Cinematography Reel
I’d like to say that “light” is my middle name, but it’s actually at the beginning of my last name…
I’m a big believer in telling a visual story through light. It plays such a primal role in our understanding of the world. Light creates mood, texture, depth and dimension. It’s the difference between a dreary, dismal day versus a bright and cheery one.
Through this past decade of my focus on still photography, I’ve learned a lot about visual story-telling…a necessary component of both still and motion photography. But there’s a key difference between the two: Still Photography leaves a lot to the viewer to interpret about the story; whereas Cinematography allows us the framework to tell more linear stories.
I think both art forms are equally beautiful in their own way and each of them informs the other. I’m grateful to have spent so much time as a Still Photographer before adopting another craft like Cinematography because it’s taught me how to “do a lot with a little”. Let me show you what I mean…
Eclipse 2024
I decided to photograph this solar eclipse by utilizing multiple telephoto lenses mounted to tripods and then used motion capture software to track the passing sun and moon to stay mostly centered in the frame. Despite the software being fairly sophisticated, I noticed it had a tough time tracking the sun and moon when clouds would pass in front of my camera. Normally, I strive for perfection and control. But with the options available to me, I couldn't really have that. So, instead, I decided to embrace the chaos and imperfection of the moment. I think it turned out to be the right approach considering...well...these are celestial bodies hurdling through space at unimaginable speeds. Plenty of other photographers and filmmakers captured this with expensive specialized gimbals but...I like to think of this as something more personal. It was, after all, the first eclipse I was able to witness in person. So most of the time I was there, I was actually just looking through my special glasses to see the eclipse with my own eyes instead of constantly fussing over my equipment. In the end, I'm really happy with it and I hope you can appreciate it as well. Thanks for watching! Daniel J Lightfoot Photography www.danieljlightfoot.com daniel@danieljlightfoot.com EQUIPMENT USED: Nikon Z9 Nikon D850 Nikon D750 Nikon FTZ II Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikon 24-70mm Z f/2.8 S Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikon 50mm Z f/1.2 S Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II AF-S Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5–6.3 Di VC USD G2
“Dark Echoes”
(2019 | Short)
"Family Secrets" is a live action, True Horror story about an old man who asks his nephew to help hide a dark secret. True crime re-enactment style. Dark Echoes takes your favorite narrator-driven, true horror style channel and adds full live action video to the narration. Spooky stories about terrifying encounters and scary strangers. Full audio, narration and video. Watch or listen.