a good cinematography book?

I

inaboxjack

Just bought the american cinematographers handbook (supposedly the 'bible' of cinematography). Seems like a good book, only problem being I can't understand most of it. I've just bought a beaulieu r16, and haven't shot film before but want to start now.

The book seems to assume prior knowledge of the subject. Is there any books out there that will teach me, in simple terms, what everything means. I'm a little confused by all the different film stocks, lens specifications, light specifications, general details that seem to consist of numbers and symbols and all kinds of convoluted terminology!

I don't want to become and expert cinematographer, but i'd like to have a good knowledge of what the cinematographer does and how to shoot decent footage using my own camera myself, and so on...

cheers for reading people :)

Jack
 
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technical bits mostly. But if there was one that covered both that would be of benefit.

Just want stuff explained in english so i can understand the basic principles and techiniques.

Know of anything?

Cheers :)
 
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The technical stuff is all going to assume some prior knowledge. You can find alot online - here are some keywords for the google monster:

lighting
exposure
iris
photography
camera blocking
focus

Really, once you learn exposure and focus, you can operate any camera. Those are the bits that make an image "technically" good. After that, it's the artistic stuff:

Framing
screen direction
relative exposure/ contrast ratios
portrait lighting
-3-point lighting
-butterfly
-rembrandt
-short lighting
-broad lighting
-soft vs. hard light

The technical side is really easy (if you ignore all the terms and just learn the technique of focus and exposure), the artistic side is the part that people spend lifetimes trying to master.

get a cheap camera (video or still) and take pictures/ video... that will be where your learning happens... then start reading the books and the terms will have a context that will let them make more sense to you.
 
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