Who is coming from a photographic background ? ?

[Cristian Mihai]

Hello guysI have always been curios how many of you are coming from a photographic background. What are the advantages and disadvantages of coming from there ? How did this helped you or slowed you down ?I will start mine even if these are only some photos from almost 10 years ago when i was starting ( after that got in the loop and was not interested to update the website ).www.cristianmihai.ro

 

[Uros Zuraj]

i am from photographic background and i see a lot of transition from photos to videos these days and I can say it has its + and -
+ are obvious, eye for details, light shaping (lot of "youngsters" have no idea about light shaping, they do front/fill/back or just use natural light and already call themselfs DOPs,...)
- is usually that photographers think they know everything, but they are missing one main thing - camera movement and editing skills. you need to have some editing skills/knowledge so youll know how it will come together,...

 

[Cristian Mihai]

Camera movement yes, i am updating but no more Macs and editing photoshop. I leave that to professionals. I am done with that. On my last 2 years as photographer i was already done editing and worked via ftp connection with retouchers. For video will be harder and will have to find local support which is hard to find. Thanks for your input.

 

[Lakis Amarantithis]

Huge advantages and minor disadvantages. The worst is that the camera needs to move many times and change focus/aperture/zoom.

 

[Eric M Hurt]

Huge advantages and minor disadvantages. The worst is that the camera needs to move many times and change focus/aperture/zoom.

Certainly better then having an accounting background, but I wouldn't say they are minor disadvantages.. I have seen some photographers go down magnificent, ego filled flames when they tried to move to film without a total re-education. The theory and practice are incredibly different. The problem is they may know how to light a single frame, and while the technicalities of the FIZ are simple, they will have no clue about how to move the camera to create drama or how to shoot a scene that can effectively be cut together. Run for the hills if a photographer tells you he can shoot your film, and if you're a photographer start from scratch with your education.

 

[Cristian Mihai]

Any good books about camera movements that can be recommended. The more complex, the better.

" if you're a photographer start from scratch with your education " - thats what i am doing, learning all day but i am sure they are some good books to be recommended to learn the theory at least.

 

[Steve Das]

...light shaping (lot of "youngsters" have no idea about light shaping, they do front/fill/back or just use natural light and already call themselfs DOPs,..

Hmmm...yes..key, back, fill is the formula most people fall back on. But what do you mean by light shaping..?

Any good books about camera movements that can be recommended. The more complex, the better...

The most complex camera blocking book is certainly Grammar of the Film Language...it has many drawings of complex scenes...but so many movies are just chopped in editing to close-ups these days...am not sure how relevant it is anymore to modern productions.
http://books.google.com/books/about/Grammar_of_the_film_language.html?id=6bQlAQAAIAAJ

But most people have seen so many TV and movies in life that they know the basic rules pretty much...it just takes time to sort them out.

 

[Mark Andersen]

I studied and working in stills for several years before film school. I was kind of a PITA know it all in my cinematography classes cause I already had such a strong photographic foundation that everything just made sense. But I needed to learn all about the language of film, movement, story etc. I'd say The more education you can get the better. I love learning and still consider myself a student. You don't know what you don't know, but I do know I still have a lot to learn. Every time I watch a good film or a bad film I learn something.

 

[Ted Parkes]

I come from a photography background back when it was all film. And I made my transition to moving images when Red was a crazy start up and months late delivering there first camera. I think its a great way to cut your teeth. Lensing, exposure, composition, light and lighting ratios are all common skills. The same rules apply. Like anything you have to study and practice your craft. There are some definite differences between being a photographer and being a cinematographer. Camera movement is one thing. Supporting the telling of the story with lighting, framing, coverage are some of the other things a good DP brings with him. When I made the move, my first projects were as a Director on tv commercials. I put a lot of work into prepping those first few jobs. One thing that really helped me waste watch commercials , movies with the sound turned off. You will see the framing, the moves the cuts so much easier. I also worked with some very good Dps that taught me how much they do bring to the table and how much they contribute to the final result. I soon gave up Directing and returned to my first love behind the camera. Best position on set!
Good luck.

 

[Richard Coburn]

What's interesting is that I have a few friends who are press photographers and for a while now they've been asked to shoot (and edit) video for their papers website as well as take stills for print. Many stills photographers can become great D.O.P.s as beautiful pics are the main goal but I think there's a lot of things you'll have to work on. I'm not sure if you were really after this kind of advice but I thought I'd share a few tips from what I've noticed as an editor and director.

You will probably be great at telling the whole story with one image, now you can use as many as you like. The challenge here is to not overcomplicate the story. Don't forget that each shot has a job to do and if two are serving the same purpose, a good editor will probably cut one.

You have probably had a lot of time to take that one still in the past. On a video shoot you may have to create multiple lighting setups for several shots in the time you were able to spend on one still. Sometimes you have to compromise and pick the shots that will be awe-inspiring while maintaing the quality on the rest. Nothing worse than spending too much time on shots 1 and 2 only to have shots 3-7 being rushed.

Now you can move the camera over the course of a shot but should you really? I have cut many pans and tilts from edits because they just took too long. I once had someone say," but I'm trying to show how big something is." They could have easily come up with something when they were limited to taking one still but now that they had time they hadn't thought about the fact that a ten second pan is pretty boring for the audience.

I think that handheld camera work is where the experienced motion shooter stands out (this is especially evident with all the rising crop of DSLR shooters.) When you are held held, shooting doco style, you still need to have a point to your shots and you need to hold on shots for your editor. If you as the camera operator don't know what you're looking at, then neither does the audience. Find your reason for the shot and stay with it.

On this issue, as an editor, if I see a whole bunch of footage or shots of the same focus pull, depth-of-fieldy, eye candy shot, I'm going to scroll through the first one a bit, choose something at random and then move on to the next shot in the edit, ignoring the rest as I don't have time. An experienced DP gives me only a couple of choices. Overshooting is pretty common these days with digital media but, unless you are meticulously choosing your favourite takes, most editors are up against deadlines and they'll pick the first moment they see that works for the story.

Be prepared to see your best shots left out. Sometime's, despite how cool the shot is, it just doesn't work for the story in the time available (massive issue on commercials.) The more you become aware of the editing process, the more you'll be able to judge this for yourself. For me, the key is usually how important each shot is for the story. Story, story story.

My advice is to find an editor you trust. Having seen your site, that level of quality of pics with a slick edit would be pretty cool. It sounds like you recognise that you'll need to work at it and are willing to start learning and I think that's the attitude that will help you make the transition.

I hope some of that helps and sorry if it's not really the sort of advice you were after.

Cheers
Rich

 

[Cristian Mihai]

Thanks for everyone's input.

 

[juan]

Who is coming from a photographic background

Who is coming from a photographic background

yes. i was planing to buy an adaptor for the nikkor . Do you think th samyang is a better option?

 

[George Butterfield]

The advantage from coming from a photographic background is huge. If you mastered Ansel Adams' ZONE system, you are well on the way to being a master Cinematographer. It's amazing how often I encounter DP's who think they have to shoot at 180 degrees.