You pay for it now or you pay for it later, but no matter when, you get what you pay for. If you decide to save money during production, you're likely to have to pay for it during post – productions cost money. If quality or big productions were cheap or free, everybody would have shot Titanic.
You can have it: fast, inexpensive or with quality. Pick two! A production truism.
The dialogue is like the lyrics of a song, but the cinematography is the music.
The cinematography of a film is the subtext of the story. A happy story with sad images is a different movie than a happy story with happy images.
Each department head is like the god of that part of the filmmaking process. The screenwriter is the god of fate. The director is like Zeus, king of the gods and maker of the world. The director of photography is the god of light, the production designer, the shaper of the world. Etc.
Background, makes foreground. (Robert Evans) It applies to so many aspects of life, but for cinematography, it illustrates how important the production designer, location scout, and hair and make-up personnel are to the creation of compelling images. Don't ask the DP to give you colorful, pretty images if your filming in a dilapidated, white walled apartment with the actor wearing earth tone colored clothes. We can light the wall with red gels but we can't light the shirt red or the hair green or make a house old.
Plan for the worst, hope for the best. Planning is so important, that it cannot be understated. Don't just leave things up to luck - "luck" is when opportunity meets preparation! (Robert Evans)
Right tool for the right job. Don't hire friends to do the job a professional should do. A big, strong friend may be helpful moving furniture to a new apartment, but setting up a 12x12 silk butterfly, or rigging a car mount is best left to professionals.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Whether it's a small or large budget, pre-production goes a long way to saving money and insuring that things go well on set and in post-production. At the end of the day, fortune favors the prepared mind.
On-set protocols have existed – and worked – for as long as productions have existed: Block, Light, Rehearse, Tweak, and then Shoot. It's surprising how often this rule is forgotten – especially when things are getting behind schedule.