Work with professional models and learn how to build a portrait that looks like a still from a film.
Most portraits come out flat. The face is lit, the exposure is right, and the picture still sits on the surface of the frame with no weight to it. This class is about the opposite result: a portrait with depth, where the face is sculpted, the subject lifts away from the background, and the whole image feels three-dimensional.
Rory Lewis has spent over twenty years photographing actors, executives, public figures and senior military officers, and he lights every one of those sittings in the studio. Across the day he takes that approach apart and rebuilds it in front of you, one decision at a time: where the light goes, what it is doing to the shape of the face, what to take away, and when a second light earns its place.
You’ll spend most of the day shooting. Several professional models work the room across multiple lighting setups, so you’re photographing real faces under real direction rather than watching a demonstration. Rory works with each attendee individually, and the day closes with your work up on screen.
If you’ve attended one of Rory’s masterclasses, this is the natural follow-up. It’s a different class with new material, built for photographers who already know the fundamentals of studio portraiture and want to push the look further.
What you’ll learn
How light direction, distance and fall-off shape a face and give it dimension
Control of the shadow side: ratio, negative fill, flags, and why subtraction does more than addition
Separating your subject from the background so the portrait has depth
When a second light helps and when it flattens everything you just built
Camera decisions that drive the cinematic look: focal length, aperture, working distance and focus placement
Directing a model for stillness, eyeline and expression
Reading your own frame on the day and knowing which one is the keeper
