Camera work - (Pull Focus, ISO, Shutter Speed)

Pull Focus Technique

First impressions of using a camera we were asked to do a Pull focus, a standard pull focus is a creative camera technique in which you change focus during a shot. Usually this means adjusting the focus from one subject to another. The shot below begins focused on the plant in the foreground, then adjusts focus until it is sharp, both shots show a shallow depth on field. 

Why we use the Pull Focus technique?

The pull focus technique enables you to switch the focus of your shot from one subject to another. Used skilfully, it's a time-tested way for the videographers to pull viewer's attention from one item in a scene to another, or from one person to another during dialogue. 

Below are two examples of two obvious pull focus shots, they can be used in films which sometimes viewers can be unconscious to as we just follow the main focus. But they are clearly shown here to have a shallow pull focus which creates a significant effect in showing a main focus to the audience.

In the task we were asked to do was to get evidence of a pull focus, being this was the first time I'd used a camera you can see as I progress onto better pull focus shots throughout the lesson in which we were taught how to do them.

This was the first attempt at a pull-focus in which I did, in this shot I decided to write the word pull focus on paper and then significantly use a pull focus on it. The shot was inside, in very low-key lighting with a low iso explaining the very dark video and a first attempt.

In the next pull focus i attempted, i went outside and filmed around the college, I used the pull focus technique this time to emphasise the drawing on this pole and show it's significance, you could say this could be quite a creepy shot if it was used in the right context.

The third one which I attempted, you can see the see the quality in the pull focus get significantly better, the camera movement is also less shaky and i've clearly thought of a unique idea to show the technique it's also a lot more subtle than the other one's.

ISO- International Organisation of Standardisation

ISO stands for the International Organisation of Standardisation which is the main governing body that standardises sensitivity ratings for camera sensors. The term was carried over from film, when the ISO rating was known as the “film speed” and “ASA.” Having a standard of sensitivity is important, as it allows you to shoot the same ISO on different cameras and trust that the exposure value will be equal for example using an ISO of 200-400 is best as you should never really increase the ISO you should try increase the amount of light in the shot as it creates and increases the amount of "noise" the image/video shows.

To Remember - The Higher the number (e.g. 1600) the more sensitive your camera is to light meaning more light is let onto the image/footage but the quality deteriorates.

The image below shows the different ISO's and clearly showing the difference between the amount of light shown.

With both analog and digital cameras, ISO refers to the same thing: The light sensitivity of either the film or imaging sensor. When you change the ISO on a digital camera, you’re rendering the sensor more or less sensitive to light.

To Remember - ISO and Noise
Increasing the ISO speed above the sensors base ISO is just the same as under exposure. It's not a good idea to use higher ISO settings just to combat poor light - in poor light everything looks like bad, and if it looks bad then the image will look even worse.

 
In the next task we were asked to take two videos comparing the effects of ISO to moving image, one video outside using a very low ISO(100) and one video inside using a very high ISO(1600).

The first video demonstrates a video shot in low ISO outside, the weather was sunny so you only needed a low ISO as the light is already extremely bright. It is always best to use more natural lighting than adjust the ISO which is why I used the low ISO(100) for this video taken outside.













The second video is where I decided to use the higher ISO(1600) as there was not much natural light on the inside only coming from the windows so it was best to use the higher ISO in this video. There is very low-key lighting in comparison to the outside, so a slightly higher ISO would be preferred however 1600 is still far too extreme in these circumstances.






I believe my videos are effective in which you can clearly see a difference in the amount of light shown and the difference that natural lighting and a low ISO (looks a lot better and more realistic) than a video in dimmer natural lighting with a very high ISO. The technical challenges I faced when filming these was not being used to using a camera so I needed slight reassurance in how to change settings on the camera from peers, after taking many contrasting videos I finally got the gist of how to change settings including the shutter speed, frames/s and the ISO. I would've improved my videos by taking 2 videos in the exact same lighting so you can see the difference a lot more clearly.

Shutter Speed

To Remember - Shutter speed
In photography and digital photography the shutter speed is the unit of measurement which decides how long shutter remains open as the picture is taken. The slower the shutter speed, the longer the exposure time. The shutter speed and aperture together control the total amount of light reaching the sensor. Shutter speeds are expressed in seconds or fractions of a second. For example 2, 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, 1/2000. Each speed increment halves the amount of light. That's why you also have to adjust the ISO and aperture for each video/photo when you adjust the shutter speed setting.

The photo below shows precisely how the shutter speed affects a moving image, a higher shutter speed gets a crisp photo of the moving image and makes it much more clear, the slow shutter however takes a more natural view as it has less frames per second.

The shutter speed task

For this task we were asked to get video evidence (10-20 seconds long) of the following:

- Slow shutter speed, 1/30 second
- Normal shutter speed 1/50 second
- Fast shutter speed 1/250 second or higher.




I decided to film water as running water is a very beautiful and natural source, I used the water cooler to demonstrate this however i would use next time a fountain or something outside where light will be natural and brighter, using the different shutter speeds shown. 







The first video demonstrates me using the camera with a slow shutter speed using 1/30(frames/second) this means the footage will be much more raw and much more of a natural view.
















The second video shows a video of 1/50 frames per second, this video has a slight change of more definition to the water however not as crisp and defines as the this video which demonstrates a shutter speed of 1/250.





The last video clearly shows the fast shutter working to make a crisp and high definition video of the running water, this is in fact my favourite of the three as it shows to be so clean and high definition.












REFERENCES
https://www.digitaltrends.com/photography/what-is-iso/
https://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/shutter_speed.html