After working on the film crews of various low-budget projects, in 2005 Takayanagi was hired as a Tokyo-based second unit Cinematographer for the film Babel under Rodrigo Prieto. He later photographed the second units of State of Play, Eat Pray Love, The Eagle, and Monte Carlo. His first turn as a main unit Cinematographer was on Warrior, followed by The Grey, both released in 2011. In 2012, he was named one of Variety magazine's "10 Cinematographers to Watch". He photographed David O. Russell's 2012 film Silver Linings Playbook, followed by Scott Cooper's Out of the Furnace in 2013 and Rupert Goold's 2015 film True Story.