Designing Visual Effects Shots

As the fundamentals of this project is based off portrait photos, we first needed to be taught how to use a camera. I have my own camera so do have some previous experience, but it was refreshing going over a lot of stuff which I had forgotten.

• ISO: the sensitivity (like sunglasses)
  • higher ISO = more sensitivity = more light
  • a high ISO will also make the image more grainy, whereas a low ISO will appear more ‘clean’

• Aperture: how much light is being let through.
  • Low aperture (open) = more light and shallow DOF.
  • High aperture (closed) = less light and sharper background

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• Shutter speed: the length of time the camera shutter is open
  • If someone is moving fast and you want a clean image(without blur) you want high shutter speed
  • a high shutter speed also allows less light

• Depth of field
  • The closer to the object you are, the more blurry the background will be
  • A closed (high) aperture will allow a deep depth of field

• The light meter tells you how much light is available, can use this to get a clean shot.

To summarise:

• There are also different lenses you can use:
  • Wide angle: can distort facial features
  • standard: natural look
  • telephoto: magnifies the subject and narrows the angle of view.