The NZCS was privileged to have NZ-born, internationally renowned cinematographer, Denson Baker ACS NZCS , run a lighting masterclass in Auckland on Sat June 14th, in association with sponsor APUTURE - manufacturer of a wide range of LED lighting units.
Photo by Mark Lapwood ACS NZCS
We were fortunate to collaborate with Unitec Screen and use their facilities and new studio, which had a standing set, that could be adapted and redressed for the Masterclass. A full house of 31 attendees were present and a crew of around 12 with camera gear provided by Imagezone, DIT and monitoring from Halcyon Digital, lighting truck from Filmlights NZ, APUTURE lights from local dealers Photogear and FAT lighting, grip gear from Moana Grips and set decorations and props from Propellor.
The day commenced with a presentation by Denson, reviewing some of his past projects and showing a selection of BTS stills to illustrate his various lighting set-ups. There was a great deal of good wisdom, tips and tricks passed on in this session, and some of Denson’s personal philosophies on how to succeed in the craft of cinematography.
Photo by Mark Lapwood ACS NZCS
The masterclass then moved on to a series of practical demonstrations, where Denson recreated some of the iconic lighting from his Victorian-period TV series The Luminaries, with gaffer Thad Lawrence collaborating once again, and Unitec Screen acting students modelling in full costume. The lighting set-ups used exclusively Aputure lighting units, including the Spotlight Max with 19˚ lens kit, the ElectroStorm XT26 powerhouse lamp (only running at 30% of output in the studio situation!), the very popular Storm 80C unit and a variety of OctaDome softboxes.
Photo by Mark Lapwood ACS NZCS - The ElectroSTORM XT26 Lamp in action
The set was beautifully dressed by set decorator Tane Jarrett using many of the original dressing and props from The Luminaries, and included candles, oil lamps and the ever-present hazer to accentuate light rays.
Photo by Murray Milne NZCS
The practical sessions were interactive, with camera operators being chosen from the attendee group, and everyone gathering close around camera and monitors and discussing the detail of the set-ups with Denson. Camera-related demonstrations included the comparison of spherical and anamorphic lens, different filter packages and an extreme close-up using a probe lens. We were fortunate to have been supplied with one of the only sets of amazing Hawk class-X Anamorphic lenses in the Southern Hemisphere, courtesy of Imagezone.
Photo by Mark Lapwood ACS NZCS - Probe lens for ECU of eye demo
The last session of the afternoon moved to a contemporary kitchen set where Denson demonstrated some moody and tone-rich night lighting set-ups.
Photo by Mark Lapwood ACS NZCS
All and all a very successful day, with some attendees flying up from the South Island to join in, and a wide range of experience represented, from newcomers through to seasoned professionals.
Many thanks to Marco Lazaro from Aputure Asia/Pacific, Dan Wagner and Larry Justice from Unitec Screen, Stephen Baker and Dean Thomas from Imagezone Camera Rentals, Jay Zhou from Photogear, Tracey Cochrane from FAT Lighting, Johnathan Guest and Nick Burridge from Halcyon Digital and Corey Moana from Moana Grips for kindly sponsoring all the gear for the Masterclass.
