An imaging transmitter (Tx) for free-space optical communications (FOC) includes a light source for providing modulated light, a pixel controller configured for dynamic selection of at least a portion of the modulated light to provide at least one pre-collimated FOC beam. An imaging lens assembly is for collimating the pre-collimated FOC beam to provide a transmitted FOC beam. The pixel controller controls a location of the pre-collimated FOC beam with respect to a focal surface of the imaging lens assembly so that the transmitted FOC beam is projected into a desired direction in object space that is determined by the location, or in the case that the light source is an emitting array, equivalently the transmitted FOC beam is projected into a unique angular volume described by the center line-of-sight (LOS) and instantaneous FOV (iFOV) of the emitting pixel(s) in the array.