A native of Liverpool, Frank Tidy began his career as a stop-motion cameraman for an animation studio in London. In 1965, he formed Valley Films with director Roger Woodburn and cinematographer Peter Biziou, and they worked extensively on commercials.
He served as Ridley Scott's cinematographer on hundreds of commercials for RSA, Scott's production company, starting in the 1960s. Later Tidy's first feature credit was Scott's debut The Duellists (1977), which was praised for its visual style.