Camera
Page links: Basic functions | Basic lighting tips | Professional lighting tips | Shooting for the web
Know your camera before you shoot. Pre-production is a good time for you to have a 'play' with the camera. There are a number of basic functions you should feel confident about before you need to use them on the shoot day.
Basic functions
- Colour balance:
- The colour of light differs between inside and outside and depending on time of day or what kind of lights are in a room. Have you ever noticed how fluorescent lights can give off a green look? The colour balance feature on the camera will allow you to adjust the way the camera records light so everything looks normal.
- Aperture:
- Also referred to as 'the iris'. This is the function on your camera that decides how much light will be let into the camera. If you are in a dark corner the camera will need to allow more light in than if you are in a bright sunlit space. You can use the automatic iris but sometimes it's better to use the manual function because a camera cannot think and may expose for the wrong object in your shot. When using the manual iris you will see how the picture gets lighter or darker. It is usually best to look at your subject's skin tone when setting the iris/aperture.
- Battery:
- Use mains electricity when you can in order to save your batteries. If using a battery, keep a check on it – there are no excuses for a battery dying during a great take. Develop a system so you know what batteries have died and what are fresh. Always recharge the dead batteries at the end of the day.
- Focus – minimum focus:
- Once again you have a manual and automatic setting – but be aware that a camera cannot think! When using manual focus it is easiest to zoom in on a big close-up of the subject's eyes and to focus the camera then zoom back out to the frame you want to shoot. Minimum focus is how close a subject can be to the camera and still be in focus. Usually anything closer than one metre will not be in focus.
- Tripod:
- Use the tripod especially when you are shooting long shots and using what is called the 'long end of the zoom'. Unless you are trying for the Blair Witch Project effect and want that wobbly camera look that makes the audience feel sick!
- Depth of field (DOF):
This is getting technical but depth of field can be a really creative technique for you to master. It is about how much of the shot is in focus. Limited depth of field occurs in low light situations. You can do great things by altering your depth of field. Some interviews look great with the subject nice and crisp and then the background behind them is all soft and out of focus.
Or you may want to focus pull from one person to another for a special effect. To achieve these effects you need to limit the depth of field. Lighting can do this. The less the amount of light you have, the less the depth of field. Experiment and play during pre-production, this is a great way to learn.
Basic lighting tips
You can do really creative and interesting things with light. Good lighting makes your shots 'look good', but it can also add emotional depth and meaning as well. Your format and theme will always inform what you do. For example using a soft light source like candles or a flickering fire to light a news anchorman would be highly inappropriate but it would work well for a romantic scene.
- Light sources:
A light source could be the sun, a street lamp, candles, lamps, room lights, torches or it could be a professional film light that is part of your camera kit. There are many different light sources and ways to play with light. Think about the light the television gives off, what the light of a fire looks like on a person's face or what light does when it hits water such as a swimming pool. When shooting you must be aware of what light sources are present and their effect.
Ideally your subject will be opposite a light source (be it a naked light bulb in a lamp or a window). A direct light source onto a subject from the same angle as the camera is the 'fill light'. This 'fill light' helps to fill in all the shadows of the face. Bad lighting can make a person look like they have dark shadows around their eyes. Ideally you will also have another light source from the side.
- Altering amounts of light:
You can use curtains, blinds and lamps to alter the intensity of your light source. Try switching some lights on and off or opening and closing curtains and blinds to different degrees. You can alter the amount of light that is needed to make the shot attractive or to meet whatever your needs might be. If you are making a horror film or sequence you might want it so it is hard to see and there are big shadows.
If you are having trouble filling out the shadows on a person's face (or an object) you could use a 'fleckie'. A fleckie is a board that is white on one side and silver on the other. It is used to bounce light from a lighting source onto where you want it. There are lots of every day objects that can help you to bounce light where you want it: whiteboards, white paper, hotel towels, a white T-shirt. Anything white or silver can be used to bounce extra light into a subject. Experiment! You can make your own fleckie with a thin board of polystyrene or white cardboard and some tin foil. (Leave one side white and cover one side in tin foil).
- Eye-lights:
- Most professional camera people like to have an eye-light. This is a little light set up to make the subject's eyes sparkle. You can achieve this with a lamp – you will know when you have done it because you will see the light reflected in the person's eyes. You can also use your fleckie or even the sun to do this. Do be sensitive to 'bouncing' too much light into a person's eyes – if they are squinting or weeping you know you have overdone it.
- Lighting checks:
- This is basic but once your shot is lined up, look at it carefully – are there any 'glares or flares' where light is 'pinging' off a background or foreground element? Or are there reflections or shadows you do not want – such as yourself or the camera? Curtains, blinds and doors can be moved slightly to eliminate unwanted shadows and so on. Something like a matchbox can be placed under objects that are reflecting unwanted images – such as glass covered prints. It is just about slightly altering the angle of the 'glaring' object or disguising a shadow.
Professional lighting tips
- Check lighting down the eyepiece rather than using the little LCD screen – as the screen is not the most 'honest' representation of light.
- Also be aware that the monitor your camera is plugged into may not be correctly colour balanced to your camera – therefore it cannot be relied on.
- Beware of sun going behind clouds/cloudy days, when light levels may fluctuate while the camera is rolling.
- When shooting near or at windows beware of 'blow-out' and flaring from windows. You could try playing with the 'back light' button on the camera but this is really only about alerting the camera to set the iris for the foreground not the background.
Shooting for the web
Is your story going to be screened on a big screen, at a movie theatre, or is it going to be a download on a website? If shooting for the web it pays to be aware of a number of things. People viewing a download often only have a small screen. This means you need to think in tighter shots – that is MS, CU, or MCU. See the Glossary.
Try for shots that are not too 'busy' – it can be hard to grasp a busy wide shot on a small screen on a computer. Avoid extreme camera movement – however experiment because, contrary to what a lot of people say, the web can handle a bit of camera movement!
Try looking at video clips on the web – what do you think worked and what did not work?