How to be a CINEMATOGRAPHER (EASILY) | STOP being a videographer.

We all chase it. The cinema camera look. Soft highlights, rich color separation, and a dynamic range that captures every detail, even in the darkest shadows. Thing is, this shot was not captured on a cinema camera, not even with a cine lens. Let me show you what separates a videographer from a cinematographer. So, the scene takes place in a super small space. And therefore, the main challenge was creating a cinematic atmosphere with just minimal gear. Also, I had to make

sure not to flood the whole room with water while filming myself. To become good at cinematography, though, you've got to take control over the lighting first. That means not only using what's already there, but rather what's necessary in order to achieve what we want to create. And by the way, none of the products mentioned in this video are sponsored. I'm just using what I personally own. So, I started with my main light, a very budget friendly Small Rig RC60B, and pointed it not at the

subject, but as a bounce into the top corner of the ceiling that gave me this natural top light feel, almost like a bathroom light, or natural daylight coming from a top window, and it creates this nice gradient across the body. I set it to 3200 Kelvin and I also added a mini softbox with a grid so I could keep the light spill under control. Bouncing the light into the wall as well as using the soft box were the first two factors to make the light fall off really softly

just like in cinema cameras and cinema lenses. Also, this top down angle gives us a natural vignette which I think is really cool. The second light was also a small rig RC60B that I placed diagonally to the key light in the opposite corner of the bathroom ceiling. I used it to fill the whole space in a very subtle way to make sure my camera can capture more detail even in the shadows. I mounted a reflector dish on it and set the color temperature to 6,500 Kelvin.

So much cooler than the key light. So, the background tiles here will be a nice color contrast and therefore color separation to the warm skin. Especially in scenes where not a lot of set design is going on and you have these dull backgrounds, color contrast can really help make the scene feel more interesting. But what makes the scene even more interesting is the water. You see, the water drops on the subject's back only pop because we controlled our light. While the normal bathroom light

shines directly on the back of the subject and therefore doesn't let contrast do its magic, our controlled top light slightly from the side creates this nice contrast and exposure on every line and every drop. Again, if you front light water, it just disappears. If you do it like this, it adds depth and contrast. On the shadow side, I added a negative fill to kill the bounce that occurred from the key light on the opposite wall. It deepens the shadows and therefore creates more contrast. But

the most important thing, we don't lose too much information because of our ambient light. As a finishing touch, I haste the whole space for one reason only, adding more creamy softness in the air. That's especially visible around the edges and the light fall off. All right, let's talk about the look. This entire scene was graded in Final Cut Pro, but you can achieve the same look in any software out there like Da Vinci or Premiere Pro. Now, I'm not saying I'm

a professional colorist, and this is a very quick and dirty grade, but if you like what you see, then follow along. Step one is to convert the log footage into Rex 709. Nothing fancy. I just got the image into a contrasty base with a little bit of saturation. I mean, it still looks pretty desaturated, but that's mainly because of the haze. I then applied Dehenser Pro. And even though this video is not sponsored, I do have a discount code where you can get 10% off if you decide to buy the full

version. Thanks everybody for supporting this channel. So I used the Kodak Vision 3250D as the film stock and added Kodak 2383 as the film print. I also adjusted the expand tool for more contrast. To make the image even filmier, I added some grain to really double down on this movie type of look. Then came halation and bloom to make the highlights glow around the edges and soften the image even more. Even though I got to admit that it's very subtle. Finally, I went

version. Thanks everybody for supporting this channel. So I used the Kodak Vision 3250D as the film stock and added Kodak 2383 as the film print. I also adjusted the expand tool for more contrast. To make the image even filmier, I added some grain to really double down on this movie type of look. Then came halation and bloom to make the highlights glow around the edges and soften the image even more. Even though I got to admit that it's very subtle. Finally, I went

back to the final cut color tools. In the hue versus hue curves, I pulled the blue tones more towards green and dropped the saturation in the hue versus sat curves slightly. Then I shifted the hues of the skin towards orange and bumped up the saturation just to make the skin feel warmer in contrast to the cold walls. That's it for the grade. But let's not forget the camera settings. I shot the scene on my Sony A7S3 with a 1/8 pro mist filter as well as an ND

filter on a 50mm G Master. The settings were SLOG 3S gamma 3 cine, 25 fps, 150th shutter speed, ISO 640, and an aperture wide open set to 1.3. Look at the difference in how controlled lighting and color grading will separate these two images. I mean, we're talking about the same room, the same camera, and the same lens, but only this one was lit and color graded with intention. And that's the difference between a videographer and a cinematographer. Intention. I

mean, even the position of the hand was intentional. If I had placed it slightly more to the left, the white wall would have kept the water streams from showing themselves. also the whole framing slightly to the left as done in the rule of thirds or the anamorphic look that I applied in post. All these aspects are what makes the scene feel like real cinematography. And I think once you understand that it all comes down to your intention, you can basically make

anything look like cinema. I mean, would you have guessed that this was shot on a Sony A7S3 and a normal photo lens? Anyway, I guess I'll see you in the next one. Peace.