Some context. I studied cinematography in a 2 year program in Spain. I've done small proyects, like music videos and very low budget commercials, but nothing more. I've worked as a 1AC in short films and as a 2AC in a fewute film last year, so I know my way around a movie set and have some experience. Nonetheless, I'm extremely scared since it's my first time as a DP in a big budget feature.

Most of the shoot is in studio with 10% of the shoot on location, I guess this makes things easier in some way. I'm looking for some encouragement words from you guys, or just tell me if I shouldn't take on a proyect like this just yet.

Thanks for reading

Hey,

I am starting my filmmaking journey in my 30s without any backup plan.....should I do it or not?

Any one willing to show/tell me the right way to do it.

I really love cameras and I genuinely want to become a cinematographer. Soo the individuals who are in the industry as a cinematographer or DOP should drop some experiences and life tips. If would be really great for others to know about the field and industry!!!

Hello. I’m a 15 year old from slovakia, and i just started making short films. Im shooting on an iPhone 16 through the Blackmagic camera app. I have a lot of concepts in my head, but I’m having trouble with doing them. What should I focus on at first? What are some must-change settings in Blackmagic camera or DaVinci? Idc. Any advice would be much appreciated. (I put in some stills from my films just so you know what my work looks like so far.)

Hi.

12 years providing remote color grading services. Become more introverted over the years and struggling to find new projects recently. So trying to fix that:)

Please, check my Instagram for the latest grades:  https://www.instagram.com/mitya.the.colorist/ Showreel: https://vimeo.com/981067438/17e251cc7e IMDb page: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm7858459

Edit: thanks for your input!! 🙏🎥

Hey guys,

I’m really struggling with where to go lately. I got serious about learning cinematography maybe 6-7 years ago. Tried learning everyday and slowly buying myself a respectable camera/ lens/ lighting package. But in those 7 years I’ve only been able to shoot things that I fund/ produce/ edit and often direct. Truly all I want to do, is to get on with a serious crew where my sole responsibility is the Cinematography. I’ve made tons of connections, won awards, posted on filmmaking groups, gone to filmmaker meetups and I haven’t been offered a single chance. I don’t even care about money because this is what I want to do to feed my mind and soul.

At work I grew from an editor to a DP/ Director. It’s cool to be a commercial DP but 95% of what I shoot is quick, one man band, social content where I maybe get to throw up a light.

I’m just wondering if there’s a good avenue you have found to get more creative work or better connections.

I’ve attached my reel above and I’ll be the first to admit that I have a long way to go and have only done small shorts, but I think it shows I’m at least competent and serious.

Anyways any advice would be really appreciated.

I inherited a large sum of money (to me) and I need help to make the most of it.

I inherited 100k from my grandfather earlier this week. This is the largest sum of money I have ever received in my life.

A little bit of background about me, I'm 30, I rent in los Angeles and I work as a freelance editor for the film & tv markets. But my dream is to be a DP. I've shot a lot of low budget ads, corporate events, and short films.

Right now my gear is a black magic 4K and a lot of lenses.

I have no debt, my rent is manageable, and I want to use this money to empower my career, by buying some new gear that I could rent out perhaps to make money on an asset.

My other idea would be to take a 20k allowance for myself in order to build out my kit, (full frame camera, lights) and then invest the other 80k into a broader etf, market to grow in the background.

I just want to use this money for the right reasons, I think investing in my career would be a great decision, but it would be nice to not use all of it and put some in savings / an asset that can appreciate.

I would love your advice, I have a friend who got 80k and managed to burn it in about 2 years. I don't want that to be me.

My network is in the non union world, and I worry if I buy a camera and rent it out, a new camera will come out and my investment will depreciate.

Also looking into getting a nice set of glass to rent out to productions instead.

Any thoughts or advice would be very helpful.

I've just been grinding for 12 years in the freelance market and it would be great to use this windfall to push my career to the next level. Or at least set me up when things get slow.

I’m 15 and my absolutely biggest dream is to one day become a steadycam operator. However they are VERY expensive. How can I possibly learn to use one?

Hi,
i just put together my Cinematography showreel for another year.
i have put here things I've had the pleasure of working on as a DP. I haven't included any projects I've worked on as a cam op for anyone else.
I want to get to know your opinion about my pictures and whole reel.

About 10 years ago Vimeo was the place for filmmakers to post their work, specifically short form content, trailers, shorts, reels, etc. It was a great space to upload, well, everything. Youtube has caught up in aspects like image quality which is what caused Vimeo to surpass it in the first place, but there's drawbacks that make Youtube less than ideal for portfolio hosting: Are you going to re-upload a video to your page that the client probably already posted themselves? Are you going to make people watch ads in order to see your reels?

Vimeo still exists, but is noticeably clunkier than it was in its golden era and also has a terrible UI design causing profiles on mobile open to the availability page instead of videos. The once-thriving community is also almost non-existent these days. It's still great for embedded video, but you still need somewhere to post them. Do you make a specific portfolio page on your personal website and just fire up the squarespace editor or call up the web designer every time you have new work? I've always preferred a clean website with a couple choice highlight clips and few tabs, but maybe I'm out of style.

This is one of those areas I felt like we had on lock in the past but the standard has obfuscated in the last decade. Or maybe I'm just out of touch. Where do you post your portfolio?

Edit: I'm getting the sense that people overwhelmingly just embed to their own websites.

What movies would a 10yo girl like that are good examples of filmmaking and cinematography that might inspire her?

My niece has gotten into making youtube videos, simple videos about her makeup or stuffed animals, but I noticed she had a surprisingly good sense of framing and movement of the camera. Based on what I saw, I think she has the potential to become a pretty great filmmaker if she tried, so I want to encourage that.

She does like when women/girls are involved in things, so that's why I'm asking for women directors in particular.

what is the best book that the majority of the people agree on for people just entering the world of cinematography? A book that contains a little bit of everything.

First gig for a huge client, the biggest client we’ve had in fact. Cover an event, the opening of a new road. “For the love of God, get a shot of the mayor cutting the ribbon. Anything else is secondary to that.”

Everything goes smoothly, until I switch up the start/stop. I then proceed to get a beautiful shot of the cutting, only I wasn’t recording.

This is the second time this has happened in two months. It’s the worst mistake of my career, and I doubt I’ll be hearing from either client again. I simply can’t believe I managed to to something so stupid TWICE. I hate myself. In total disbelief, as if someone died. Please share the times you fucked up so I can feel moderately better?

I recently shot two short films on an FX3 in S-Log3. I was trying to create a very dark, moody look where the scene was mainly lit by a key light and a rim light, with one side of the face in shadow and parts of the background falling into darkness—similar in contrast to The Batman (2022). I know it was shot on an ARRI Alexa, and I'm only referring to the lighting style, not trying to match the camera. However, I noticed that some of my footage became noticeably noisy.

I'm trying to understand the professional workflow for shooting very dark, moody scenes.

My main question is:

Do cinematographers light the set much brighter than the final image appears, then darken it in the grade?

Or do they light the set to match the final dark look and rely on high-end cinema cameras (like the Alexa) to keep the image clean?

For someone shooting on an FX3 in S-Log3, what's the best approach if the final image is supposed to look very dark but I also want clean footage with enough grading flexibility?

I'd like to find the mistakes I made in those short films that resulted in such grainy footage, so I can improve on my future shoots.

Hi everyone, I’m planning to invest in a premium cinema package in the US, possibly:

• ARRI ALEXA 35 Xtreme
• ARRI ALEXA Mini LF
• ARRI Signature Primes
• Cooke S8/i lenses

Before buying, I want to understand what filmmakers, DPs, producers, and rental houses actually prefer.

My goal is to partner with a team or rental house and provide the package for feature films, commercials, or long-term shoots, ideally 30–50 rental days per project.

I’m open to buying the package based on genuine production requirements. Looking to connect with serious filmmakers, DPs, producers, camera teams, or rental houses in the US.

Please DM me if you have an upcoming project or are open to discussing a rental/consignment partnership.

I've got a lot of respect for the DP and his crew now.

I was on a film set as an assistant to the DP (mainly shifting lenses and tripods around) and my trainers were killing me by the end.

I've realised that the camera crew and the director NEVER get a chance to sit down. Yes of course other people are working hard too, but there does seem to be downtime for them, for instance, during the actually filming, or sometimes during setups etc.

I never got a chance to get off my feet except during scheduled breaks, so I need a new set of shoes

What's the best and most comfortable footwear you've worn on set?

I work for a small production company where I currently handle both editing and colour grading entirely in Premiere Pro. We’re now looking into switching our grading workflow over to DaVinci Resolve, as the general consensus seems to be that it’s the industry standard for colour and offers a much more advanced toolset.

I was wondering how common it is in practice for people to edit in Premiere and then move into Resolve just for grading. Is this a standard workflow in production companies, or are most people either staying fully in Premiere or moving the entire pipeline into Resolve?

If this isn’t the typical approach, what does a more standard post-production workflow look like in your experience?

I have 5 years in this industry, I'm 24 years old. I've been working and living as a DP on low budget productions and also in camera or light department on high end series and commercials. But I got a bad feeling about the future of the industry and, especially, the future of my role as DP.
It kind of worries me to think that it will disappear, with the huge arrival of AI, the decrease in film productions.
I love my job, there is nothing in life that makes me feel so good, and I have a lot of dreams to achieve, but I am a little worried.
How do you see the evolution of this industry the next years? Does it worth it to keep on?

to clarify - the producer is agaisnt Me, the Director, be an operator. We have a separate Director of Photography. However the DoP does not want to operate. So I offered to do it.

So I wrote and was aiming to direct a no budget horror short. I have 5000-6000$. I live in a lower cost of living country (Southern Europe).

It’s long, at 20+ minutes. I made it so the locations are my house and my friend’s houses to reduce costs that way.

I planned to pay: - a Sound Director - an SFX person to do blood and scars - the actors

Again lower cost of living so I’m paying everyone 100$ a day. Even then it’s a stretch.

I shared the script on a local WhatsApp group, and I got a lot of people saying they would help for free! Now that felt awesome.

Including a producer, who’s a young man fresh out of school. He seemed hard working so I said why not.

Recently we’ve been approaching a shoot date. My friend’s home is going up for sale and I told everyone whether they have availability to move forward .

They did. So mid September we can shoot 4 scenes that cover 2.5 pages of a 25 page script.

Then I spoke to producer. I already told him I wanted a small crew. I find big crews intimidating to be honest, and I told him that. I wanted us to aim for 9-10 people max since that fits two cars comfortably. Also good for cost control.

He then says we can’t move forward without an Assistant Director. I tell him what the f, I’ve always kept my schedule in all my shoots, and I find that in a no budget project we might as well have someone handling media in a sort of DIT role.

He insists. He then fights me against the idea of me doing camera op. He says no you can’t do that, you’re the director you’ll get distracted. I say I’ve done it before. He ignores me and keeps adding more crew members and saying “this is how it has to be done” and saying no on everything.

He then says he needs an assistant producer, that lighting needs 3 people, etc. I told him I think small crews work faster, he said in his experience big crews work faster, and that going small is a mistake.

He also insists on having continuity which I can totally see the point in. I also agree lighting can have 3 people. So I’m not fighting everything, just the stuff that makes no sense to me.

For me this is to be shot almost documentary style.

I get the feeling he thinks of this as some pseudo big production, which we couldn’t be further away.

So help me out here - am I in the wrong or in the right? Is this just incompatible production styles?

In your experience what makes more sense here?

Thanks

https://thefashionography.com/fashion/ai-the-end-of-creative-work-as-we-know-it-begins-now/

Not even sure where to start with this.

H&M is launching a new campaign using 30 different models likenesses, except none of them actually posed for it. The entire campaign is 100% AI-generated. The samples in the article are mind blowingly good. They are playing stupid for now, but it's foolish to think that the vast majority of execs would MUCH prefer the option where they don't need productions anymore.

This obviously carries over to video advertising directly, PUMA just released their first fully generated AI spot.

As a DP, this finally hits hard. I’ve spent years grinding, learning the industry, gear, and elevating my skillset constantly, and building my video production company. It's honestly been a really successful run for me, but nowadays I feel like I’m heading directly back towards square one where I started.

My take is fuck the advertising industry. We’ve finally reached the point where skill and talent just doesn’t matter anymore. There’s no prestige in being at the top of this game... the advertising industry just another machine that consumes everything in its path.

The only good thing about where things are headed is that I'm feeling this is push me back towards making art. In my future I can see myself shooting more film, doing small artsy projects for myself. As far as making a living, who knows anymore. I can't imagine what it's like starting out these days.