ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE
A match made in heaven Aputure’s innovative BLAIR and BLAIR- CG light engines break the mould, introducing impossibly accurate colours I n today’s production industry, immersion is the goal – getting audiences to feel like they’re truly
Getting technical “It’s not just about output,” begins Tim Kang, Aputure’s principal engineer in imaging applications. “It’s also about making scenes look as close to real life as humanly possible.” Everyday objects, including people, have a built-in amount of fluorescence (which is why our teeth glow under a blacklight), but it’s often hard to predict how this will impact colour on films – especially the subtle variations found in our unique skin tones. By including indigo in the spectrum, BLAIR and BLAIR-CG can match natural light more completely. “This is why clothing and people can appear a little off when photographed under traditional LEDs,” Kang explains. By adding indigo to the BLAIR and BLAIR-CG light engines, Aputure inches closer to complete colour accuracy comparable to real daylight and tungsten sources. While BLAIR excels in replicating natural light, filmmakers sometimes need to create and match particular colours, whether from a gel or on an object, regardless of light source. “Cameras can only capture the light that’s put in front of it,” states Aputure’s co-founder, Ted Sim. “If part of the spectrum is not present
advent of bicolour LEDs, they’re not wholly representative of what’s real. Enter BLAIR and BLAIR-CG: the light engines that power Aputure’s latest LED point source lamps – the STORM 1200x and STORM 80c and 1000c, respectively. While BLAIR is short for Blue/Lime/Amber/ Indigo/Red and is designed to replicate natural light, BLAIR-CG adds Cyan and Green tones into the mix, giving filmmakers even more flexibility when colour-matching objects and artificial sources for images in their productions.
experiencing a story. Advances in camera technology and VFX can only do so much: colour-accurate lighting is key. While natural light tends to work best, this isn’t always available – or preferable, depending on the project. Gaffers and cinematographers typically add external lamps and light rigs to illuminate sets, and, although these lighting kits have come a long way, especially with the
34
DEFINITIONMAGAZINE.COM
Powered by FlippingBook