This is how I photograph gritty portraits like an award-winning TV crime show using filters & flash!

White man with dark hair, shirt and tie and black jacket, posing against a backdrop of a hillside and sky.

Have you ever wondered how streamers like Netflix and Amazon create those dramatic portraits of the stars in their thrillers? You know, the ones of the grizzled detective in a moody scene, where the actor is well lit, but the background is somehow both dark and blurry?

Well, you don't need a visual artist or illustrator – or any AI! – just the right camera techniques, and the right lens, a flashgun, and ND (Neutral Density) filter...