Why GIFs for Wedding Photography?
GIFs (pronounced by me as “JIFs” 👀) are hands down one of the best ways to uplevel your entire wedding photography experience.
What are GIFs? They are super short animations that loop continuously and don’t require anyone to press play. Much more than that, however, they do something extraordinary for storytelling: they provide context, interaction, and emotion to a gallery of otherwise just still images.
GIFs speak to the chemistry of a couple’s connection, highlighting the touches and feelings you share, and GIFs more fully portray your personality. They are an invaluable way of reliving special moments from your wedding or engagement shoot because, when playing on scroll, they give couples an immediate emotional connection to the their wedding experience!
Check out some of my favorite examples of GIFs below and how I’ve used them to create animation, cultivate connection, and tell better stories for my couples.
Katherine and Hunter’s bohemian backyard wedding at Homestead Blessings was jaw dropping in every way. Between the movement of her dress, the soft breeze during their ceremony, and the sun drenching over them during their first dance, I knew I wanted to preserve these sacred MOMENTS and MOVEMENTS through GIFs.
Below are more snippets from their day that were especially GIF-worthy, including a fun bridesmaids pillow fight and an emotional first look. These experiences were moments that, without being captured through a GIF, would’ve quickly passed without second thought.
During their engagement session, it was also important to me that I captured their personalities, chemistry, and energy! We shot at a local arcade and played alllll the pinball, stuffed our faces with popcorn, battled in putt-putt (because it’s a competition, ya’ll 👀), and danced into sunset. I felt like GIFs were a great avenue to capture the mood and emotion from their session.
Another special hallmark of GIFs is that they allow me, as a storyteller, to communicate certain memories and emotions to my couples that I know were especially meaningful to them during their wedding. Take Lindsey and TJ, for example, who were surprised with custom cornhole boards from the FOB during their reception. Every single one of their guests gathered around to see who would win their first corn hole match, and let me tell ya… they were roaring with laughter when Lindsey laid the smack down!
I was able to capture equally as emotional moments during Lindsey and TJ’s ceremony, which was packed with all the happy tears, sappy moments, and truly sweetest vows.
The best part about GIFs is that they’re great not only for weddings, but also for couple shoots. During my finger lakes engagement session with Sydney and Brad, I was in love with their playfulness and warmth, so I wanted to capture their chemistry through an animation. Between the gentle movement of Cayuga Lake against their silhouettes, I knew a GIF would tell their story with more “oomph.” :)
Finally, GIFs are just the best when it comes to capturing movement and playful interactions. I anticipated making them during my couple’s session with Tim and Noelle because it was full of gut-busting laughs, and I wanted to capture their quirky, eclectic, fun-loving dynamic. A couple of GIFs were the perfect way to bottle up their vibe and give them some nostalgia when looking back at their session!
Overall, GIFs are such an effective way of capturing connection, chemistry, and interaction. They singlehandedly are one of the best things to level-up my client experience, and they elevate storytelling from flat imagery to photos that live and breathe with rich emotion and animation. Don’t underrate the power of GIFs - they will be one of your favorite aspects of your photo gallery!