Whether watching movies on movie theaters or on streaming services like Netflix, most of the concepts that made movies awesome are still applied these days. In fact, many of the professionals who are doing these have even transcended to become an online tutor to pass the torch to future generations.

With this being said, let us go ahead and talk about the most used and powerful elements in the world of cinematography.

Exposure

Among the things that must be taken into consideration when you are creating a shot is and always be, the exposure. This should be a separate subject from lighting because even though they are closely related, exposure is being controlled by the camera and lighting is controlled by environmental factor.

Say for example that you have a camera and it’s set on auto mode, it’ll try to regulate exposure on its own. You might notice this when you are moving your camera and see the picture to suddenly become washed out or darken. If such happens while you are rolling, it might look jarring in recorded clip. In order to get better control on how the end result of your footage, it is essential to know how to use and set exposure manually.

Composition

The next most vital factor in cinematography will be the shot’s composition. How are separate pieces of the image is prepared and arranged? Are the subjects in center or the side, is it in the foreground or the background?

Composition is more noticeable on the big screen. On a smartphone though, it could be overlooked very easily. When watching on movies, you are likely to notice the extras in distance or to the characters on the edge of frame.

Any talented and experienced cinematographer will be paying attention to how characters are moving throughout the scene and will be adjusting the camera’s position accordingly.

Camera Movement

Your characters might not just be the only thing that is moving in a shot. For every scene, you need to decide whether or not you will use a static or moving camera. But today, after years and years of innovation, you can have cameras that provide remarkable stability that would not even noticed in the shot of the jitters and shakiness when taking it.