Camera
In this chapter you will learn:
- How a camera functions, including its various parts.
- How to control focus and depth of field.
- How lenses work and how they affect the image.
- What color light is.
Consider the experience of watching a stage play from the back of the theater.
Have you ever wished you could crawl onto the stage and move around the actors? What if you could see inside their heads? What if you could become the characters themselves?
Well, with a camera, you can create that experience. And it all depends on how you shoot your project.
Unlike theatre, which is restricted to a wide shot in one location, looking in a single direction, the camera allows you to move anywhere you like. You get to design each shot from any perspective you want. What you place inside the frame or decide to leave out of the frame will determine the cinematic space you create.
A camera allows you freedom to tell a story any way you like.
So, how does it all work?
The human body has essential components that enable us to see the world and interpret what we see in a way that makes sense. Each of these basic components also exists in the camera.
Head
Our head contains all the parts that enable us to see.
In the camera, this is called the light-tight box. Like our heads, this is the housing where the image is captured. It must be “light tight” to prevent light from entering it other than from one direction.
Eyes
The human eye focuses light with the help of a lens and allows it to enter the head through an iris. Depending on the amount of light present, the iris either expands or contracts. This lets in just the right amount of light in order for us to see.
A camera works in exactly the same way.
First, a camera needs a lens—a curved piece of glass or plastic that focuses light into it. This is the mechanism that allows light to enter the camera housing.
Inside the lens, much like inside the eye, is an iris, or aperture, which controls how much light is let into the box. The amount of light that enters the box is referred to as exposure.
Inside the box, the light is separated by a beam splitter into the three primary colors: red, green, and blue (RGB). This is similar to what happens in the retina of our eye.
Brain
Our brain processes the signals sent to it.
In the camera, this function is performed by the image processing sensor. This “brain” converts the beams of light into digital information (binary code).
The camera is essentially a big electronic head with a lens for eyes and a computer chip for a brain. But understanding its parts is the first step toward operating it.
