Why Every Cinematographer Should Spend More Time Practicing Photography

While photography and videography are different, they share many common aspects. Starting with one, and then also learning the other is an excellent idea to improve your craft and potentially open doors for more jobs by becoming more versatile. In a recent video Matti Haapoja released on TravelFeels, he explains to us why he believes shooting stills is crucial for videographers.

Photography is all about telling a story in one frame. There isn’t any movement, transition, or fancy effect to hide the poor technical quality of a picture like it’s possible when shooting a film. Mastering the storytelling part of photography is important for videographers. It will help their composition skills tremendously.

Lighting is another important part of photography, hence the name of the art. A different lighting setup can entirely change what a frame tries to convey. Learning to read and use light correctly is very important. Some people like to start with natural light and grow from there, other prefer artificial sources and then add natural light later on. Find what works best for you, but most importantly try to see light and how it affects different textures and shapes.

Photography is always useful, especially if you are working with social media platforms. You’ll most likely need thumbnails for your YouTube videos, pictures to illustrate your work, or simply a couple of images to tease your followers before releasing your most recent movie. No matter what the case, pictures are never lost. Even simple behind-the-scenes images tend to get followers quite excited about your work, so why not use that to your advantage? 

Additionally, Haapoja takes the time to explain how to improve your photography. But I’m guessing if you are reading Fstoppers, you already know about this part. If not, be sure to watch the video until the end and then look for interesting educational articles on Fstoppers.