Cinematography

In the film industry, cinematography is the technique of shooting motion pictures (and, more lately, electronic video cameras). It derives from the ancient Greek words v, knema "movement" and v, gràphein "to write."

Using a lens, cinematographers may convert the reflected light from objects into a genuine picture, which can then be sent to an image sensor or light-sensitive material inside a movie camera. Several exposures are taken one after another and saved for subsequent processing and viewing as a motion picture. When pictures are captured using an electronic image sensor, an electrical charge is generated for each pixel in the image, which is then electronically processed and saved in a video file for further processing or display. Using photographic emulsion, pictures are recorded on film stock as a succession of invisible latent images, which are then chemically "developed" to produce a visible image. The pictures on the film stock are projected onto a screen in order to see the same motion picture as before.

Cinematography is used in a wide range of scientific and economic disciplines, as well as for entertainment and public communication objectives, among other things.