About a year ago, I made a purchase of a Canon 7D DSRL for the specific use of filmmaking. Having never previously studied stills photography; some of the settings and uses of the cameras were slightly alien to me. Now, from this point on I could have purchased a photography book and began to work my way through different exercises in order to accommodate myself with the new equipment - however I decided instead to use more specific video tutorials (as I have previously done in making a Snorricam) as a guide.
As I began searching through different instructions and tutorials I came across a video series on YouTube produced by Canon Australia, created for the specific use for those new to the DSLR. What the series does is provide a basic introduction to both the photography and videography capabilities of the Canon DSLR's. Now, months latter, I have decided to list and annotate a few of the videos below which I found particularly helpful.
The first video posted above is an introduction to basic photographic camera settings. With an exploration of the likes of ISO that defining how sensitive the camera is to light, to shutter speed, which when placed highly will give a smother look and in photography stills can be used to freeze motion. And finally aperture, defining how much light is let into the camera; which in-turn controls the images depth of field.
In this second video you can begin to learn how these elements can be put to use together; how they compliment each other and how to use to use them to their full potential. A lot of the same subjects as in the previous video are revised again but with slightly more information for practical application.
Into the third video the subject changes to that of depth of field. Depth of field is controlled by how wide or closed the aperture is set on the camera. A small aperture gives the image a shallow depth of field and can be used to highlight and draw attention to a particular subject in frame. But when the aperture is closed or made smaller, this creates what is known in photography and filmmaking as deep depth of field. As apposed to shallow depth of field, deep depth of field gives the impression that all subjects within the frame are in focus. This can be used to show wide glistening landscapes or to show the equal importance of all the subjects within the frame.
Overall the series is mostly aimed at photographers, but thats not to say that their isn't any benefit to filmmakers and videographers alike. There are many tips in these videos which cross over into filmmaking as well, but overall the series became much more photography centric as it went on.
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