Top Cinematography Tutorials for the Professional and Amateur Cinematographer

Top Cinematography Tutorials for the Professional and Amateur Cinematographer
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The Diverse Cinematography Tutorials

Cinematography is the foundational craft on which filmmaking is based as it creates the moving image that is viewed. In the age of digital video, the way that you capture an image and control the camera has changed completely. This extends to the different types of professional positions that take up the role of the cinematographer, all the way to the amateur looking up cinematography tutorials. In this field there are so many different areas to look at that cinematography tutorials can range from specific techniques to career advice. Here is some of the most useful cinematography tutorials that will address different areas of this professional art and address the different cinematographers out there, both professional and amateur cinematographers.

Director of Photography and Assistant Camera

In the professional film world the cinematography department is defined by the the Director of Photography position, which is one of the most prestigious in the feature film market. It is this position that will craft the image under the basic advice of the Director, which essentially communicates their basic idea for the image. It is then up to the Director of Photography to interpret this, which is one of the most difficult professional tasks out there. The best place is to look into what a Director of Photography is.

In the professional film and video production world the Director of Photography and the camera operator, which may be the same position, are supported by the Assistant Camera position. This Assistant Camera person will then deal with loading film magazines, dealing with the media management of the digital files in HD formats, and pulling focus. The Assistant Camera position is an important possible career path, so you need to learn all that the Assistant Camera position entails.

Camera Technology

One of the main reason that people turn to cinematography tutorials is to learn how to use different camera functions with their cinematography. Cinematography is unique in that the art form depends directly on what is allowed in the technology. Here are some cinematography tutorials that deal with combining cinematographic techniques with the technology of the camera.

Auto focus is a camera function that is usually avoided by professional cinematographers because it does not give the kind of control necessary. Here is a cinematography tutorial on how to correctly use auto focus when you are filming your project.

Time lapse is a camera function that allows quick images to be taken on specific increments throughout a long period of time. The purpose of this time lapse photography is to get a video image of something that would take a long time, like a sunset or a flower blooming. This is a very technical feature and it takes specific cinematographic techniques to pull this off effectively.

A tripod is used to stabilize your digital video camera as it would be hard to have an easily viewable image without it. A tripod is not always a practical option for different production situations, so you have to figure out what to do in that situation. Take a look at how to film without a tripod and still maintain a quality image.

Cinematography Techniques

There are so many different techniques that have been used in the history of cinematography, and many of them are actually ones that are developed by people to solve specific problems or achieve difficult image needs. Here are some cinematography tutorials that will address different techniques you can try to capture moving images.

The specific camera angle is actually where most people begin considering how they want to present a digital video image. There are common video camera angles that people tend to go to because they are part of the lexicon of film language. Look into this cinematography tutorial that outlines the five most important camera angles.

Scenes, especially in the narrative context, are composed of differently positioned cinematographic angles and points of view. This is done to maximize different perspectives, focus points, and to present a physical space for the scene. This can be done by utilizing a master shot and coverage, which are ways of arranging these different shots. These two can also be at odds, so looking into a cinematography tutorial on how to choose between the master shot and individual coverage.

Going handheld can be a very freeing experience for how you get images, but it can also create very difficult shots and few will actually be usable. There are very few situations when a handheld camera image is realistically stable, but it may be the only way to get different angles. Look into a cinematography tutorial with some tips on how to use the handheld approach to get images you want.

This post is part of the series: Unique Cinematography

Here are a series of cinematography tutorials around very specific situations in digital video production.

  1. Green Screen Cinematography
  2. Examples of Depth of Field in Cinematography
  3. Cinematography Schools
  4. Digital Cinematography
  5. Top Cinematography Tutorials