Watching movies is one of the best and most famous entertainment activities all over the world. Both cinematography and photography are used as the same term or used interchangeably in a sentence.
There are many similarities between cinematography and photography but however, both these terms vary in a few parameters.
Key Takeaways
- Cinematography involves capturing moving images on a film or digital media, primarily for movies or television.
- Photography captures still images using cameras, focusing on landscapes, people, or events.
- Both art forms require a strong understanding of composition, lighting, and storytelling but differ in medium and purpose.
Cinematography vs Photography
Cinematography is the art of motion picture photography that tells a story through the formation of pictures. It involves running pictures and reflects a sequence. Photography is the art, application, and practice of clicking pictures alone and reflects a particular point of time.
Cinematography plays a very crucial role in making films. They arrange the movement and order of the pictures and make sure the audience captures the story from the sequences of those pictures.
The cinematography uses lenses, lights, image sensors, pixels, and video display to convert the pictures into a video.
Photography is a type of art that is used to capture many moments of our lives and other pictures that inspires or attracts us. It does not represent any sequences but represents a thing that happens at a point in time.
Photography also represents a story but through a single picture. It also uses light, image sensors, and lenses.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Cinematography | Photography |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Cinematography is the art of movement of pictures or producing motion pictures. | Photography is the art of producing images with the usage of digital devices. |
| Movement of images | Cinematography involves the movement or motion of images producing a film. | Photography does not involve any movement of pictures. |
| Involvement of skills | Cinematography cannot be done alone and includes producers and directors. | Photography is a skill that can be done alone. |
| Scope | Cinematography is a wider concept involving complicated skills than photography. | Photography is a narrow concept in comparison to cinematography. |
| Cost | Cinematography is expensive in comparison to photography. | Photography is cheaper in comparison to cinematography. |
What is Cinematography?
Cinematography is the art of producing motion images or the movement of captured pictures in a sequence or in an order representing a story or spreading a message.
It is a widely popular entertainment activity as we all love films these days and visit the theatre to watch the movies. Nowadays, the revenue earned from this art is quite high.
Cinematography is derived from the Greek word “kinema” which means movement and the word “graphein” which means to write or draw. So, cinematography signifies the movement or motion images.
The most important tool of cinematography is lenses that are used to focus the reflected light and capture images sequentially.
Cinematography is an important element in the process of filmmaking. It involves the usage of many digital or electronic advanced devices and requires other complicated artists like producers or directors to complete the art of cinematography.
The most common devices used in this art are image sensors, lenses, lights, video display, and a digital movie camera.
Cinematography is quite complicated in comparison to other arts as it not only involves the movement of images but other fields of art like producers, sound engineers, directors, etc.
Hence, the cinematography is expensive and one of the arts that are highly demanded all over the world. It is useful in many other sectors like science, mass communication, etc.
What is Photography?
Photography is an art of sayings millions of stories through a single picture captured at a particular point in time.
This type of art is also widely populated all over the world and there are exhibitions conducted to represent photographs about cultures, sceneries, lifestyles, or people of various countries. It does not involve the movement of pictures as it depicts only a single picture.
Photography is derived from the Greek word “phos” which means light and the word “graphein” which means to write or draw. So, together, photography means writing or drawing pictures using light.
The important digital device that is used in photography is lenses which are used to focus the light reflected from the object and produce a real image.
Photography is used in many sectors like cinema, mass communication, business, medical, and entertainment purposes.
It involves various elements like light to get the reflection of the object, image sensors to capture the image, a lens to focus the light, and a digital image file for displaying the images.
There are various types of photographs which are amateur, commercial, art, photojournalism, wildlife, science, and forensics. Photography is quite an affordable hobby as it only required limited digital devices like cameras.
Hence, it is a popular art and widely famous all over the world.
Main Differences Between Cinematography and Photography
- Cinematography involves motion images or movement of images while photography does not involve movement of images and it represents a single picture.
- Cinematography is quite expensive in terms of the requirement of digital devices when compared to the art of photography as photography mostly involves a digital camera only.
- Cinematography is a wider term comprising many other skills in comparison to photography.
- Cinematography involves other fields of skills like production, direction, sound system, etc while photography does not involve such skills.
- Cinematography is an art that involves a sequential order of images while photography does not involve any sequences of pictures.
Last Updated : 13 July, 2023
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Piyush Yadav has spent the past 25 years working as a physicist in the local community. He is a physicist passionate about making science more accessible to our readers. He holds a BSc in Natural Sciences and Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Science. You can read more about him on his bio page.
