CAMERA TRIANGLE, BASIC NOTE TO CINEMATOGRAPHY

Cinematography as the Art of motion pictures photography  involving general technical composition of scene, lightening set, choice of Camera, choice of lenes, camera shots, Camera angles and movement Serves as a medium through which words and painted into pictures

Previously on our article👉Mastering the Art of Motion Pictures we talked about filmmaking as the process of telling a story through Audio Visual devices for tv or Cinema also noted with emphasis on working with experience crew and cast to perfectly realise the Visual objective in the process.

In this article we will be looking a section of cinematography, CAMERA TRIANGLE responsible for well expose and recorded shots for pleasurable view. 👉DIRECT ACCESS

CAMERA TRIANGLE

Alot of debates on what's actually responsible for proper image exposures and quality, some seek to get the best industry  cameras others seek to have their Sets more lighten and lastly many at times believe in acquiring best of camera lens

This is where hobbies are differentiate from professionals who understand that neither camera quality, having Sufficient lights and choice of lens doesn't matters but accurate understanding of camera exposure triangle will deliver best exposure even with little amount of physical set lights.

Cinematography is headed by a cinematographer/Director who understands the relationship between this variables that constitutes the CAMERA TRIANGLE

How camera's captures images is not determined by cam quality, sufficient set lights, perfect lens choices which are basic but much more  better results could be achieve when THE CAMERA TRIANGLE is Properly Understood and practice

The camera triangle also known as the exposure circle refers to the ability of putting up and working together with Camera variables that form the basis of exposure

These  Elements  are all dependent on each other for best results. Adjusting one of the three elements will entail an adjustment of another to maintain proper exposure.

Aperture, shutter speed, and ISO are the  elements that controls exposure. However, they also  affects other qualities of  image. Such as Depth of field, Motion blur and Noise

Aperture

The definition of aperture means opening or hole. The aperture of a camera lens is a hole that regulates how much light passes through to the film or sensor.

When the shutter button of a camera is hit, the aperture opens up to a predetermined width and lets in a specific amount of light. Aperture works with ISO and shutter speed to control exposure.

Smaller apertures, like f/16, let in less light. Larger apertures like f/1.4 let in more light.Aperture doesn't affects exposure also  depth of field. 

Small apertures like f/16 create a deep depth of field, allowing more to be in focus. Larger apertures like f/1.4 create a shallow depth of field allowing for a blurred background.

2. Shutter Speed

When the shutter button of a camera is pressed, the aperture opens up. How long the aperture stays open is determined by the camera’s shutter speed. Shutter speed controls how long the sensor of the camera is exposed to light.

Shutter speed are determined in fractions of a second.A shutter speed of 1/60 holds the shutter open for one sixtieth of one second.

 The longer the shutter speed is in time the more light is let in. If it is shorter in time, less light is let in. Shutter speed does not only affect exposure also other visual elements as well. For shutter speed, motion blur is affected

Although modern digital cameras’ shutter speeds do not use a rotary shutter, shutter angles are still a primary means of describing motion blur in an image and how it correlates to frame rate. The most important concept to remember about shutter angles is the 180 degree shutter rule.

The rule simply means that to achieve a natural amount of motion blur in your shot, simply double the frame rate you are shooting at to find your shutter speed. This is also known as a cinematic shutter speed.

3. ISO

ISO determines the sensitive of a digital camera’s sensor which reads the light. ISO refers to a specific film stock’s sensitivity to light. With DSLR cameras, a camera’s sensor can adjust their ISO and sensitivity to light depending on the available light of a shot. 

ISO are measured in ISO values such as 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, etc. A lower ISO value such as 50 makes a camera’s sensor less sensitive to light. A higher ISO value such as 1600 makes a camera’s sensor more sensitive to light.

They might sound like  too good to be true when shooting with limited light. And that is because it is too good to be true. Increasing your ISO to brighten up your shot will come at a cost which will results to  image noise.Image noise is random variation in color information within an image. 

Let's Give an Example Filmming on a  Natural day with much light, there are pros and cons when shooting in an environment with a lot of light, such as  midday exterior shot. 

The benefit would be that you can shoot at your camera’s low native ISO allowing for minimal image noise and a full dynamic range. 

To avoid overexposure in your shot, you need to adjust either your aperture, shutter speed, or both. If you are shooting a still photo, you may want to begin with shooting at a faster shutter speed to cut down the amount of light coming into the camera this will allow you to control the light without compromising your desired aperture and depth of field.

Shutter speed

To maintain a cinematic shutter speed shooting at 24 fps, the shutter speed would be set at 1/48 or 1/50th of a second.

Aperture

The aperture of this scene would need to be as small as possible to cut down the amount of light let in. The depth of field is also deep. Shooting at about an f/16.

ISO

To determine the ISO of this brightly lit shot, we would look at what the native ISO of the camera is else increasing the ISO will results to image Noise.

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