Flikipedia A branching dictionary of the moving image

cinematography

/ˌsɪnəməˈtɑɡrəfi/ noun

The art and craft of capturing the images of a motion picture: the cinematographer's work of choosing lens, exposure, lighting, framing, and camera movement to render a film visually.

Origin From the Greek kīnēma (“movement,” from kīnein, to move) and graphein (“to write” or “to record”) — literally the writing or recording of movement.

  1. Craft The craft of photographing a motion picture: the selection and control of lens, exposure, lighting, framing, and camera movement to give a film its visual form.

  2. Profession The corresponding profession and its output — the work of the cinematographer, or director of photography, and the images that result. A director of photography specifies the lens, stop, and lighting for each shot, then oversees its execution with the camera and lighting crews.

What cinematography is

Cinematography is the craft of capturing the images of a motion picture. It governs how a scene reaches the recording medium — whether photographic film or a digital sensor — and so it is the visual half of filming, distinct from what is placed before the camera and from what is later assembled in editing. Its practitioner is the cinematographer, or director of photography (DP), who translates a scene and a director’s intent into concrete photographic choices and directs the camera and lighting crews that realize them.

The elements

Cinematography is usually described through a set of controllable variables. The lens determines focal length, angle of view, and depth of field, shaping perspective and what falls into focus. Exposure — the combination of aperture, shutter, and the medium’s sensitivity — sets how much light forms the image and thus its brightness and tonal range. Lighting shapes the quality, direction, and color of that light, modeling form and establishing mood. Framing and composition decide what the rectangle of the image contains and how it is arranged, working within a chosen aspect ratio. Camera movement — from a static frame to pans, tilts, tracking shots, and handheld work — adds change over time. Together these variables constitute the photographic language a cinematographer commands.

Cinematographer and director

On most productions the cinematographer heads the camera and lighting departments and answers to the director. The director determines what a scene should express and how it fits the whole film; the cinematographer determines how it is photographed — selecting lenses and filtration, setting exposure and lighting, and planning camera movement to serve that intent. The role is therefore both technical and interpretive, joining the physics of optics and light to the storytelling of a given film.

See also

  • lens— The optical element or assembly that gathers light and forms an image on photographic film or an electronic sensor, characterized chiefly by its focal length and its maximum aperture.
  • exposure— The quantity of light reaching the film or sensor while an image is recorded, and the act of admitting it — governed jointly by aperture, shutter, and sensitivity.
  • lighting— The deliberate arrangement of light for the camera — its direction, quality, intensity, and color — shaping how a scene is recorded and exposed.
  • camera movement— The displacement or rotation of the camera during a shot, and the supports and stabilizers that make such motion possible; distinct from the apparent magnification change of an optical zoom.

Sources

  1. American Society of Cinematographers, “American Cinematographer Manual”
  2. Blain Brown, “Cinematography: Theory and Practice”
  3. Oxford English Dictionary, “cinematography, n.”

Last revised: September 18, 2026