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Lens Filters (continued)

Diffusion Filters

Digital video images can be very crisp and sometimes that sharp look is not pleasing to

the eye. Diffusion filters are designed to change the sharpness of digital video. High-contrast filters can be used to improve the contrast ratio (and therefore, apparent sharpness) in an image, while filters such as Tiffen’s ProMist and Black ProMist can be used to reduce contrast resulting in a softer image, as shown in Figure 7.17.

Figure 7.17

Tiffen’s ProMist and Black ProMist can be used to reduce the contrast in an image and make light flares bloom, creating a softer-looking image.

Aspect Ratios

Your camera might offer the choice between a 4:3 image and a 16:9 (or widescreen) image. Just because a camera can switch between 16:9 and 4:3 doesn’t mean that the camera records a true native 16:9 image. The change in aspect ratio might simply mean that the image is being reshaped to fit that ratio by letterboxing or squeezing the image.

Know Thy Camera

By now, you should be comfortable with the idea of experimenting to discover what your camera is capable of and how it reacts in different lighting situations, such as low light, night exteriors, and backlight situations. Try to learn where the camera’s controls are by feel. While shooting, you might want to switch a feature on or off without taking your eye from the viewfinder. It’s better to learn about your camera during test shoots, rather than during your production.

Composition

Composition is simply the way that elements on-screen are arranged. Composition determines which visual elements are included in the image and how they’re arranged. While shooting, you’ll frame each shot using your camera’s viewfinder to create compositions. Composition is essential to creating moving images that are attractive and that serve to tell the story.

Begin your shot setup by roughly positioning your camera. This is your first stab at getting the composition you want. Make sure you can frame and position all of the elements the way you want them. Is the subject and action best shown in a static shot or in a moving shot? Make a choice and take a rough camera stance. You might need to reposition the actors and props to get the framing you want. What’s more, you might need to reposition them in a way that is completely unrealistic; that is, in positions that wouldn’t occur in real life.

Good composition skills let you do far more than simply create pretty images. By carefully crafting each shot, you can convey important information to your audience. For example, look at the images in Figure 7.18.

Figure 7.18

The different compositions of these two shots present two very different impressions of this man.

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In the upper image, the man looks confident and powerful, while in the lower image, the same man looks lonely and possibly afraid. In both of these images, the man is striking a similar pose and a somewhat neutral expression. Your sense of how powerful or weak he is comes mostly from the composition and framing of the shot.

In the upper image, he has been shot from below and framed so that he fills the frame. In this image, he is a very strong-looking, imposing figure. By contrast, the lower image shows a man who seems small. He is literally lower than we are, and therefore appears to be overwhelmed and weak. When used well, compositional differences can add a lot of depth to your story.

Mastering composition requires not only study, but also practice. Great camera operators are able to compose beautiful shots on the fly, a skill that’s crucial for documentary-style shooting. Nevertheless, there are some basic compositional rules that you can learn quickly.

Headroom

One of the most common mistakes that beginning photographers and cinematographers make is that they don’t pay attention. Your brain has an incredible ability to focus your attention on something. If you pay attention to what your brain is “seeing” instead of what your eyes are seeing, you might end up with a shot like the one shown in Figure 7.19.

If you were intending to show a wide shot of the entire scene, then this shot might be okay— boring, but okay. If you were intending to show the person in the scene, though, you’d be better off with something like the image shown in the bottom part of Figure 7.19.

When composing a shot, it’s very important to get in the habit of looking at the image in the viewfinder, rather than looking through the viewfinder at your scene.

The top picture in Figure 7.19 has too much extra space around it—its subject is not clearly presented and framed. If you get in the habit of checking the edges of your frame when you’re composing, then you’ll force yourself to notice any extraneous space that needs to be cropped out.

Lead Your Subject

Composition and framing can also be used to help your audience understand the physical relationships of the people and objects in your scene—to help them better understand the space in which your scene takes place. When you have a single shot of someone speaking, you should usually “lead” them by putting some empty screen space in front of them. For example, Figure 7.20 shows a person talking to another person who is off-frame. If we put the blank space in front of them, we get a much more comfortable sense than if we put the space behind them.

Figure 7.19

Framing with too much headroom is one of the most common compositional mistakes of beginning cinematographers (as shown in the top figure). Less headroom brings more focus to your subject (bottom figure).

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Figure 7.20

By “leading” your subject with empty space, you give your audience a better understanding of the physical relationships of the actors in your scene.