Students of Light

I tried posting the video on the blog directly but it wouldn't show the full box. So, I decided just to post a link to those that want to see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KootR8Z6Hc

I filmed our Cinco De Mayo lunch on Wednesday practicing some focus pulls while playing around with the different settings on the camera. How does this pertain to light? I couldn't just meter the subject and click the settings to whatever works. There's a little more to it and I'm still learning.

While metering is obviously important, there's less room to breathe so-to-speak. Filming in 24 frames per second requires a shutter speed around 1/50 second. Shooting wide open with my lens at f/4 isn't going to give the cinema-like depth of field I've seen compared to f/8. With those two settings, a higher ISO is required which throws noise all into my HiDef 1080p picture.

So, there is a sweet spot that must be found using only ambient light. In retrospect, I should've opened the lens up all the way. But that's what the next video will be for...

-Paul