Tips for a beginner to cinematography?

[Nina Ong]

I'm actually a beginner trying to get used to filming with my Canon T3i. I've been going places and taking short footages of nature and whatnot, but I really want to go further with that.

 

In the more professional videos I've seen on YouTube, I notice the videos are really steady and nice. Do cinematographers usually carry around tripods for steady shots (I've seen this mostly in the cities)?

 

Anyway, that's just another question added to my question.

 

Do you guys have any tips for me to actually get started? I haven't done much in the past few months and I really want to get going.

 

Thanks!

[Brian Drysdale]

The wild life camera crews always carry a tripod, a good tripod will really improve the quality of your work and a high quality one can outlast your cameras.

 

You can also learn about lighting, which is an important skill for any cinematographer and the one that makes the difference.

[Adrian Sierkowski]

Practice Nina, and do it a lot. As you get more familiar with your camera, controls, what works what doesn't, perhaps you should seek out other peoples who want to make something and get together and try shooting little films, low budget, ect, just for practice.

As Brian mentions lighting is quite important to a cinematographer, as is continuity, that is making shots which were shot out of order appear to flow in time.