Camera Workshop 1

 Camera Workshop 1

Today our media class participated in a introductory camera workshop where were shown how to set up a tripod and camera and how to create a clean looking shot, and how we would achieve this in different lighting scenarios.

Initially we were shown the box the camera came in and the bag with the tripod, once we opened these up we could clearly see the camera, battery and tripod. Specifically the name of the camera we used was the Black magic 4K mini URSA, this camera is delicate and must be handled with care, to make sure it is handed from person to person with no issues the person receiving the camera must say 'mine' once the weight of the camera is passed to them, the person giving the camera over must say 'yours' once the weight of the camera has been
transferred from them.

When using the tripod you need to make the top base for the camera is flat before your place the camera upon it; to do this you need to untwist a screw beneath the base and retighten it when the 'spirit level' is in the perfect, that is when the white dote is in the centre of the yellow circle on the side of tripod. For the tripod in general you must not force things to move if they don't want to otherwise the tripod can break and also to try and figure out why something may be stuck because there is often a simple solution, this happened to me when packing up the tripod as stand would slide back into its compact position but in the end the leg structure of the tripod just needed to be held in the correct place in order slide into its tucked in position.

When using the camera you need to decide what you want in the shot to be in focus, once you have figured this out you must zoom into your chosen subject with the zoom dial at the front of the camera lens and then focus it with the focus dial which is slightly further back from the zoom dial, once the focus is adjusted you can zoom out according to your preference. When capturing a shot of a person your should focus on their eyes because it is the most detailed part of the human body and it is where people specifically tend to look at when viewing a person.

One very specific setting we were shown which was very interesting to me is the white balance, it is the setting which adjusted the 'tint' of the shot which is affected by the hue of the lighting in a given space, for example sunlight has a slightly blue hue because of the blue sky so can be adjusted to normal by adding a slightly warm tint. These settings are shown on the camera touch screen and can be adjusted by touching the icon which represents the type of lighting you are in.

Once we came to the end of the workshop we were told to 'strike the kit' which essentially means to pack up the kit, and in a very neat way to make everyone's lives easier once your unpack the kit later to use it again.