(Part 3) Top products from r/cinematography

favorites on my shelf:

 

"Masters of Light" by Schaefer and Salvato

A serious wealth of knowledge. Its focused in chapters on individual Dps. really really a great resource.

 

"Film Lighting: Talks with DPs and Gaffers" by Malkiewicz

Pretty good. a bit basic BUT good concepts inside. Good info from good working cinematographers.

 

and i will second /u/peterpeterpeter on "New Cinematographers" by Alex Ballinger. Great new (well, 15 years old now) people working with interesting ideas. Great pictures.


 

I personally really want to read Almendros' book next, as /u/cikmatt suggested.

I haven't really needed to read any of these recently, so there might be better ones out now, but here are some ideas:

Cinematography: Theory and Practice: https://www.amazon.com/Cinematography-Theory-Practice-Cinematographers-Directors/dp/0240812093

ASC Manual: https://store.ascmag.com/product-p/10110.htm (this is more of a reference but I think you can learn a lot if you comb through it with your unlimited time :) )

Motion Picture and Video Lighting: https://store.ascmag.com/product-p/10110.htm

The Camera Assistant's Manual: https://www.amazon.com/Camera-Assistants-Manual-David-Elkins/dp/0240810570/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1522612793&sr=8-3&keywords=the+camera+assistant%27s+manual&dpID=51o7uMqwzZL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
(the stuff in here is important to know when working your way up, but also how to conduct your self on set and the tools of the trade for professionals)

and really anything on Focal Press is great, as far as I've seen. You might also read books about VFX producing (for background when working with FX) and perhaps books on color grading and storyboarding.

And if you are interested in writing, Stephen King's On Writing is great.

This is a great book for learning color correction. It's not cheap, but it's dense. Lots of great stuff. I know the guy who wrote it, he's very sharp.

The biggest thing is to learn to color in an adult, mature way instead of like a teenage girl trying on makeup for the first time. There's a time and place for crazy looks, but the best looks are generally more sophisticated than over-the-top. They're obviously looks, but they don't call attention to themselves to the point where you're wondering if the colorist was drunk or high when they did the work. They enhance the story instead of putting on their own show.

I bought them. Netflix and such doesn't have the bonus tracks. Normally you'd have to check the back of the box to look at the bonus includes. Trust me, they are worth watching again every couple of years. The great thing is hearing how the director, cinematographer and set design work together to create a emotional mood for a scene or as subtext for a scene. Mind blown.

https://www.amazon.com/Three-Kings-Snap-Case-Packaging/dp/B00003CX74/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1510156855&sr=8-1&keywords=three+kings+dvd

You can do it with a hand dimmer.

Get a 650w dimmer, wire it in line with the socket. Done.

You can also get a “Magic Gadget” flicker box. Most rental houses have them.

Something like these https://www.amazon.com/Dimmable-Halogen-Candelabra-Chandeliers-Lighting/dp/B07RZQ5W71

Get a candelabra socket, some zip cord and go to town.

Hand dinners are available at most home improvement stores.

PSA don’t touch the glass part, especially when lit. Might be hot ish.

Off the top of my head, a few books/resources that I found helpful/inspiring:

• Cinematography (Screencraft Series)
  
  
• FilmCraft: Cinematography
  
  
• A Man With a Camera (already recommended it to a different person on this subreddit)
  
  
• The Visual Story: Creating the Visual Structure of Film, TV and Digital Media (not strictly about cinematography, but great resource for learning visual "rules", in order to know how to break them later)
  
  
• David Mamet: On Directing Film (yes it's about directing, but Mamet also focuses on what's important about the story and how to tell it.)
  
  
• American Cinematographer subscription
  
  
  Also, watch (a lot of) films multiple times, pay attention how stories are told visually, analyze them and figure out what works and what doesn't work (for you).

This book has some really great advice, highly recomend it :) https://www.amazon.com/Production-Assistants-Pocket-Handbook/dp/143575624X

Thank you for the suggestion! BTW, what do you mean by manipulation? Is that like the complexity? Like number of lights, unusual lenses (e.g. tilt shifts), filters etc.? Or is it a specific terminology.

I've just been making my way through the content from Aputure, Cooke Optics, Rocket Jump, Every Frame a Painting, on YouTube. In terms of books I've been reading this, this, this and this, and look forward to reading this and this.

Do you think there are any key books I am missing? I saw this book which might be more applicable to where I will likely find myself after I finish my course.

This is a great starting point.

I'm very new to lighting and your post has convinced me to get two 2ft T8 Quasars (the $45 ones) and some gels to begin experimenting, so thank you for that!

Two quick questions: When you say dimmer, would something like this suffice? Also, would I need to buy one dimmer for each Quasar? I plan on just gaff tapping each of them to walls/surfaces as need be. Also, do I need to buy an external cable of sorts that's long enough to connect the Quasar to an outlet? Or will a dimmer (like the one I linked for example) be enough for that?

Apologies if these are dumb questions but I've tried finding this info online but can't find any concrete answers.

Maybe start by reading the classics ?

https://www.amazon.com/1984-Signet-Classics-George-Orwell/dp/0451524934/

https://www.amazon.com/Fahrenheit-451-Ray-Bradbury/dp/1451673310/


https://www.amazon.com/Brave-New-World-Revisited/dp/0060535261/

The last on the list (and the most important one ! ) is also being developed to series:

https://www.denofgeek.com/us/tv/brave-new-world/279249/brave-new-world-tv-series-usa-network

For movies themselves, this ones are one of the more obvious choices :

https://www.amazon.com/Children-Men-Blu-ray-Clive-Owen/dp/B001YV502C/

https://www.amazon.com/Gattaca-Blu-ray-Ethan-Hawke/dp/B00E3PP9MM/

https://www.amazon.com/Blade-Runner-DBFE-BD-Blu-ray/dp/B07CNC399C/


https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Metropolis-Blu-ray-Brigitte-Helm/dp/B0040QYROK/

I'd start with coffee table books. That's the closest I can think of.

I'm a fan of this beauty.

Man With a Camera by Nestor Almendros.

I learned from Reflections and
The Grip Book.

https://www.amazon.com/Filmmakers-Eye-Learning-Cinematic-Composition/dp/0240812174/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502971148&sr=8-1&keywords=filmmaker%27s+eye

https://www.amazon.com/Visual-Story-Creating-Structure-Digital/dp/0240807790/ref=pd_sim_14_10?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0240807790&pd_rd_r=C197QEE8EMEY1KGN3N2E&pd_rd_w=PKzWC&pd_rd_wg=vF29K&psc=1&refRID=C197QEE8EMEY1KGN3N2E

https://www.amazon.com/Cinematography-Directors-Guide-Creative-Collaboration/dp/1932907556/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1502971260&sr=1-10&keywords=cinematography

First.

>like SO many script writers do

Second.

Shawshank Redemption

Inception

Jaws

In The Dark