What is Cinematography?
Cinematography is photography with movement—it’s the process of writing with light and writing with motion (graph, to write; photo, light; cinema, movement).

 

Just because most DSLRs are sensitive to light and you can get a cinematic quality image doesn’t mean you can ignore one of the most fundamental aspects of cinematography—lighting.

 

Without some mastery of cinematography,  you’re just a person with a camera. If you want to be considered as a serious filmmaker, a serious DSLR shooter, then you need to understand light quality, light direction, light placement, color temperature, as well as lenses, focal length, aperture, picture styles, among other elements. This article will focus on the use of a 3-point lighting setup using natural light.

 

I. Light quality
What we see in a scene and what we feel about it is dependent on the quality of the light.

• A. Hard—direct: harsh shadows, high contrast
• B. Soft—indirect: diffused or reflected (bounced)
• C. Lights from farther away will become more hard; lights closer will become more soft

 

II. Light direction

• A. The direction of the light will determine the kinds of shadows. Lighting on-axis of the camera will convey less shadows. Lights from the side will increase shadows and texture of the subject.

• B. Motivation: The source of the light

• C. Light placement defined:

1. Key: The main light source of the scene (a window, a table lamp, overhead lighting, a fireplace, and so forth). Know where your motivated light source is and add lights, if needed, to reinforce it accordingly. Can be hard or soft quality.
2. Fill: Lights used to fill in shadows caused by the key light. Usually a soft quality.
3. Back and Rim: Lights placed behind characters to separate them from the background. A rim light specifically is placed high with the light falling on a character’s head, her hair lit in such a way as to differentiate her from the background
   
4. Background: Lighting occurring in the background of the set, designed to separate it from the foreground, giving the scene visual depth. These could be street lights, lights in a store, a hallway light inside, and so forth.

 

Examples of light direction.
Light Source Direction: Side

 

In Philip Bloom’s San Francisco’s People, he utilizes practicals from street lamps to light his subject. News videographers will get the shot, typically shooting an image for the sake of the story, to illustrate the story.

 

Bloom’s approach–along with other really good DSLR shooters–is different. Far different. They’re approaching the shot like a filmmaker, like a cinematographer. Bloom is looking not just for images to fill the canvas for a story. Rather, the image is the story, comprising both the look and feeling–emotionally designed to tell the story visually.

 

 

Shot handheld with a Canon 5D Mark II; 50mm f/1.2 lens with Zacuto Z-Finder. By shooting down the length of the street and by taking advantage of the street lamps, Bloom is able to craft a visually powerful moment in his film. Lights in the background provides depth to the two-dimensional surface of the screen, while the side light captures the emotional pleasure of his subject.

 

Bloom’s entire piece is a model for creating cinematic moments by using existing lights at night. Notice how he uses key light, fill light, back light, and background light in nearly every shot. At the same time, we can see how he utilizes shadows to shape the look and feel of the scene. If light filled every corner, it would become less dramatic. Cinematography is as much about the placement of light and shadow in a shot as it is about where the camera is placed.

 

 

In this still from Rii Schroer’s 16 Teeth: Cumbria’s Last Traditional Rakemakers, we see how Schroer utilizes side lighting to highlight the features of her subject.

 

 

This piece is a model for video journalists in understanding how to use natural lighting to cover the basics of lighting placement. Side lighting brings out texture because it reinforces shadows, as we can see with the man’s wrinkles (on-axis light will lesson shadows). Fill light reflects back onto the man’s screen-right face to help ease out the shadows (light from a window). Backlighting provides a sense of depth to the frame. Shot on Canon 5D Mark II; Canon 24-70mm/2.8 lens.

 

16 TEETH – Cumbria’s last traditional rakemakers from Rii Schroer on Vimeo.

 

As you begin to master how to use DSLRs, you should keep in mind how you’ll use lighting in your shots.

 

Checklist for lighting
1. The quality of the light: hard or soft; direct lighting or bounced (or scrimmed) lighting for each light you’re going to use.

 

2. The kinds of light you’re using: key, fill, back, background. (Yes, there are many different types of lights—from sunlight with a reflector to hardware store halogen work lights, but you need to determine how they’re going to be utilized.) Many scenes will have all four of them, but there’s no rule. Sunlight with a reflector may be all that’s required. With DSLR cameras, Philip Bloom says that he tries to use as much natural and practical light as possible before bringing in other lights. When necessary, he uses LED and Kino Flo Divas, and he stresses the importance of some LED light in front to light the eyes of the performers. But he’s an experienced shooter. If you’re more of a beginner, practice with three-point lighting until you can really “see” the light around you and how you can use it to your advantage and use such material as bouncing light off a white t-shirt, for example.

 

3. Light placement of each light. A frontal 3/4 key will make the scene look different than a rear 3/4 key with a frontal fill light. Lighting placement will determine shadow placement, all of which will convey a different mood.

 

4. Lighting zones or contrast range

• A. Will everything be lit evenly?
• B. Will there be some contrast between bright and darker areas?
• C. Will there be great contrast between the light and shadows?
• D. Will you need to scrim the lights to dim them, use a dimmer, move lights closer or farther away?
• E. Do you have shutters on the lights to control where the light falls?
• F. Do have blackout scrims (flags) to control where the light and shadows are placed?

 

5. If you’re shooting outdoors, what time of day will provide the best mood for the scene? Because sunlight is your key light source, it will determine to a large extent the mood of your scene. A high-contrast scene with harsh light might be best during late morning through early afternoon, while early morning or early evening will provide the golden hour look with long shadows and rich sunlight tones. Use of reflectors and scrims will help you control outdoor lighting. Night shots may require additional lighting setups if there aren’t enough practical lights (from storefronts and streetlamps, for example).

 

6. Control your color temperature. Indoor lighting is different than outdoor lighting. A fluorescent light will look different than an incandescent bulb. Know your primary light source and adjust your white balance accordingly.

 

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Kurt Lancaster, PhD, is the author of “DSLR Cinema: Crafting the Film Look with Video, Focal Press, 2011.” He teaches digital filmmaking and multimedia journalism at Northern Arizona University’s School of Communication.

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