When cinematographer Zach Kuperstein got the job to shoot writer-director Zach Cregger's horror feature Barbarian, one of the first things he did was reach out to Light Iron senior colorist Sam Daley. The two had previously worked together on a short and three independent features The Eyes of My Mother, The Vigil and Paper Spiders but their collaborations began during post, not during preproduction. For Barbarian, Kuperstein was able to shoot tests and then work with Daley from the start to create a shooting LUT that would match Cregger's vision for this mind-bending story of a girl (played by Georgina Campbell) who arrives at a house she's booked for the night only to discover a young man (Bill Skarsg rd) has also rented it.
To give Daley an idea of what he and Cregger wanted, Kuperstein assembled a short look book of photographic references that defined the movie's tone and mood. The book included stills from the features Prisoners, Gone Girl and Sicario for night interiors, It Comes at Night for flashlight scenes, and American Beauty and Pleasantville for a 1980s flashback sequence. Texturally we tried to keep it limited, the cinematographer explains. It wasn't too built-out or complicated. I find it best to keep the references really tight because otherwise it's hard to articulate exactly what it is about each image that is related to the color.
Barbarian is set in Detroit but was shot in Bulgaria, where infrastructure limitations made it difficult to reliably share footage from set with Daley in New York. So, Daley explains, Zach came up with a lo-fi way for us to exchange images and LUTs. He would shoot a test, and instead of sending me terabytes of files to look at, he would send me high-quality DPX still frames, which he could easily email or put up on WeTransfer or Dropbox.
Kuperstein was grateful for Daley's partnership throughout this testing phase. It was great to get Sam's eyes on the footage and his guidance on where we could or where we shouldn't push the camera, he says. We shot with the Sony Venice, which I hadn't used before, so I was like, Can I go to 5,000 ISO? Can I go to 10,000 ISO?' And Sam said, Don't go to 10,000 ISO, but go to 5,000 if you need it.' His guidance was super-helpful, and paired with the test footage, it made for a robust LUT that we could use to shoot everything.
The shooting LUT Daley provided was set for a color temperature of 4300 Kelvin, approximately halfway between tungsten and daylight, giving Kuperstein the ability to use the LUT in any type of lighting situation. It was just something to get in the ballpark while Zach was on location in Bulgaria and working really quickly, Daley says. When we circled back after the edit to do the final color, I came up with another series of looks, and it was ultimately Zach Cregger, the director, who decided which of the looks he preferred.
Kuperstein and Daley kept their lines of communication open throughout principal photography. I usually don't work with a DIT on set, or somebody live-grading, or somebody else judging exposure with me, the cinematographer says. Having Sam to bounce that off of throughout the production was really helpful. He helped me make sure the exposure was giving us a lot more depth in the shadows, which I'm glad we had.
Both on set and in the final grade, Kuperstein always strove to keep the lighting tethered to reality. My approach is very much about motivated lighting, he says. I try to find whatever sources are in the room or in the space that make sense for the scene. At times those could be sodium-vapor streetlights outside, tungsten or fluorescent lights inside, or a mix. From a lighting perspective, it's often about keeping something bright in the background so you can make the rest of the image dark you can get away with it being darker if there are highlights in the image. Then, in the grade, you're making sure you aren't losing those highlights and are bringing out that contrast wherever possible.
Similar to what Zach says about motivating light sources, that's what I always do, Daley says of his process. It's got to feel real so that somebody is going to watch and be engaged in the story. Then I flavor it with whatever's going on and create mood with contrast or a slight hue change to help tell the story through color and contrast choices.
For the color grade, Kuperstein and Daley worked together in person at Light Iron New York while Cregger split his time between Light Iron's New York and Los Angeles locations. Based on the locked picture in combination with Kuperstein and Cregger's notes, Daley began by offering a range of looks for the filmmakers' consideration. One option offered a grainy, bleach-bypass, cross-processed look; another was much more subdued and classical in style, with a Kodak film feel. The opportunity to see the opposing looks helped Kuperstein and Cregger make their choice. I'm glad we got to see the extreme look even if it wasn't the direction we went with, the cinematographer reflects. It was good to test the waters with that and see how Zach responded to it. He reminded us that we weren't trying to tip our hand too early and that we needed to play it more neutral. When we saw the Kodak look that Sam put on it, the colors just popped into life and the whole film felt fresh.
With the film look they landed on in the final grade, Daley adds, We did deviate a little bit from what we had in the testing. But it wasn't a very assertive film look. It was more subtle.
The overall palette for the interior of the house tended toward the warmer range of the spectrum. I like to look at the color palette of the production design and see what I can lean into, shares Daley, who graded the project wi
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
04/06/2026
Sony Electronics is introducing the SRG-AS10, a 4K 60p-compatible PTZ auto-frami...
04/06/2026
This recent grad from Spring, TX, led creative-video output for the Aggies' men's basketball team last season and has been producing video and creating ...
04/06/2026
For the first time at a women's golf major, every player in the field will r...
04/06/2026
Three Panasonic PT-RQ45 40,000-lumen 3-Chip DLP projectors made their first live...
04/06/2026
Bitmovin and Akamai have announced a collaboration with NRJ Group, a French mult...
04/06/2026
Telestream will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N7952), demonstrating media work...
04/06/2026
Sony has announced the development of RIALTO 65, a 65mm format image sensor block for the VENICE 2 digital cinema camera, targeting release in the first half of...
04/06/2026
KOKUSAI DENKI Electric America will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N8025, June ...
04/06/2026
Bell Media's TSN and RDS are the exclusive Canadian broadcasters of FIFA Wor...
04/06/2026
The Challenge: Receiving Heavy Media Files From Road Games Quickly and ReliablyT...
04/06/2026
MASV, a managed file transfer platform used in broadcast and live sports product...
04/06/2026
NESN has announced the appointment of Fahad Haider as Vice President of Operations and Engineering. Haider returns to NESN, where he previously served as Vice P...
04/06/2026
David J. Halberstam, who spent almost 50 years in sports as a broadcaster and an executive, died June 2 after a years-long battle with brain cancer.
Over his l...
04/06/2026
Although collegiate production programs are tasked with delivering high-quality ...
04/06/2026
California studio, two production trucks, global distribution system are combine...
04/06/2026
New global program empowers and supports storytellers through scriptwriting course and access to industry experts
TikTok and Sundance Institute today announce...
04/06/2026
Steinberg DAWs now boast in-depth Tonalic integration
Celemony's innovative virtual session musician plug-in has just received an update that brings ARA...
04/06/2026
Get Hands-On With Over 20 Mic Brands
GearExpo UK is fast approaching, and if you've been looking for a chance to check out some new mics, then you'r...
04/06/2026
Combos feature new Amplifier Intelligence engine
Positive Grid's latest release sees the company introduce two new combo amplifiers that promise to offe...
04/06/2026
Is Your Job Making You Work this June?
4 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS Launches the World Cup Watchers' Rights Association to Stand Up For Australians&...
04/06/2026
Statement regarding unauthorised use of SBS logos on third party social content
4 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has become aware of social media posts in c...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Bitmovin, a leading provider of video streaming infrastructure, and Akamai, the cybersecurity and cloud computing company that powers and protects business onli...
04/06/2026
American Underground (AU), the Startup Hub of the South and a community of mor...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
NVIDIA and Microsoft Reinvent Windows PCs for the Age of Personal AI
Brie Clayton June 3, 2026
0 Comments
RTX Spark - a 1-Petaflop Superchip, the Full...
04/06/2026
Inside the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man Grade
Brie Clayton June 3, 2026
0 Comments
Simone Grattarola discusses shaping the look in DaVinci Resolve...
04/06/2026
Cine Gear Expo Announces 2026 Awards of Excellence Recipients
Brie Clayton June 3, 2026
0 Comments
Ed Lachman ASC, Caleb Deschanel ASC, and M. David M...
04/06/2026
St. Vincents Live with Orchestra Tour to Feature Berklee Alum Ruby Plume Berklee alumni St. Vincent and Ruby Plume will appear on the same bill across seven d...
04/06/2026
Back to All News
All the Truth in My Lies Coming to Netflix on August 28
Entertainment
04 June 2026
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Download the imag...
04/06/2026
Back to All News
Larry Tanz, VP of Content, EMEA, Delivers a Keynote Speech at ...
04/06/2026
Back to All News
Turn Your Living Room into a Stadium With the New FIFA World ...
04/06/2026
Keeping conversations real on LinkedIn Published on Jun 4, 2026 Categories: Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Communications
Share
LinkedIn
Facebook ...
04/06/2026
BackStory follows four Irish young people as they travel back to their parents' homelands
Modern Irish identity is enriched by cultures and influences from...
04/06/2026
June's forecast with GeForce NOW: 100% chance of gaming.
GeForce NOW is lining up new adventures for the month, from big-name blockbusters to quirky indies...
03/06/2026
SES and Viva, Mexico's ultra low-cost airline, have launched multi-orbit satellite inflight connectivity on Viva's Airbus aircraft. A total of 60 A320s ...
03/06/2026
The College Football Playoff, ESPN, and TNT Sports have announced kick times and...
03/06/2026
RED Digital Cinema will exhibit at Cine Gear Expo 2026 (Booth 33, June 5-6, Universal Studios Lot), hosting three panels and hands-on product demonstrations.
P...
03/06/2026
Roku has announced the Soccer Zone, a dedicated hub for FIFA World Cup 2026 content available across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argent...
When cinematographer Zach Kuperstein got the job to shoot writer-director Zach Cregger's horror feature Barbarian, one of the first things he did was reach out to Light Iron senior colorist Sam Daley. The two had previously worked together on a short and three independent features The Eyes of My Mother, The Vigil and Paper Spiders but their collaborations began during post, not during preproduction. For Barbarian, Kuperstein was able to shoot tests and then work with Daley from the start to create a shooting LUT that would match Cregger's vision for this mind-bending story of a girl (played by Georgina Campbell) who arrives at a house she's booked for the night only to discover a young man (Bill Skarsg rd) has also rented it.
