CHAPTER 2
Lighting Your DSLR Shoot
If the composition, blocking, and camera movement shapes the visual look of your film, lighting determines what the look feels like. No matter your lens choice, proper exposure, and ISO setting, a lack of understanding how to utilize light will destroy your cinematic look. A cinema-like camera will not provide a film look alone. Lighting is your most powerful ally in helping you sculpt a film look. Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC (The Deer Hunter), says that the “type of lighting we use actually creates the mood for the scene.”1
This mood is what you, as the shooter, must try to shape and capture with your camera. It helps provide visual depth to your picture. If you shoot an off-white subject against a white wall, there's ...
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