Translight backgrounds photographed to your exact specifications at any resolution, for any scale of production.
Impressive detail at any size
I shoot translights using a medium-format digital workflow; the benchmark for high-resolution location photography. Advantages include:
- On-site backups and previews so nothing is left to chance
- Rough renders created on location to review full-scene coverage
- Fully calibrated workflow from capture to delivery
- Exceptional low-light performance for night or dawn transitions
Pixel-perfect day-to-night transitions
Absolute mathematical precision in capture ensures flawless alignment for day-to-night scenic backdrops. Lit from the front, your daylight image is perfectly sharp. Illuminated from behind, the same file transitions seamlessly through dusk and into night. A true one-to-one match across every pixel.
Full dynamic range from shadow to highlight
I blend multiple exposures (HDR) to achieve the widest possible dynamic range, ensuring every nuance of light is retained. The result: translight backdrops with realistic depth, shadow detail and highlight control. These are ready for printing at any scale.
Compact, versatile rig
My lightweight rig can be carried by one photographer, making it ideal for challenging or restricted locations. This low-impact setup means fewer crew, faster permissions, and efficient turnaround essential for tight production schedules.
Expert rigging for unusual briefs
I’m accustomed to shooting from difficult vantage points from cranes, rooftops, or confined spaces wherever a unique perspective is needed. The situation that springs to mind is shooting the views from the Shard whilst under construction – from the crane at the top of the building. I custom-build rigs to deal with situations that fall outside the norm. Custom-built rigs allow safe, precise capture even in complex environments, meeting the strict requirements of production insurers and location landlords.
Translight Photography for Film & TV
For productions using translight backdrops (or virtual staging with LED volumes or greenscreen), photographic realism remains critical. High-resolution stills ensure your virtual view holds up under any lighting. Thus giving cinematographers full control on set without weather or access constraints. If you’d like to discuss a project or request an estimate, please get in touch or call 020 360 30147.
Location photography
When you work with a translight backdrop (or cyclorama), you have absolute control on the set’s ‘view’. Crucially, you’re not relying on a location over the longer term. You’re not held hostage to the weather or the lighting. Thus to take advantage of this controlled environment, you will want to ensure that the location photography is the best representation possible of the scene.
Licensing existing images
Alongside commissioned shoots, many of the cityscapes and other images shown in my portfolio are also available to licence. These high-resolution images can be adapted for use as translights, providing a fast, cost-effective solution when a new shoot isn’t required.
Translight Photographer
If you’re looking for a translight photographer, please get in touch or call me on 020 360 30147 and I’ll be very happy to talk through your project.
What is a translight?
A translight is a large photographic backdrop, lit from behind, used on a film or television set to create the view beyond a window, doorway or balcony. The name comes from translucent light: the image is printed on a translucent material so lighting rigs behind it can shine through, giving the scene the depth and glow of a real view rather than the flatness of a printed poster.
Translights are what let a soundstage in Buckinghamshire look out over the City of London, and they remain in daily use alongside newer LED volume workflows. A backing lit from the front only, with no backlighting, is usually called a translite or simply a backing; the two words are often used interchangeably on set.
Day-to-night translights
The most useful translights carry two versions of the same view. A day image is printed on the front and a night image on the reverse, in perfect register, so that changing which side is lit takes the scene from afternoon to dusk without moving the camera or redressing the set. Shooting the pair demands that both exposures are captured from an identical position, which is why the photography matters as much as the printing.
How a translight is made
- Photography. The view is shot at very high resolution from a position that matches the camera’s eyeline on set, often from a crane, rooftop or scaffold.
- Preparation. Frames are stitched, retouched and colour-managed, then supplied as a print-ready file at the finished dimensions.
- Printing. A specialist printer produces the backing on translucent material, seamed or seamless depending on size. I work alongside the production’s chosen printer rather than replacing them.
- Rigging and lighting. The backing is hung and lit on stage by the production’s crew.
Translight photographer creating flawless scenic translight (translite) backdrops for film, television and virtual production.