"Those who think cinematography is simply the mechanical act of capturing an image on film have never spoken with a cinematographer. Or more precisely, a cinematographer with heart," said two time Oscar winning cinematographer, Janusz Kaminski, ASC.

Kaminski came to America from his native Poland in the 1980s. His association with Steven Spielberg began after the 1989 airing of Wildflower, a Lifetime television movie he photographed for Diane Keaton. Spielberg hired him to shoot the television production Class of '61. Since then he has added to his list of credits the Oscar-winning Schindler's List, The Adventures of Huck Finn, Tall Tale, Little Giants, How to Make and American Quilt, Jerry Maguire, the Oscar-nominated Amistad and The Lost World.

Kaminski's collaboration with Spielberg on Saving Private Ryan included discovering different visual textures with an imaginative mix of camera films, lab processes and specialized techniques, such as "deconstruction of the slickness that you usually get with modern lenses" – in Spielberg's words.

Kaminski achieved that look by stripping the coatings off the lenses. He also flashed the film and used the Technicolor ENR process to alter contrast. Spielberg wanted deeply saturated colors, an idea he attributes to watching 16mm Signal Corps Ekatachrome footage documenting the invasion of France by the Allies.

"We wanted to create the illusion that there were several combat cameramen landing with the troops at Normandy," Kaminski said in an American Cinematographer interview. "… We succeeded in emulating the look of that footage for the invasion scenes… with both camera tricks and other technological means."

Lenses in 1940 were technically inferior to today's, so Kaminski had a set of older Ultra- speeds stripped of their protective coatings to emulate the look of 50 years ago.

"Interestingly, when we analyzed the lenses, the focus and sharpness didn't change very much, though there was some deterioration; what really changed was the contrast and color rendering. The contrast became much flatter. Without the coatings, the light enters the lens and bounces all around, so the images become kind of foggy but still sharp. Also, it's much easier to get flares, which automatically diffuses the light and the colors to a degree and lends a little haze to the image."

Kaminski would often mismatch the lenses if he had two cameras running, using one with coated Ultra-speeds and one with stripped lenses. That lent a certain lack of continuity in picture quality, suggesting an appropriate disjointedness.

Kaminski and his crew shot many feet of film with the camera shutter set at 45 or 90 degrees, a technique that was especially effective in filming explosions. Every particle of blasted sand seems to be visible. The idea, which was born in pre-production testing, helped to create a sense of reality and urgency.

Another technique was borrowed from cinematographer Douglas Milsome, BSC, who also used it in an epic war film, Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket. The camera's shutter is thrown out of sync to create a streaking effect from the top of the frame to the bottom. It's another way to enhance realism by giving the images the less-than-perfectly controlled look of actual battle footage.

Kaminski, who recently completed his directorial debut for New Line Cinemas—the supernatural thriller, Lost Souls, said he hopes to now switch between directing and being a director of photography.

Next Kaminski is going to partner up with Spielberg again in the shooting of Minority Report starring Tom Cruise and Bill Condon.

Kaminski graduated from Columbia College in Chicago, then went on to the American Film Institute in Washington, D.C. He is married to actress Holly Hunter.

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