Cyberpunk 2077 - Johnny Silver hand at Tom's Diner

If you know Cyberpunk 2077, you must know this frame: Johnny Silverhand in his iconic pose. Sunglasses on. An image chosen as one of the key visuals for the game's marketing. I lit this location and the cinematic sequences, and it's one of the pieces I'm most proud of.
This is where V meets Takemura for the first time, and Johnny for the second. The first encounter with Johnny is a threat; this one is a bonding moment. He needed to come across as magnetic, charismatic, the kind of person you'd want on your side. That's what I tried to convey through the lighting, along with a sense of warmth and intimacy, a pocket of calm separated from the constant noise of Night City.
The biggest challenge was the dynamic time of day. The location is heavily exposed to natural light through large windows, and the player can arrive at any hour. The characters' mood and look needed to hold up across the full cycle: night, midday, and everything in between, without ever breaking the atmosphere. To achieve this, I leaned heavily on Portal Lights, a piece of tech I designed and co-developed, which samples and carries the energy of the skydome directly into the scene. But that's a story for another post :).