Aperture WHAT IS IT? TIPS: This is the opening within the camera lens that controls the amount of • Keep aperture between 2.8 light entering the camera. The wider the aperture is open, the more light - 6 for best results the camera receives. The more you close the aperture, the less light the camera receives. • Set your aperture and leave it, unless you absolutely need Each lens has specific max aperture. The wider the aperture can go, the to adjust more expensive the lens (typically). The aperture is printed on the lens. • Use a larger aperture (2 - 4) This is the max (widest) aperture of the lens. For some of my Canon for a shallow depth of field lenses, this number is 1.8. The lower the number, the wider the aperture. So as I adjust the aperture as I’m using the camera, the numbers will go • Use medium aperture (3 - 6) for filming people/faces from 1.8 to 16 or something higher. The higher number indicates less light entering the camera. CONTROLLING DEPTH OF FIELD Have you seen video where the subject is in focus and everything else in the background is out of focus? We like this because our eyes work in similar fashion and cinema cameras provide this look for movies. We call this “depth of field.” Aperture controls the depth of field we get in the camera. The more light entering the camera through a wider aperture (1.8) provides a smaller depth of field. For example, if you take a video of someone with the aperture completely open (1.8), then you could focus on the tip of their nose and their eyes will be slight blurry because of the depth of field is narrow. If you close the aperture (5.6), your depth of field then becomes larger, thus the same shot focused on someone’s nose will also capture their eyes in focus as well because your depth of field is now larger. 03 Shutter Speed TIPS: WHAT IS IT? The shutter exists behind the lens and is responsible for fast or blurred • Whatever your frame rate motion. In most cases, you will always maintain the same shutter speed is, double your shutter speed: 60 fps - 1/125 depending upon your frame rate. The shutter speed will only increase or shutter speed. decrease based on your frame rate. • Don’t worry about the Example: if your frame rate is 24fps then your shutter speed should be a fraction (1/50). Always look at the denominator. minimum of 1/50. Do not slow the shutter to 1/40. You can increase shutter to 1/60 or a little higher if you need to darken your video. • You can increase your shutter speed to reduce Shutter speed is measured in fractions of seconds, when under a second, light such as the 1/50 above. This means the shutter will fire at 1/50 of a second. • Increase your shutter If you increase the shutter to 1/60 of a second, then the shutter is firing at a speed if you want to reduce quicker rate, which means it has less exposure to light, thus making your motion blur video darker. This is another technique for decreasing light in your camera, although you won’t use this technique as often. 05 ISO WHAT IS IT? TIPS: The image sensor (ISO) is the level of sensitivity of your camera to • Lock in aperture and available light. In particular, you use ISO to increase or decrease the shutter speed, then use amount of light in your video or image. The lower the number, the less your ISO setting to let more light in or reduce light in the sensitive the camera is to the light. A higher number increases sensitivity. camera For example, in daylight you wouldn’t increase the sensitivity from 100 ISO • Aim for using ISO because there’s enough available light. However, let’s say you go outside at between 100 and 1,000 8pm and the sun has set, now you have very little light. You need to • Try not to go beyond 3200 increase the ISO to at least 1,000 to see anything. ISO, otherwise the image quality will decrease and Example: You want to film inside your office where there’s some natural become grainy light but you’re also using your continuous lights. You set your aperture to 4.0 and leave it there. Your shutter speed is 1/50 because you’re filming at 24fps. But maybe it’s still a tad dark. Instead of turning your continuous lights up more and blinding yourself, you could increase the ISO to let more light into the camera. 07 White Balance TIPS: WHAT IS IT? This is the main setting that controls the color of your video. The white • Use the appropriate white balance preset for your balance is set based on main light source of your scene. If the camera’s environment. If it still white balance isn’t set appropriately, then you will either get more orange doesn’t look right, then use or blue in your shot. the Kelvin scale to fine tune. Example: If you have tungsten lights in your office and you don’t adjust • Watch for more orange or blue tints - this means the your white balance for tungsten light, then you’ll probably have very orange white balance isn’t correct tinted video. If you have fluorescent lights, and you don’t adjust appropriately, then you will have more blue tinted video. • Use color to create mood - warmer tones can be Cameras come with preset white balance settings for environments like the inviting and cooler tones can be more corporate following: daylight, shade, cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent, etc. The Canon 5D feeling Mark IV also has a Kelvin scale, which is handy. With the Kelvin scale option, you can adjust the temperature manually. This can be used if you have two different light sources, such as daylight and tungsten, or if you just want to adjust the color to your needs. 09 Frame Rate WHAT IS IT? TIPS: The frame rate is the amount of frames per second that the camera • Keep your frame rate at 24 captures. Most cinema movies you watch are filmed in 24 frames per or 30 fps. Personal second (fps). Most sports are filmed in 30fps. Why the difference? Well, recommendation is to consider that sports are faster moving so we want more frames to capture always use 24fps. the action. When we bump down to 24 frames per second, it appears a bit slower and more cinematic. I prefer 24fps because I like the style more. • Only use 60fps if you plan to do slow motion. Do not use this frame rate for Research suggests that our brains perceive reality at 40fps. Going above interviews or anyone talking this without slowing anything done makes a viewer feel uncomfortable on camera. because it doesn’t feel like reality. • Use 30fps if you want to reduce motion blur There are faster frame rates at 60, 120 and beyond. Many cameras can do 60 and 120fps. These frame rates are reserved for slow motion use. You capture double or triple the amount of frames you need so you can slow the footage down and there aren’t dropped frames. You couldn’t slow 24fps because it produces choppy video (not enough frames). However, you can slow 60fps to 40% and be at 24fps but achieve smooth slow motion. Frame rate and shutter speed both determine motion blur. If you film something fast moving, such as a speeding car, at 24fps and 1/50 shutter speed then you will get some motion blur. However, many of us have come to see this as normal because of the films we watch. If you want to reduce motion blur, then you can increase your frame rate and your shutter speed. 11 Setting your scene & composition Good Lighting Lighting Mixed Temperature Lighting Poor Lighting STEP 1 Assess the room you want to film within. What is the primary light source? If the majority of your light is coming from a window, then you don’t want to put your back to the window otherwise you will have a large silhouette. STEP 2 If you have a window with adequate natural light, either sit facing it (3-5ft from the window) or use the natural light to fill from one side and fill the other side with a continuous LED light set to daylight temperature. If you don’t have a window, then you will need at least two continuous LED lights. STEP 3 Always set up your continuous lights at a 25-30˚ left or right of the direction you’re facing. You need two light sources, either natural light + 1 LED light or 2 LED lights, to properly light your subject and not cast awkward shadows. STEP 4 Balance your color. If you’re using natural light + 1 LED light, then set your LED light to daylight Kelvin (4600-6500K) to balance color. If you’re using 2 LED lights, then set the temperature of each to match, otherwise you will end up with strange color tones. STEP 5 Have your camera set to the desired aperture and shutter speed you need. With your ISO, don’t go beyond 1,000 if you’re setting up and using professional lights. At this point, if your subject and scene are too dark then you need to increase the intensity of the LED light(s).