Camera Theory

The Giant Eye Ball Called A Camera:

Your camera is the most important tool other than your eyes and hands in the process of making traditional animation. The principle of of the camera is that it works very similar to the human eye. The human eye and the camera both are containers which hold a sensor and have only one opening to let light into this chamber. The opening is covered with a lens to allow for focusing of the image and the aperture is very similar to the pupil which adjusts to allow different levels of light into the chamber. The sensor which is located at the back of the chamber receives light at various wave lengths and this light is perceived as color and brightness. So essentially the camera is a giant eyeball…

For light to reach this giant eyeball (the camera) it must first be emitted from a source and then bounced off of an object and toward the camera/eyeball. This happens uncountable amounts of times within a single second in a room that is lit and the light will make contact and bounce off of every surface it has the ability to reach. The type of surface and the color of the surface are also important in that the wavelength and color temperature changes when the light comes in contact with the surface and bounces off of it. Without this change everything would be a solid color or illuminate at a constant brightness.

Focus: 

Focus essential is the crispness of an image. If something is out of focus we often refer to it as being soft. One manual focus lenses there is often a ring in which an artist can adjust to get the best and most crisp image that the camera and the environment allow. Auto-focus cameras and lenses are great for point and shoot single frame photography but horrible for traditional animation since the auto-focus locks on to whatever object is moving the most and is closest to the lens and makes that object crisp. So your hand moving in front of the camera will be focused on instead of the puppet you are animating. Turn off your auto-focus unless you have digital control over it.

Zoom: 

A zoom is a function of some lenses and software’s sometimes even have a function called a digital zoom. In essence a zoom enlarges or decreases the object or environment in the camera image. This is a useful function since it allows you to have the camera far away from the stage but allow you to have the look of being right up in the action of the animation.

Exposure:

There is a lot to cover in exposure theory but not 100% necessary for this course so I’ll make it brief. The first thing to know is when film was used there were different types of film. They would determine the location of shooting your photography such as outside or inside and the numbers of the film would indicate their sensitivity to light. Add to this the amount of light coming into the camera which was regulated by how open the aperture was and how long the aperture stayed open. All three of these factors make a huge difference in how a camera takes a photograph. The most important thing you need to know for now is that light and how long it is picked up by the sensor in the camera is what you should focus on. With enough light and enough exposure time you will have a bright image that is crisp and flicker free.

*We will go very in-depth with this subject matter in more advanced courses beyond the T1 and ABC Beginners Courses.