Cinematographer

Director of Photography

Probably a standout amongst the most vital capacities of a cinematographer is to see light and to recall it. The “light memory” for the cinematographer or director of photography is like the melodic memory necessary for a musician.

Light is the most changing component in our day-to-day life. Because we move among strong items and among people who don’t change radically between a day or seven days. Also visually the presence of our ambience and the people around us may change from one hour to the next because of the season of day or the specific source of the light. Cinematographers or directors of photography are extremely careful of these progressions and store in their memory the effect of distinctive sorts of light on our subconscious or our feelings. Some people see the adjustment in the nature of light as the day passes by, while the cinematographer must be as observant as the French impressionist painter. Claude Monet painted the church at Rouen from a similar point at different situations of the day. Therefore it is very common for cinematographers, to spend a whole day observing the variation of light in a given place to be able to reproduce that light on a sound stage.

For a cinematographer, watching the light turns out to be second nature. Regardless of whether in a city garden, a bar, an office place, or in the sea place, the cinematographer will record it in his memory to be reviewed when lighting a comparable circumstance on a motion picture set. It will help in the last assignment of a cinematographer, which is to add to the visual character of the film.

Cinematic mood

First of all, light will increase or decrease the impact of the considerable number of people who make the sets, the makeup, and the costumes.

Furthermore, it is not correct to demand that the cinematographer is absolutely in charge of the visual character of the movie. Even as far as the framing and camera moves, the cinematographer depends particularly on their individual gifts and spirit as to whose thoughts are definitive in the ultimate result. However, lighting is the only area of the cinematographer. Either this is his most clear commitment.

While light can fall on the scene in an assortment of ways, maybe it can make a great number of moods, but the job of the cinematographer is to pick the sort of lighting that will best recount the story. As a result, the angle of light, its luminance power, its quality, and its color temperature, are a part of the paints on the cinematographer’s palette. Shadows are also very important. Seems like it was said by more than one cinematographer: “What you do not see is equally important as what you do see.” So light is there to coordinate the audience’s consideration, the darkness to cheat his imagination.

Especially relevant, as in all expressions there are styles in lighting that differentiate certain periods or certain film studios. For instance, the shiny Hollywood movies of the thirties were taken after by the adapted low-key lighting of film noir in the forties and fifties.

Styles are additionally affected by the identities of the cinematographer and the specialized advances in film stocks, digital camera sensors, focal lenses, and lighting gear. In addition, highly sensitive sensors and faster lenses require less light power.

Consequently, this takes into consideration substantially more utilization of soft or diffused light and practical light sources that create part of the set. In conclusion, this additionally encourages more significant utilization of the available light, for example, in the urban street at night scenes. Finally, a joint effort between the cinematographer and the set designer who gives a portion of the lighting gets to be fundamental.