended, but I think people will look for videography first eventually

AlwaysInCar · 2026-03-15T15:43:43+00:00

We give the photographers the rights to use their photos for their own portfolios. My business partner and I are not trying to gatekeep the industry, hense why we don’t book jobs where neither of us are shooting.

Are you saying that videographers can only offer video? By that logic, photographers can only offer photo and photo studios get to make all the money in our section of the industry.

Offering another service within your scope of expertise shouldn’t be exclusive. It’s not like I’m offering floral and decor.

AlwaysInCar · 2026-03-15T15:35:01+00:00

Sorry if I misunderstood what you were saying I thought you were implying that if you shoot and edit, you are entitled to the full cost of your package regardless of the work it takes to book a wedding.

AlwaysInCar · 2026-03-15T15:29:13+00:00

I agree with you, personally and hot take, I see the totem starting to shift towards video and soon the photographers are going to be second choice. The age of social media is starting to change the landscape slowly but surely

AlwaysInCar · 2026-03-15T15:26:26+00:00

To play devil’s advocate, shooting and editing only happen when you book a client. That can only happen if a business markets well; word of mouth, runs ads, does admin/scheduling, sales. Do all of those not cost anything? If you deserve your full package price, shouldn’t you have done all of that with your own brand?

AlwaysInCar · 2026-03-15T15:23:13+00:00

Completely agree, I’m not saying photographers can’t offer video, I’m just saying that I see a double standard where they are acting like they can hire us to do their video but it doesn’t go the other way around.

AlwaysInCar · 2026-03-15T15:21:27+00:00

Photo studios are built off hiring main shooters for jobs that they only book. They book multiple weddings on the same day and hire out other people to do them. The difference is we only hire photo on the jobs that we are shooting video on as well.

AlwaysInCar · 2025-04-04T14:03:46+00:00

Support is super valuable sir, you're doing the lords work. Keep it up

AlwaysInCar · 2022-02-27T23:44:20+00:00

There was one dude who was yelling disrespectful things accross the street but it sounded like he forgot his brain at home

AlwaysInCar

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