What makes a cover shot look like a cover shot
It is mostly light. Editorial photography uses hard, directional key light with controlled falloff — the opposite of the soft, flattering wrap most portrait apps apply. Hard light shows structure: cheekbones, jawline, the edge of a shoulder. That is why a cover shot reads as confident and a beauty filter reads as soft, and it is the single biggest thing this template is reproducing.
Getting a strong result
Start from a sharp, front-facing photo lit as evenly as you can manage. The template supplies its own dramatic lighting, and a source that already has strong directional shadow gives it two conflicting light directions to reconcile — which usually shows up as an odd shadow across the face. Half-body framing gives the styling somewhere to go; a very tight crop leaves it with only a face to work on.