1. A light modulating device, comprising a spatial light modulator and a pixelated optical element, in which a group of at least two adjacent pixels of the spatial light modulator in combination with a corresponding group of pixels in the pixelated optical element form a macropixel, wherein the pixels of the pixelated optical element comprise a fixed content, and the pixels of the spatial light modulator comprise a variable content, wherein each macropixel represents a numerical value being an amplitude value or a phase value or a complex valued number for separately controlling the amplitude and the phase of an incoming light wave, which is manifested physically by the effect of combination of the states of the pixels of the spatial light modulator and the content of the pixels of the pixelated optical element which form the macropixel.