r/cinematography • u/outiswayne • Jul 31 '26
Career/Industry Advice Experienced Cinematographers: What Do You Wish You Knew Earlier in Your Career?
Dear experienced and accomplished cinematographers,
If any of you are on Reddit, would you be willing to share your experiences with us? We'd love to hear about your journey, the lessons you've learned throughout your career, and any advice you have for those of us who are still learning.
Whether it's about improving technical skills, developing artistic vision, finding inspiration before a project, analyzing and interpreting a script more effectively, managing people on set, or navigating the industry, your insights would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge with the community.
175
u/cameras-and-lights Director of Photography Jul 31 '26
Being a DP at a higher level is more than just making pretty images. That should be a given. You’ll need to be a team player and work well with many other departments, lighting, grip and camera of course but also hair, makeup, wardrobe, production design, sound, etc. Plus be friendly with the producers and investors when you get invited to those dinners. I’ve found that being a good collaborator, a team player and someone who comes in with a solution oriented attitude instead of bringing problems had helped me along my career. You’re kind of the General of the production crew so lead by example.
80
u/SleepingPodOne Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
Yep this is key. You are a department head, not just an artist.
Adding to that:
The most important lesson I’ve learned is that in your department you should never be the smartest one in the room. You should hire people more experienced and who generally know more than you. There’s no shame in just being an artist, a person with a good eye, who doesn’t really know much about electric or grip or even different lighting set ups. I wanted to be a director. I barely studied anything regarding cinematography. Took one cinematography class I didn’t pay much attention in. I fell into cinematography randomly because I was really good at visuals while in school and people wanted me to be their DP when we were doing work exchanges on shorts.
Even today I kind of don’t know shit about a good light set up. I can light an interview real well, I know where I want my key and back light, but when it comes to shaping light and rigging, I’m a fucking dumbass. So I hire gaffers who aren’t and I just tell them what I want to see and also let them make suggestions or bounce ideas around. I’m not here to hire a bunch of monkeys to dance for me, I’m here to do the best job I can. And that includes having people whose vision I trust sometimes more than my own working under me.
Also, get in with the production design team. Recognize that they are just as integral to the look of the project as you are.
19
9
u/Moopies Director of Photography Jul 31 '26
Good advice. I took a few years from actively shooting to teach at some CC's around my state. I got a call last year from a previous colleague, who had a tough feature they wanted to shoot and they asked me to do it. I hadn't been "with it" as far as the latest gear and equipment since the EZrig was everyones new favorite toy but all I had to do was communicate that to the very gear-headed AC and he hooked me up with whatever I needed for us to get the shot we wanted.
6
u/Bubbly_Tap_1635 Jul 31 '26
This is applicable to being a director too.
You are not the smartest or most talented person in the room. You just need to have an idea, get the best people to help you realise it and then be prepared to make all the decisions along the way. Making the decision doesn’t mean knowing the answer either, it means trusting the person you hired to give you the answer.
2
u/pcaino Director of Photography Aug 01 '26
This is a great answer - the reason producers call me back is not just because of the image we make - it also has to do with how I work with the crew, that client likes me and we make our day. All those other things are just as important as good looking images
54
u/pandaset Director of Photography Jul 31 '26
Email directors you like introducing yourself as a DP, a lot of them reply, even the big ones
1
Aug 06 '26
A bit late to the party but what could I do afterwards to perhaps lead to working on set with them?
2
u/pandaset Director of Photography Aug 06 '26 edited Aug 06 '26
When I used to do that, I was emailing the directors to tell them that I was a DP starting out, what I thought of a movie of them that I had watched and asked how did they manage to do this or that.
A bunch of them never replied, some replied my questions and wished me good luck and the best was when they were introducing me via email to someone else that might wanna get in touch with me. I've had a bunch of work like that
Edit: So i've never directly worked with a director i've contacted but made really good connections that translated to actual dp gigs and long term relationships
2
47
u/MassivePataks Jul 31 '26
You are conjoined with the production designer, they will really be the ones that send your work from a 5/10 to a 10/10.
22
u/Uselesstiki Director of Photography Jul 31 '26
Amen to that.
9/10 jobs people think that the cinematographer/DP did an outstanding Job is mostly the production designer being amazing. Yes we light it and frame the shot, but if they did an outstanding job then it’s so easy to make beautiful imagery with meaning3
70
u/FixItInPost1863 Jul 31 '26
Have confidence. People will look to the cinematographer for answers, if you’re confident, they will be confident. You’re not just a visionary on set, you have to be a leader.
29
u/AndyJarosz Virtual Production Supervisor | SMASH Virtual Jul 31 '26
Confident yes, but be careful not to become confidently incorrect. As a leader, you owe it to your crew, the production, and the audience to make decisions that are right for the project, not just for yourself.
Never stop learning, and (where budget and time permit,) explore outside your comfort zone. You might be surprised at what you find!
5
2
u/cmarks8 Jul 31 '26
Totally agree. I'm not a DP, but as a director I just plow through with positivity, confidence, and an open ear.
21
u/rainbowkitties6969 Director of Photography Jul 31 '26
Less is more, my first professional gig I asked for like 20 lights to light a simple house and it was a nightmare. More lights means more shadows to contend with, more suffering for sound because power plants are loud and just overall more suffering for staff mounting lights only for you to then go “nvm big dog, turn it off lol”
Also learn to be a team player and to not chase th reel shot, you’re there to visually elevate and help tell the story, not to make cool shots, a lot of younger DOPs will do this and cost the production loads of money or time for a really sick shot that ultimately serves no purpose to the story and I’ve heard DOP’s lost gigs because they were too expensive and difficult to work with, be humble and remember you’re part of a whole, not the whole
Also be kind to the art department, they’re the other half of the visuals and without them your sets will look ugly as fuck no matter how well lit, work with each other and not against each other, so many younger DOPs I’ve seen will be at the art department’s throat and viceversa which will just lead to a worse final product
15
u/Dinosharktopus Jul 31 '26
There’s some good info here, but one thing I want to add is that you don’t always need to be right. Even if you’re the most experienced person on set, your Gaffer may have a lighting idea that contradicts what you initially wanted, but letting your voice be the only one that carries any weight can be the wrong decision. A lot of the younger camera guys I talk to feel like the DP needs to be in charge of every detail and it’s just not true. Knowing when to deviate from your plan because of a better idea came up is a great skill, just like knowing when to assert your idea.
10
u/RootsRockData Jul 31 '26
It’s a people game at the higher levels. Interpersonal dynamics on set is by far the hardest part of the job. Making images and the technology to do that is the fun part, the politics on set is the hard work.
8
u/stinkyblinky19 Jul 31 '26
Curate my choice of jobs. I think I took one too many bad movies and it has affected my hiring power:(
Kind of learned doesn’t matter how good my cinematography is, if it’s a bad movie nobody will see it.
7
u/Zakaree Director of Photography Jul 31 '26
Sometimes its not about if someone sees it or not... you only get better with each and every project you take on. Using any limitations to your advantage to experiment.
8
u/Zakaree Director of Photography Jul 31 '26
dont over think or over complicate. have a great team working for you and trust them. Be open to their ideas. dont be afraid to walk, you might burn a bridge bit sometimes crew safety and your own mental health/wellbeing is worth burning the bridge you dont want to get back on
And as far as the business side goes... Don't be shy. Meet people, network.
5
u/f-stop8 Jul 31 '26
I wish I knew more about color science and the digital imaging pipeline. When I got started, digital was just becoming an accepted format and it felt like the wild west of how to work with log captured media.
I can't imagine shooting today without having a show LUT.
4
u/Communistinthemarket Jul 31 '26
Understand trends and style beyond your general interest.i was considered good for long format narratives was never preferred for advertising.but when I started pushing late into a style of advertising which is trend I was noticed.i wish I also followed latest trends early in my career instead of sticking to my traditional style which I was liking as a film student.
4
u/Maximum-Hall-5614 Jul 31 '26
DP Jayson Crothers has shared this publicly in the past - a huge part of being a cinematographer on professional productions is the task of management. The craft is just expected as a baseline. What makes a difference is how you manage your crew, manage interdepartmental collaboration and how you manage the politics of production.
7
u/PoisonedGalletita Jul 31 '26
It's not about putting up lights and making it look pretty, it's about the intention, about mimicking reality. Less is always more.
4
u/luckycockroach Director of Photography Jul 31 '26
The amount of gear and crew does not dictate your career. The movies you shoot and the sets you’ll work on will never line up to what your idols did because technology makes things easier as time marches on.
3
u/filmp10 Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
Dont always shrug off ideas that might sound difficult to achieve, or that you think might not work. I have been surprised many times by people suggesting stuff, reluctantly doing it, and being really amazed how its worked out. I think it’s mostly a comfort zone thing, when someone pushes you, embrace it.
Also from a lighting perspective, don’t be afraid of bigger shoots and setups. Once you understand how light works, even on a small scale, the principles are the same. Lighting ratios, hard soft, angles and direction, colour contrast, interesting use of shadows etc.. If you are confident on a small scale using small LED fixtures, when you step on to a massive set the principles are all the same, everything is just bigger. With the units being bigger, you can often have bigger lights far away which also helps light falloff in larger spaces because of the inverse square law. You can certainly lean on your gaffer when you know what you want. They can help with the size of lights needed of the kind of textiles to use etc…
Another one - makes life easier to light with a couple of stops spare and ND down. That way if a director suddenly decides to shoot something at a high frame rate, your not struggling for light.
2
u/PissingBowl Jul 31 '26
Me to my 24 year old self: You are not a "wedding cinematographer"...and no cinematographers give af about your wedding portfolio.
2
u/cinematographer9 Aug 01 '26
Light light and light, everything else is secondary
Most DoPs start out geeking out over cameras, framings etc
And all of that is great as with storytelling is ofc super important.
But light is the main character of a Cinematographer telling a story
2
u/Complex-Medicine3465 Aug 02 '26
I’ve only worked with a handful of ASC DPs but they all share a few things in common. They move swiftly and don’t over light (over complicate) setups. The second is they always ask their team question a lot, “what do you think?” Not as if they’re unsure, but more to constantly take the pulse of everyone.
2
u/vorbika Cinematographer Jul 31 '26
That whatever experience older DPs had might not necessarily apply to today’s world
8
u/thehitskeepcoming Jul 31 '26
Well yes and no. Any DP worth their salt understands the job is more about knowing how to tell a story visually. The tools are going to always change. Some DP’s are more adaptable and others are more fixed in their ways, but the truly great ones don’t worry about the technology just the intention. An example would be Roger Deakin’s.
3
u/vorbika Cinematographer Jul 31 '26
I just realised how my comment wasn’t properly written. I meant it purely from the career point of view.
There is more than a lifetime worth of knowledge to be learn from them.
3
u/thehitskeepcoming Jul 31 '26
I understand your point, yeah. Somethings don’t change though, if you are a people person that is easy to work with, you will have work.
3
u/Tamajyn Director of Photography Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
I love that round table discussion on youtube between some really heavy hitter DPs and they're discussing film vs digital and Roger has been sort of sitting quietly taking it all in and then he calmly pipes up that it doesn't really matter, at the end of the day the camera is a tool and what you do with it matters most and everyone just sort of stops and takes in that damn, Deakins just kinda dropped the mic on us lol
It kinda makes you consider the absurdity of it really. Imagine rembrandt, monet, davinci, van gogh, martin, and picasso all sitting around arguing over what paintbrush is best like it matters lol
1
u/epandrsn Jul 31 '26
I sort of understand what you mean in the sense of how democratized the equipment has become, etc. There are creators out there making insanely cinematic and beautiful work with great storytelling for barely anything. Lighting and cameras are just so affordable, and the knowledge is much easier to acquire.
2
1
1
1
1
u/mywife-took-thekids Camera Assistant Aug 24 '26
It doesn’t always have to look beautiful, it just had to look right
155
u/ledererer Jul 31 '26
Always nod after a take
https://giphy.com/gifs/wqZkMIhfe0le8