Practical Workshop 1

Camera and Tripod

Tripod set up:

To set up the tripod there are 3 levels and 3 legs to rase the tripod you start form the bottom and work your way up. You have to turn the clips at each level to lock them in, when setting up the tripod for a shot you have to make sure that the tripod is at the same hight as the subject you are shooting.  

They camera comes with many different functions to make sure the shot is level one of these functions is the spirt level this makes sure that the camera is level, the way you use this is by a technique called bubbling you and screw the bottom part of the tripod that the camera is own and move is around until the bubble is in the middle of the level. To put the camera on the tripod there are 2 key things that you have to do first there is a button on the side that you push in to retract the metal clip this allows you to slide the camera in when the camera is in the centre of the tripod you go to the other side of the tripod and turn the lever to hold the camera in place, you then wiggle the camera to check that it is secure. You do this before you bubble the camera. The next step is adding the tilt and pan leaver this is and handle that allows you to move the camera around. To allow the camera to tilt and pan there are 2 separate switches one allows you to tilt, and one allows you to pan, however you must make sure that the switches are lose before you move the camera as they are on springs, and they will slowly ware down and won't work anymore.  

The camera that we used was a black magic camera, we also learnt how to carefully pass over the camera this is called to ‘mine and yours’ rule this is where when you are handing over the camera if the full weight of is with the person that you are passing it to you say yours and they say mine so you both establish who has it you can let go. This prevents the risk of dropping the equipment.  

It is essential that you focus the camera to the subject is clear, to do this you zoom in far into the persons eyes or to object that you want to focus on. You then use the focus wheel to put them in focus and then zoom out, you have to do this with each shot set up to ensure they will be in focus. When you have done this, you can move on to adjusting the white balance and the lighting within the shot. When you are shooting outside you have to adjust the light to the blue light that comes with being outdoors and sometimes In front of windows. Another type of light is indoor light it has a orange tone. These are pre-sets that you can use and adjust accordingly.