This article was written for the American Cinematographer magazine, Oct. 2008, in response to an opinion previously published in this magazine on the DI process.
As a film-school student, I sought any and all information I could gather from everywhere and anywhere. American Cinematographer was a primary authority because the information in its pages came through the patronage of the American Society of Cinematographers. It is the same today.
From my many sources, I learned a lens operated to its best advantage at an aperture of T4-5.6. I learned lighting involved the use of a keylight, a backlight, a fill light, an eyelight and something referred to as a kicker. I learned my negative needed to be meticulously exposed so as to print at a mid-light of 25, and that a true cinematographer used Brute Arcs to light a set and a geared head (operated by a specialist) to achieve smooth camera-panning shots.