How To Get Started In Cinematography
As mentioned earlier, cinematographers are artists who work with light and space to tell stories through film. They also manage all of the other departments that contribute to filming a movie, such as sound recordists, gaffer technicians, camera operators, and more.
With so many different jobs for people, there is no one specific degree or certificate you must have to become a cinematographer. It really depends on what level of filmmaking you want to pursue.
However, most aspiring filmmakers start their journey by learning the basics of lighting, photography, and video production. Then they can move onto studying cinematic grammar (storytelling via editing), lens usage, and advanced lighting techniques.
There are plenty of resources available online and through educational institutions to help beginners get started.
Read up on cinematography
As mentioned earlier, being a filmmaker is a lot of things! Starting as someone who wants to be involved in the film industry comes with its own set of skills and fundamentals. This includes learning how to take pictures or filming videos, editing footage, writing scripts, and more.
But beyond that, what really sets professional filmmakers apart is their knowledge and skill of cinematography. That is the art of shaping perspective, light, and space through use of camera settings and angles.
There are many ways to learn about this, from taking photography courses to watching movies and studying stills and trailers.
Practice filming
A great way to get into cinematography is by practicing your skills, you can do this anywhere and any way you like!
Many people start off as photographers who then expand their repertoire to include video or the other way around. Both are very creative ways to use photography and videography so why not try it out?
You could take some classes at a local college or university, find an online course that has interactive assignments or just learn from YouTube videos! There are many sites with free content too!
There’s no need to go all-in on expensive equipment either; most things can be accessed via YouTube these days. The number one tool for anyone starting out is definitely our beloved smartphone!
Smartphones have incredible cameras now and make creating media super easy! If you already have yours, then kudos to you and keep doing what you're doing!
But if you don't, there's nothing wrong with buying one new (or several) to begin experimenting with! We recommend staying away from high end models though as they may cost more than you'd want to invest at first.
Make a lighting plan
After figuring out your camera, light source, and shutter speed, the next step is to make a lighting plan. This means deciding where you want lights to be and finding the right balance of intensity for each light!
Using natural sunlight as our example, this would mean having a window or doorway that receives enough light to create a good exposure. If there’s not enough light, then we could use an additional lamp like a desk lamp or other source of ambient (background) light such as a candle or small flashlight.
After testing various intensities with different exposures, choose the one that looks best lit and has the clearest image.
Plan your shot list
A key part of cinematographic style is having an organized way to start your shots. There are many ways to organize your shooting, but one of the most popular styles is called parallel editing. This is when you have a main camera that shoots across the frame and a secondary camera that follows along with it, creating a natural cut between both cameras.
The reason this works so well is because it creates a sense of flow or momentum. The first camera has its focus set on something and then the second cuts off what it was filming and goes somewhere new. It feels natural for the viewer to follow the flow of the movie and keep watching!
This can be done virtually anywhere. You do not need any special gear to get started. All you need is your phone and some good lighting.
Practice editing
A lot of people start taking pictures with a camera before moving onto filming, which is totally fine! But you need to go one step further and get into the habit of editing your photos.
Editing means changing something about the image; this can be done quickly or very slowly depending on your speed at manipulating photographs.
Some things that can be edited are: switching between color modes, lightening or darkening an element, adding blur, using filters such as for example ones designed to look like snow, and so on.
There are many free photo editing apps available online and for mobile devices. Some examples include Adobe Photoshop, GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), Pixlr-Studio, and others.
Learn to use a DSLR
A good place to start is by learning how to use your camera properly! The first thing you should do as a beginner photographer is invest in a decent quality camera. You want to make sure that it has at least 800 ISO sensitivity, full-featured manual settings (besides auto mode), and enough zoom range for everyday shooting.
A great starter model is the Canon 700D or the Nikon D3S. Both of these have fully featured automatic modes and can be used with either Adobe’s Photoshop or Lightroom software.
Learn to use a tripod
A good way to learn how to handle camera settings and photography as a whole is by practicing with a tripod. There are many ways to start learning how to use a tripod, so instead of buying one directly, try renting one first! Many rental stores will have you pay per hour to use their tripods, which can be very expensive if you’re not careful!
There are several types of tripods that different brands seem to create market dominance for. An ultra-lightweight panoramic tripod is designed specifically to allow users to take longer exposures without having to hold the heavy weight down. This allows users to capture beautiful lightened up landscapes and still photographs, which is an important part of cinematography!
Landscape photographers also make use of tripmodes, which are able to switch between digital or film roll holders, feet positions, and heads sizes. These modes can be used together or separately depending on what changes you want to make on your photograph.
Learn to use focus
A key part of cinematographic storytelling is knowing how to use depth of field (DOF) effectively. DOF refers to the way that your camera renders things in focus, depending on what area of the frame you are shooting.
For example, if you were filming a scene with someone and their whole body was in focus, then your camera would not need much additional DOF. If only their face was focused, however, then extra effort would be needed to make everything else seem like it was in focus as well.
This is because human faces have such strong muscles around them that they can hold onto more light than other parts of the body. This means that their skin tone also stays very bright, which looks good when filmed directly against another background or darkness.
By adding enough DOF, though, this effect is balanced out so that nothing is over- or underfocused. It is important to understand how different shutter speeds affect DOF to achieve this.