How Cinematographers Set Their Exposure

Exposure is determined by six factors: the sensor’s sensitivity or ISO, the shutter speed, the lens’ aperture, the frame rate, ND filters and of course the overall amount of light in the scene that is being photographed. Let's take a look at how cinematographers expose.

MERCH:

SOCIALS:

GEAR:

MUSIC:
Steven Beddall - 'Birds Eye View'
Flint - 'Through Valleys'
Mansij - 'Furry Melodies'
Kicktracks - 'Fat Banana'
Tankestrom - 'Be Still The Earth'
Chill Winston - 'The Truth'

0:00 What Is Exposure?
2:38 How To Find The Right Exposure
5:47 Skillshare
7:02 Exposure Tools
10:11 Controlling Exposure
12:58 Conclusion

DISCLAIMER: Some links in this description are affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with these links I may receive a small commission without an additional charge to you.

Thank you for supporting my channel so I can continue to provide you with free videos!

[Lensman]

Invest in a light meter and less important color meter if you can afford it. If you are shooting stills (applicable to film) without question learn the Zone System (Ansel Adams/Fred Archer) which, with practice and experience, you can apply to your in camera meter for virtually flawless exposures. Learn to visualize in B&W tones. You will never regret it. I learned the Zone System when I was first starting out and I've had my Luna Star F for over 30 years. Do not trust your on camera screen no matter how good you think it is. Also learn how to read the scopes. Above all learn about your tools and how they work and the rudiments of photographic theory if you want to grow as a photographer. Very nice video.

[photorooster]

The more experience you have the faster finding your exposure becomes. This is why its good to start shooting day one when you get your camera out of the box. Take note of your settings and shoot away. It's just a digital recording so lather rinse repeat, shoot evaluate then erase and keep honing your skill.👍

[flipnap]

I bought a 16mm film camera and started shooting footage. amazing how on film you can easily over expose and still have plenty of latitude, where as digital is the exact opposite.

[executerdelta]

I think it’s also important to say to try to use the native ISO value as much as possible to get the least amount of noise and the highest dynamic range the camera is able to capture!

[traviswallace]

The indebted help this channel has been to so many filmmakers across the world is one that deserves the highest appreciation. Thank you, team.

[davidmultimedia]

Excellent video! It is important to mention that the ISO itself doesn’t affect the actual exposure of the sensor.. but using it forces you to under or overexpose the sensor, resulting in DR shifting. You should see it like this : Base ISO = Normal exposure (with more or less the same amount of DR above and under middle grey). As soon as you set the ISO "under" the base value, you are then adjusting the other true exposure parameters accordingly, so it tricks you to “overexpose” your sensor (shifting the DR towards the shadows). When setting the ISO “above” the base value, you are monitoring the image with added gain, so it will trick you to “underexpose” the sensor (shifting the DR towards the highlights). When shooting RAW, ISO does absolutely nothing to your footage (just a monitoring tool), but it will affect how you’ll set the true exposure parameters (Aperture, Shutter angle, ND filters, and of course the actual light control).

[perrinmedia]

Clear, precise, in depth information. Thank you. I value the work you put into this channel.

[devomk]

I'v never heard more simplistic explanation of the things that i wanted to start with.

Sir, you just deserved +1 subscription

[kiribundi]

The one thing that might have been useful is how a DIT can create a LUT that makes everything darker while preserving the highlight levels. That allows the cinematographer to properly shape the shadows and to avoid underexposure.

[AuspiciousOncologist]

These videos are a super helpful primer! Very well edited, to the point, and informative. Have gleaned a ton of useful info I otherwise might have had to learn through trial and error.

[cllgscreative]

Damn, I know all of this stuff but didn't know how to use it. Especially the bit about stopping down to an exposure you like then calculating NDs to get there. It almost like I've been using a flathead to pry things open without realizing it's a screwdriver as well.

Thanks homie!

[NuparthChaudhry]

Your videos are amazing, in depth yet easy to understand, I've come across a gold mine, please keep creating videos

[yetanotherbassdude]

Fantastic video! Really useful to have the whole process broken down step-by-step like this, and I never knew about the false colour imaging software but it looks really useful! One thing I'd add from my experience with shooting stills on film is that, at least with most negative film stocks (as opposed to positive slide films), they do indeed handle overexposure really well as you said, but conversely they also handle underexposure *much* worse than most digital sensors. Film emulsions need a minimum amount of light hitting them to record any information at all, so any areas of the image below this threshold will be blank, just like clipped highlights are with digital sensors. That means you have to completely reverse the way you light and expose for film when compared to digital and always be erring on the side of overexposure and exposing for the shadows rather than the highlights as you would with digital. Definitely worth bearing in mind for anyone starting to work with film after working entirely with digital previously. It definitely caught me out when I started experimenting with film!

[mrdfwproductions]

Seriously thank you for making this video. It helped me understand the reasoning behind lighting for different results.

[rodroyo]

Thank you for thr video. This is one of the most important basic videos to be seen for all aspiring cinematographers that are being trained online. Great work. Its perfectly and clearly explained. Regards from Palma de Mallorca.

[rajatbanerjee]

Extremely crisp with elaborations done in the most convenient way ..

[untraditionalfilms]

As always love the videos. So informational and comprehensible.

[killderrodrigues]

Bro, thanks for this vide, it was so easy to understand with this very clear explanation.
Please, do not stop doing this content, will be helpfull to teach all of us get great results as filmmakers!

[elsiadajew]

Truly from the bottom of my heart I thank you for this video! You've helped a lot! <3

[saif_visuals]

Great video, I like how you told the nd filter exposure thing at the last!