Director of Photography | Ties Versteegh | NSC | Netherlands Society of Cinematographers | Dutch DoP | DP

Masterclass ASC American Society of Cinematographers 2015

I love the dramatic atmosphere darkness creates. Night scenes and dark written screenplays gets me in my comfort zone. First of all I look where I want the attention of the audience to, then I create light on those places. Saying that, I hide things in the dark I don’t like to show. Of course I love the beauty of brightness, such as elevated high key images as well; without it, darkness wouldn’t have that much impact and vice versa. Because every script asks for a different and therefore a customised approach, I mostly use big light sources so the actors and camera’s can move more freely. This results in a more dynamic look to the film and compliments to the time actors wait on or off set.

I believe in impressionism, as I think all visions are subjective to every story. It’s the imagination of the artist that guides you through a storytelling or even a single picture.

During preproduction I like to look at paintings and colour techniques that the old masters delivered on their canvasses. Especially when it comes to colour techniques and colour depth. In film and nowadays in digital cinama the blacks become more important. I like it when colours are deep and expressive.

Over the years, I specialised in green screen setups. I’ve build a lot of those setups and kept a close relationship with the postproduction crew. That way I learned from mistakes and assumptions that are made during (pre-) production. Since I’ve done dozens of green screen productions, I know the best setups now, which saves time and money during postproduction.

Please feel free to contact me for series, films, documentaries and commercials. I’ll make you an extra good deal if it’s a tale!