Manual Shooting, Lenses, & Cinematography

     It's already fourth quarter and we are in the midst of our projects. What's so unique about the fourth quarter is that you have the option and the ability to create whatever you want. You have the freedom to do as you please, and you can let your creative juices flow. I always like seeing how everyone's fourth quarter projects turn out because they are all so different in their own ways. It displays how much we have learned throughout the year, and for some of us, will be our final project of CKTV. Currently, we are in the process of getting our scripts done, so many of us have not started filming quite yet. For this week's reflective response, I will be sharing with you how to shoot manually, the effect of different lenses, and how to use your lens creatively to tell a story. In the media class, only a few people shoot on manual mode, when we should all be. I am also guilty of shooting on AUTO. I've just always found AUTO more convenient and simpler, but at what price? A few weeks ago, I decided that I needed to learn how to manually shoot, setting your ISO, shutter speed, and your aperture. I've tested it taking still photos, and the difference between the AUTO photo and the one I set myself, is pretty big. There's so much you can do when you shoot on manual. You can actually change how the photo looks whereas on AUTO what you see is what you get. Though I still need lots of practice manually shooting, it's something worth trying if you want a better shot. If you do choose to go the manual route, you first need to change your settings. ​If shooting with a Canon DLSR such as a 60D, go under your menu, movie exposure, and change it from AUTO to Manual. The image below is what it should look like.

     The three main factors in shooting manual is your aperture, ISO, and shutter speed.

Aperture

The aperture controls how much light enters in the camera and your DOF, or your Depth of Field. The unit your aperture is measured in are called F-Stops. If you have a low f-stop number, more light will enter and you will have a more blurry background. If you really want a cinematic, compressed look, go with a low f-stop number. Lower aperture numbers also can create a look called the bokeh effect. Many of you know what this is, but not the term name for it. It's the little blurry circles in the background when your shot is really compressed. You may want to use a low f-stop when you want to achieve a dreamy or romantic feeling, or if you're shooting an extreme close up and want the audience to focus on one specific thing. A lot of the times, we all strive to get a really blurry background that a low f-stop number would get. We overuse close-ups and zoom in to get that effect instead of shooting manually, which ends up in taking the emotional effect that close-ups are used for, away. When shooting a shot like that, make sure you're doing it for the right reasons. Sure, it looks good, but does it actually help your story make sense? In the video below from Simon Cade/DSLR Guide, he mentions this example. If you're shooting a movie about a zombie apocalypse, it wouldn't really make sense to use that dream-like low aperture. Sometimes you need to really think little things like these. Going along with that example, so you don't want to use low aperture, then what do you use? Higher aperture numbers do the opposite of low f-stops. The camera lets in less light, and you will have a sharper background. High f-stop numbers work well when you're shooting a landscape or just a wide shot in general. Many times, your camera doesn't know where to focus on in a very wide shot. When shooting on AUTO, it'll end up focusing on one little bit of your frame, and the rest a little out of focus. If you want your whole shot sharp, use a high f-stop number. To change and adjust your aperture on Live Shooting mode (what you are shooting is visible on the LCD screen), hold down the AV + - and spin the dial on a Rebel camera (T2i, T3i..) or just spin the back wheel on a 60D. Also, the type of lens you use effects how low or high your aperture can go. Look around the ring of your lens (when looking directly into the camera lens, to see your aperture boundaries. Most of the lenses on the 60d's are 18-200 lenses which go from 3.5 to 5.6, the same as kit lens. Some of the T2i's and one of the 60d's use 18-135 lens, has the same 3.5 to 5.6 boundary. However, if you look in the closet near the Rebels, we have 50mm fixed lenses that go down to f/1.8 - f/22! The only downside is that its fixed, meaning you cannot zoom.

ISO

     ISO controls your exposure. Higher ISO brings in more light and lower ISO brings in less light. However, there are bad things that come with higher ISO. A High ISO like 1600, 3200, and 6400 although brighter, will bring in a significant amount of noise. You can tell the digital noise when it's obvious that your shot is grainy. If you're confused what I mean, think about it like this. Whenever you've tried to take a photo with your phone in the night, your shot has those weird specks in the darkness and 9 times out of 10, the shot doesn't turn out all that great. Your phone camera tried to make up for the darkness, resulting in the grain. Same thing happens with DSLRs. Be careful when shooting with a high ISO, it may result in a lot of grain. When using a low ISO like 100 or 200, you have a darker picture, but not much grain.

Shutter Speed

     The shutter speed effects the exposure and controls the amount of blur in your shot. If you have a low shutter speed number like 1/60, you'll get more light but your subject may be blurry. If you have a higher shutter speed number like 1/800, you'll have less light but possible a sharper subject. If you're shooting action shots (or sporting events), you're probably going to want a high shutter speed to capture the action. Or if you want to try out night astrophotography, use a low shutter speed. Also make sure you're always using a tripod, you can prevent some blur. 

     Now you know about aperture, ISO, and shutter speed to manually shoot. To recap:
Lower number aperture = more light and a blurrier background /
Higher number aperture = less light and a sharper background
Lower ISO = less light / Higher ISO = more light
Lower shutter speed = more light but your subject may be blurry /
Higher shutter speed = less light but possibly a sharper subject
However, these are three factors and they all play in hand and hand. You have to mess around with all three of them to get your perfect shot. Try it out above. Manual shooting can provide better shots than opposed to AUTO, so practice at it! I know I will! That's it for this week's reflective response. Thanks for reading! Bye!