A system for illuminating a character for a scene includes a computing platform communicatively coupled to a lighting source and a camera, the computing platform including a hardware processor and a system memory storing a software code. The hardware processor executes the software code to identify a background for the scene, generate, using the lighting source, a simulation of the background on a surface illuminated by the lighting source, and utilize the simulation of the background generated on the surface illuminated by the lighting source to illuminate the character for the scene. The hardware processor also executes the software code to track, using the camera, a plurality of parameters of the camera during recording of an image of the illuminated character and the simulation of the background, and to remove the simulation of the background from the image based on the plurality of parameters of the camera.