--- title: Cinematography description: Cinematography is the art and craft of capturing motion pictures on film or digital media. You will understand how to manipulate lighting, camera angles, lens choice, and camera movement to support narrative storytelling and establish the visual tone of a film. category: arts-design subcategory: video-production difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/cinematography --- # Cinematography Cinematography is the art and craft of capturing motion pictures on film or digital media. You will understand how to manipulate lighting, camera angles, lens choice, and camera movement to support narrative storytelling and establish the visual tone of a film. ## Available Resources 3 Books • 1 Courses • 2 Websites ## Websites ### 1. American Cinematographer The American Society of Cinematographers' official site and magazine archive, with shot-by-shot breakdowns of how features and series were lit and photographed. Readers pick up working vocabulary and see how professional DPs justify their choices. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://theasc.com/ **Tags:** cinematography, lighting, film-production, asc, camera-work ### 2. cinematography.com Cinematography.com is a professional community and resource site for cinematographers. It offers active forums, articles, gear discussions, tutorials, and industry news focused on cameras, lighting, lenses, and film production techniques. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://cinematography.com **Tags:** websites, arts-design, video-production ## Courses ### 1. Roger Deakins MasterClass Learn cinematography from legendary DP Roger Deakins! Master visual storytelling with practical skills in lighting, composition, and more. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.masterclass.com/classes/roger-deakins-teaches-visual-storytelling **Tags:** cinematography, visual-storytelling, lighting, composition, camera-movement ## Podcasts ### 1. The Cinematography Podcast **Author:** The Cinematography Podcast The Cinematography Podcast is the program about the art, craft and philosophy of the moving image and the people who make it happen. Your job title doesn't have to be cinematographer to be featured on the show. We interview a wide variety of filmmakers including, actors, directors, producers, production designers, editors, storyboard artists and those in related filmmaking careers. This is not a film school, more like a professionally produced radio program found on NPR, each episode brings an interesting perspective to an often overlooked and widely misunderstood craft. Recorded in Hollywood, California at the world headquarters of Hot Rod... **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** en | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.camnoir.com/news/ **Tags:** cinematography, filmmaking, interviews, camera-department, film-industry ### 2. No Film School **Author:** No Film School Podcast from the No Film School website featuring interviews with screenwriters, directors, cinematographers, editors and producers, plus news on cameras, lighting and filmmaking apps, helping independent filmmakers understand craft decisions and build careers in film and television. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** en | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://nofilmschool.com **Tags:** filmmaking, cinematography, screenwriting, independent-film, film-industry ## Youtubes ### 1. Every Frame a Painting **Author:** Tony Zhou, Taylor Ramos Roughly thirty video essays by editor Tony Zhou and animator Taylor Ramos analyzing how specific directors stage, frame, and cut scenes. Published 2014 to 2016 with three further essays in 2024. Most run under fifteen minutes. The best free resource for learning to see directorial decisions in finished films, the skill a beginner most lacks. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.youtube.com/@everyframeapainting/videos **Tags:** film-analysis, video-essays, film-directing, film-editing, cinematography ## Books ### 1. Cinematography: Theory and Practice **Author:** Blain Brown A film-school textbook covering lens choice, exposure, lighting setups, camera movement and the grammar of coverage. Working through it gives you the technical reasoning behind shot decisions rather than presets to copy. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0240805003?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, arts-design, video-production ### 2. The Filmmaker's Eye **Author:** Gustavo Mercado Analyses roughly a hundred individual shots from well-known films, breaking each into its compositional and lens decisions. After it you can look at a frame and name why it was constructed that way. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0240812174?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, arts-design, video-production ### 3. The Five C's of Cinematography **Author:** Joseph V. Mascelli A 1965 classic organised around camera angles, continuity, cutting, close-ups and composition. Dated on equipment but still the clearest explanation of screen direction and how coverage cuts together without confusing the audience. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/187950541X?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, arts-design, video-production --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/cinematography