At fifteen he started work in a film-processing laboratory and studied photography at the Regent Street Polytechnic. He worked at the RAF Photographic School at Farnborough during the war, before going to work at Denham Studios in 1945. Lucas was so successful that the Rank Organisation set up a specially equipped studio at Pinewood for him to photograph the major stars they had under contract. During the 1940s and 1950s he took thousands of photographs, creating many iconic images of the leading players of the era. In 1959 he opened his own studio on Flood Street, Chelsea, working in advertising and fashion photography as well as portraiture.