Having a good camera and lens kit is just the beginning. To be able to shoot right shots is totally a different ball game. I've seen much better movies on Canon T2i than those shot on 5D ! So, it is more about the creature behind the camera. By the way, here is one of the superior product from Canon Rebel T2i , a very famous DSLR short film : Uncle Jack -
As I began learning about DSLR - the first words to demystify were shutter speed / aperture and ISO. Lovely articles are available on internet, various videos explain it clearly and these concepts aren't very hard to understand anyway. Once I got some hang of these terms, I thought I am through ! Yeah, I know what aperture and how it works. I know shutter speed and its dynamics and I understand the meaning of higher ISO. I thought - I am game for the best DSLR movie to be shot.
I went out and almost all of my shots are either - Underexposed or Overexposed. I don't have additional accessory to see the LIVE OUTPUT, I rely on my eyes (which don't have 6/6 vision) and the small LCD screen in camera to decide the exposure. Everytime I finished shooting, I had to reduce contrast, increase brightness or at times completely Re-Shoot the entire sequence.
Right exposure was and still is one of the biggest challenge I faced while filming with DSLR. I think it is a skill to be learnt. Here are some tips which I use to get right exposure :-
1.) Histogram : The greatest benediction for right exposure
I never really took the while crazy mountain like ugly graph that sometimes popped up on my camera screen. I thought it is some spooky stuff for the highly technical guys ! Only later I learnt that Histograms can be the best friend of the budding DSLR filmmakers to get the right exposure - without which any movie is a waste product.
Histograms can help know on the spot , while shooting - whether our shot is underexposed or overexposed. It is a great help. Spend time to learn about it.
Here are few good tutorials : -
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understanding-histograms.shtml
www.mdavid.com.au/photography/histograms.shtml
2.) Play with Aperture and ISO not as much with shutter speed :
One can change exposure by changing either -
1.) ISO
2.) Shutter Speed
3.) Aperture
4.) Lens
5.) Filters
Lens and Filters are to be used only in advanced and exceptional situations while DSLR filming - you cannot really use very high shutter speed as it makes the video look very jerky and funny. (unless you plan to use it creatively in your storyline). Thus even shutter speed is more or less fixed for DSLR film makers. Infact , for film look the shutter speed is fixed to 1/50th of the second for 24 fps recording.
This means the only tools to play along to get right exposure are Aperture and ISO.
Use combination of ISO and Aperture to get right exposure. Keep an eye on histogram.
3.) Use your natural sense of lighting :
Right exposure means nothing but right amount of light in the scene. Our eyes and brain - know whats right ! Use it. Simple things like - shifting shooting time to softer sunlight around 9-10 AM instead of bright afternoon at 12-1 can help in getting right exposure with minimum exposure. Other things might include changing orientation or camera angle, switching OFF/ON any artificial lights.
4.) Do a test run :
Last but not the least would be just do a small dummy shot with desired setting, come back and check on laptop or bigger screen to see if you are happy with the exposure. This small investment of time will help us avoid regrets at the end of entire day's shoot !
Right exposure is not only important for film making but also for our own life ! Going out of one's comfort zone, meeting different people, travelling - allows one to become a better footage ! ;-)
As I began learning about DSLR - the first words to demystify were shutter speed / aperture and ISO. Lovely articles are available on internet, various videos explain it clearly and these concepts aren't very hard to understand anyway. Once I got some hang of these terms, I thought I am through ! Yeah, I know what aperture and how it works. I know shutter speed and its dynamics and I understand the meaning of higher ISO. I thought - I am game for the best DSLR movie to be shot.
I went out and almost all of my shots are either - Underexposed or Overexposed. I don't have additional accessory to see the LIVE OUTPUT, I rely on my eyes (which don't have 6/6 vision) and the small LCD screen in camera to decide the exposure. Everytime I finished shooting, I had to reduce contrast, increase brightness or at times completely Re-Shoot the entire sequence.
Right exposure was and still is one of the biggest challenge I faced while filming with DSLR. I think it is a skill to be learnt. Here are some tips which I use to get right exposure :-
1.) Histogram : The greatest benediction for right exposure
I never really took the while crazy mountain like ugly graph that sometimes popped up on my camera screen. I thought it is some spooky stuff for the highly technical guys ! Only later I learnt that Histograms can be the best friend of the budding DSLR filmmakers to get the right exposure - without which any movie is a waste product.
Histograms can help know on the spot , while shooting - whether our shot is underexposed or overexposed. It is a great help. Spend time to learn about it.
Here are few good tutorials : -
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understanding-histograms.shtml
www.mdavid.com.au/photography/histograms.shtml
2.) Play with Aperture and ISO not as much with shutter speed :
One can change exposure by changing either -
1.) ISO
2.) Shutter Speed
3.) Aperture
4.) Lens
5.) Filters
Lens and Filters are to be used only in advanced and exceptional situations while DSLR filming - you cannot really use very high shutter speed as it makes the video look very jerky and funny. (unless you plan to use it creatively in your storyline). Thus even shutter speed is more or less fixed for DSLR film makers. Infact , for film look the shutter speed is fixed to 1/50th of the second for 24 fps recording.
This means the only tools to play along to get right exposure are Aperture and ISO.
Use combination of ISO and Aperture to get right exposure. Keep an eye on histogram.
3.) Use your natural sense of lighting :
Right exposure means nothing but right amount of light in the scene. Our eyes and brain - know whats right ! Use it. Simple things like - shifting shooting time to softer sunlight around 9-10 AM instead of bright afternoon at 12-1 can help in getting right exposure with minimum exposure. Other things might include changing orientation or camera angle, switching OFF/ON any artificial lights.
4.) Do a test run :
Last but not the least would be just do a small dummy shot with desired setting, come back and check on laptop or bigger screen to see if you are happy with the exposure. This small investment of time will help us avoid regrets at the end of entire day's shoot !
Right exposure is not only important for film making but also for our own life ! Going out of one's comfort zone, meeting different people, travelling - allows one to become a better footage ! ;-)
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