The beauty of cinematography is that a lot of the requisite skills are practicable in your own home. In this video, watch as a professional cinematographer creates a high-end shot in his own house, walking you through every step.
Spenser Sakurai is an experienced cinematographer who can consistently create great looking footage. As I have said time and time again, watching behind-the-scenes videos of photographers and videographers who create better work than you, is the best way to learn without your camera in your hands. The gains are compounded when the person conducting the shoot walks you through every step too.
Self-portraits are a popular and somewhat revered niche of portraiture for learning everything from lighting and retouching to posing and camera settings. Many of the best portrait photographers swear by this route for when you don't have a model at your disposal, but it's a topic that gets covered less frequently with video, despite the principles being largely the same. Practicing cinematography at home can be done in many ways, but self-portraiture is just as powerful with video as you can see with this tutorial. Nobody ever has to see the final product if you would rather they didn't, but the knowledge you gain can be invaluable for future shoots.
Do you practice cinematography at home? What do you find to be the most effective way?
