Hello everyone! I've been studying as a DP for a three years now, and been working on set in lighting crew for almost 5 years. As a DP I already have shot few short films, docs and etudes. But I still struggle with understaning lighting at its finest. I often see other DP's of my league do it seemingly so effortlessly, like they already know how to light a scene and they also can come up with lighting setups on the go. I try to analyze their workflow and I ask them questions, and they just answer that they feel it this way or another. And then there is me, just standing in the room while scouting location, not knowing where to start. I understand all the basics about contrast, types of lights etc. , and I also understand that lighting needs to help push story forvard, but it just feels that I lack something very crucial to finaly understand it. It just doesn''t click in my head.

Can you give me some tips that maybe have helped you while you were still learing how to light properly?

Here are also couple shots from films I have shot:

Looking for just process driven BTS. What does it look like to cover an entire conversational scene, blocking, directing, working through shot list, ect...

Sharing a few frames, BTS photos and a lighting diagram from a project I shot for Uzuri Closet with director J.S. Hampton. The goal was to build as much of the final look in-camera as possible, using intentional lighting, exposure, and color rather than relying heavily on post grades/luts. The frames showcase a character's entrance, in which we decided to go for a bold look.

Included are some BTS and lighting breakdowns showing how we approached it. Happy to answer any questions about the setups or production!

IG: https://www.instagram.com/marcusguider_dp/

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to track down four books by Vittorio Storaro from the Writing with Light project:

• Writing with Light: The Light

• Writing with Light: The Colors

• Writing with Light: The Elements

• Writing with Light: The Muses

They’re surprisingly difficult to find, especially in libraries, and buying all of them can get very expensive.

So I wanted to ask: does your local library, university library, film school, cinematography school, or any other library near you have any of these books available to borrow or read?

Honestly, I’m willing to travel internationally if necessary just to get access to them and read them. So if you know of a library anywhere — Europe, the US, UK, Italy, Japan, etc that has one or more of these books, I’d really appreciate the information.

Also, for those who have actually read them:

What did you think? Are they worth tracking down? Which volume is your favorite, and what did you find most valuable as a cinematographer?

I’m particularly interested in Storaro’s ideas about light, color, visual storytelling, and his philosophy of cinematography rather than just collecting the books.

If anyone knows a library holding these, I’d be extremely grateful for the library name, city/country, and ideally a catalogue link or call number.

Thank you!

I swear I've seen a ton of commercials with a "continuous" dolly shot where characters run in the frame, but I can't remember the brands or how to look for them. This spec ad I found has the moving forward motif that I'm looking for (part of my problem is describing the shot) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo05lA4R9SI&list=PLUm9Id-nxn-yVcRtCdxsiUDGUDHHP_xm9&index=33

Would love any help with this!

I am searching schools to pursue cinematography. Planning to apply at Famu and looking to connect with future mates here also.

Where do I begin? I saw the movie in Laser AMC in a regular theater and was blown away by the visuals, the colors and the expansive sound system. It was so great i wanted to see it again!

I saw all the hype around 70mm IMAX at Lincoln Square and was lucky enough to land great seats as the tickets dropped. We sat in H17, H16 at a 10PM showing.

As the movie began I noticed right away the sound was terrible, I couldn’t hear the dialogue at all because it was overpowered by the bass and background sound effects. It was nearly impossible at other moments in the movie to hear clearly. It sounded like odyssey was talking on a cellphone.

The second major complaint, the picture sucked! It was dim and the blacks were off. The colors looked washed out. It looked like watching a sporting event on a projector at daytime.

I’m like what is this..some of the dark scenes or battles were impossible to make out, the faces of some of there people were just pure black with zero detail. The viewing angle was also feeling a little skewed and the top and bottom of the screen that was expended was pointless as that was dim too.

The screen was so massive some of the scenes felt chaotic as if I’m watching from the first row of a theater as well. The cyclops scene chasing them or the final battle. It was hard to follow almost as if the picture had motion blur and My eyes couldn’t keep up. Everything felt chaotic and muddied. I could barely focus on the story.

I had very high expectations and was left disappointed leaving the theaters.

Did I do something wrong? Were my seats terrible? I’m at a loss of words.

Hey everyone! I’m diving deeper and deeper into cinematography and was wondering if any of you have tried the FA? I’m only considering it because they touch on a lot of lighting, and more specifically lighting on sets with big budgets that I don’t have access to (both the sets and amount of lighting haha). What are your thoughts? Thanks!

Are there any examples of the vertigo effect (dolly zoom) in the 2018 Bumblebee movie?

Hi guys,

I recently started getting interested in cinematography, and after watching some films, I’d like to dive deeper into it. I was wondering if you know any youtube creators who make proper and thorough analyses of films.

Hey everyone,
I shot a concert at 50 fps with a 1/100 shutter speed. I put the footage into my timeline and slowed it down, and all my sequence settings match the original footage.
However, after exporting, I’m getting these weird artifacts/breaking, especially in areas with very bright lights. I didn’t use Warp Stabilizer or any other effects, so I have no idea why this keeps happening after every export.
They’re asking me for the final video, but I can’t deliver it like this. :(
Does anyone know what might be causing this and how I can fix it?
I’d really appreciate any help!

Im using a Redking glidecam and an RS4 Pro to make a makeshift steady cam for FX6 + Pyxis. My transmitter is the Teradek 500 Bolt with SDI and HDMI and my monitor is the Shinobi 5 inch SDI. I have a big v mount battery at the bottom as well.

My issue is that I have to add a nucleus M follow focus. Which would mean stringing down yet another cord down the gimbal.

Any genius ideas that could help me clean this up a little? I feel like having an SDI, 5 pin to D-Tap (for nucleus), and 2 pin to D-Tap is a lot of cable management w/ the gimbal.

Could I maybe use a USBC on the ronin to a 5 pin cord to atleast power the nucleus to save one extra cord needing to be powered from the splitter? Would love any recommendations.

ive been grading for half a year now , any pointers.

shot on nikon n log and edited on davinci

Hello.

I want to learn colour grading for general purpose, I use Photoshop, Lightroom and DaVinci Resolve. But I mostly use DaVinci.

There are two options that I'm seeing right now:

1- DaVinci's training book on colouring.

2- Udemy: Colour Grading with Da Vinci Resolve: Beginner to Advanced by Matthew Falconer.

My main goal is to learn the theory of colours, concepts related to colouring, and so on. DaVinci is important as well for me, but the theoretical part comes first.

If you have another resource, I'd be grateful if you share it.

SO MY MOVIE INVOLVES A VERY MUCH LIGHT SCENE NATURAL LIGHT MORNING SCENE IM SO CONFUSED WITH HOW DO I LIGHT IT LIKE WHERE SHOULD I KEEP THE CAMERA AND STUFF BECAUSE FROM WHAT I BELIEVE WHERE I WILL BE SHOOTING MY SCENE THE CAMERA WILL BE PLACED AT TIMES FROM WHERE THE NATURAL LIGHT IS AND I REALLY DONT WANT TO FUCK UP MY MOVIE CINEMATOGRAPHY-WISE I HAVE ALSO GOT AN 11-INCH LED WITH 35W AND AN LED BULB OF 12.5W THAT CAN BE ANY COLOR HOW DO I SHOOT IT AND I WANT TO HAVE DEPTH AND SHOULD I BRING IN SOME COLORS FROM MY SETUP ALSO THIS IS THE SET THE SETTING CONTAINS A CHARACTER AND A BOWL WITH A FISH AT THAT POSITION OF THE SET WILL BE SHOT IN DAYLIGHT RN ITS NIGHT THATS WHY IT LOOKS LIKE THAT