HDRI Backplates

HDRI Backgrounds for LED Volumes, CGI & 3D Renders

At the heart of a successful movie, virtual production or CGI project are realistic lighting and reflections, and a compelling environment. As a result, beautifully shot, flawless backplates give your CGI projects a headstart in creating a showstopping final result.

Resolution & Capture Approach

I create ultra-high-resolution 360 HDRI backplates for use as environment lighting, reflection maps and background plates. A standard 360 file is 26,000 × 13,000 px. While I often shoot with medium-format systems, the exact setup varies by project. What matters most is precision, calibration and seamless stitching, so that each HDRI environment integrates cleanly into a CGI pipeline. Typically, the primary backplate is captured from the position where the CG element will later be composited.

Virtual Production & LED Volumes

Using LED volumes, greenscreen or translight workflows has become routine in virtual production. High-resolution HDRI backplates provide flexibility. They allow control of light and environment, let crews extend dawn or dusk for hours, and make inaccessible locations usable.

A recent example: several of my London cityscape backplates were used to create the skyline backdrop for Jax Jones’ ‘Me & My Guitar’ music video, establishing the artists high above the city without leaving the studio.

Planning a Backplate Project

Although existing HDRI backplates can be licensed, optimum results often come from shooting to order. Planning defines capture height, viewpoint and lighting variation. I usually supply multiple options to give post-production flexibility. One core use is for the exterior view from a studio-shot car interior the surrounding 360 environment becomes the 360 backplate, matching reflections and lighting perfectly.

Click here to see the interactive version.

Licencing 360 backplates or shooting to order?

This depends on your requirements. I may already have the right image for your project, particularly if you like a location you’ve seen in the portfolio but at a different time of day. For example, you like a Californian desert landscape but want the same view at dusk, please let me know as I may have shot this, but it doesn’t appear in the gallery. In contrast, clients can opt to have 360 backplates shot to order, at the correct height for the final project. For example, the view from a sports car will be lower than the view from an SUV. Or the driver’s position on the road may vary depending on the market. These seem like small changes, but can make all the difference to the authenticity of the final image, in whatever format it appears.

HDRI Backplates: The Basics

HDRI (High Dynamic Range Image) files combine multiple exposures into a single high-bit-depth image, often covering 14+ stops of dynamic range. A 360 HDRI records the full sphere of light from one camera position, used for lighting, reflections or as a complete HDRI environment.

How are HDRI backplates used?

They serve automotive, aviation, architectural and film VFX projects supplying real photographic backgrounds and lighting data for CGI renders and LED volumes.

LED Volumes in Practice

LED volumes allow productions to light scenes naturally and let actors interact with genuine reflections rather than flat greenscreen. Day-to-night variations can be captured in a controlled studio. I m increasingly commissioned to create HDRI backplates tailored specifically for LED volume workflows.

Project Specs

• Clients: Film & TV production companies, CGI & VFX studios, automotive visualisation teams
• Medium: 360 HDRI backplates & high-resolution environment maps
• Use cases: LED volumes, greenscreen, translights, CGI renders, 3D visualisation
• Strengths: Photographic realism vs CGI, accurate lighting, high dynamic range, integration into VFX pipelines

FAQs

Do you have a project in mind?

Commission custom HDRI backplates or 360 environments for your CGI, VFX or virtual production project. To talk about your requirements for backplates and 360 HDRI images, please call me on +44 (0)20 360 30147 or alternatively click here to contact me.

Page last updated: October 2025