Lee Caley came to my studio at Bentwaters the other day to have his actor headshots redone. Some people need half an hour before they forget the camera is there. Lee was ready before I’d finished setting the lights. He’s a characterful man with a face that can go from friendly to properly menacing in the time it takes to turn his head, and over one session he gave me everything from a clean casting headshot to a 1920s hard man in a flat cap and overcoat.
Who is Lee Caley?
Lee is a Suffolk actor, born in Bury St Edmunds, and represented by Oscars Talent. His screen credits include a Roman centurion in Boudica: Queen of War (2023), the British action drama directed by Jesse V. Johnson and starring Olga Kurylenko, which for a Suffolk actor puts him firmly on the wrong side of the Iceni. He played a prisoner of war in the Second World War adventure War Blade (2024), Captain Dean Drewe in the short film The Red Zone (2023), and he plays Eric in Dog & Bull, which is in post-production now. His casting profile sits on Spotlight, which is where casting directors look first, so the main headshot from this session had a very specific job to do.
Starting with a classic headshot
Lee needed a new profile picture before anything else, so that’s where we began. I shot it as what I call a classic headshot, the same way I’d light someone for a business profile or LinkedIn. The setup is a clamshell. A large octabox sits above and in front of the subject, and underneath it I use an eye lighter, which is a curved reflector on a stand. The octabox gives a soft, flattering light with a defined shadow under the jaw, which tidies the jawline and gets rid of any hint of a double chin. The eye lighter bounces light back up into the face and puts a lovely catchlight in each eye, and catchlights are a big part of what makes a headshot feel alive.
Clamshell lighting doesn’t suit everybody, and I’ll change it when a face needs something different. Most of the time, though, it’s my go-to for headshots because it puts the face first and keeps it flattering without looking lit. For an actor’s headshot that matters. The person looking at it needs to see you, clearly, at thumbnail size, alongside a hundred other faces.
I’m always a bit disappointed when I scroll through profiles and find someone’s picture is them on a ski slope, or cropped out of a group shot with half a dozen people behind them and a messy background. They think it’s a good photo, and it might be. It just doesn’t do the job. People want to see who they’re working with, and a casting director wants to see who’s going to walk into the room
Honest retouching
Every image that leaves my studio has been through Photoshop, and I’m open about that. It’s a light retouch. Before I start, I’ve already decided I’m not going to change somebody’s look or smooth away their personality. For an actor this is even more important than it is for a business headshot. Lee’s beard, the lines around his eyes and the way his face creases when he frowns are all part of what gets him cast. Take those out and the headshot stops being honest, and the actor who turns up to the audition no longer matches the photograph.
Building a range of character looks
Once the headshots were done, we moved on to profile pictures. These give Lee a set of looks he can use across his casting profiles, so a director can see the range of roles he could play. We worked through a whole raft of styles, some fun and quirky, others mean and moody. We leaned heavily into characters he might play in future or has played in the past.
The lighter end of the session had Lee in a loud Hawaiian shirt, hands on hips, giving me a look that said he’d definitely sold someone a dodgy car. In a checked shirt he became an everyman with a slightly worried story to tell. In a navy cable-knit jumper, palms up, he did the exasperated “what do you want from me” shrug that you can practically hear. None of those needed much direction from me. I’d suggest a character and Lee would already be halfway into it.
As the session went on, the background went darker and the light got harder, which suited where we were heading.
The mean and moody end of the shoot
Some of my favourite images came right at the end. Lee put on a flat cap, a heavy black overcoat and a collar with a flash of red, and we went for a gangland look in the Peaky Blinders mould. The light came down low and close, the background dropped almost to black, and Lee gave me a stare that I wouldn’t want to meet in a pub doorway. Those frames have a weight to them that the earlier ones don’t, and they show a side of him a casting director might not guess at from the classic headshot alone.
That’s the reason to shoot this much variety in one session. A single good headshot gets an actor seen. A set of looks like this helps them get seen for the right part.
Lee’s own styling
Lee brought his own outfits and did his own hair. He didn’t need makeup, so what you see is him as he is. That preparation made the session flow, because each change of clothes came with a character already attached. If you’re an actor booking headshots, it’s worth doing the same. Bring clothes that suit the roles you’re realistically up for, not just the nicest shirt in your wardrobe.
Behind the scenes
There’s a behind-the-scenes video from the session, filmed in the studio at Bentwaters, which shows the lighting setup and Lee working through the different looks.
Where to find Lee Caley
If you’re casting, Spotlight is the best place to start. Lee’s other profiles are here too.
- Spotlight
- IMDb
- YouTube, where he posts his self tapes and short films
- Mandy
- Backstage
- Amazon Prime Video
Actor headshots at my Suffolk studio
All of Lee’s images were shot at my studio on Base Business Park in Rendlesham, on the old RAF Bentwaters site near Woodbridge. I photograph actors from across Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire, from Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds to Norwich and Colchester. If you’d like to see how a session works, my actor headshots page covers what to expect, and the actor headshot prices are all on the rates page. For business and LinkedIn work, have a look at my professional headshots in Suffolk.
