I. Understanding the Goal:
A soft portrait preset aims to:
* Soften Skin: Reduce the appearance of blemishes and fine lines.
* Create a Dreamy/Ethereal Look: Lower contrast and clarity.
* Brighten the Image: Enhance the subject's features and create a more inviting feel.
* Add a Subtle Warmth (Optional): To create a flattering and inviting feel.
* Maintain Sharpness Where Necessary: Avoid making the image too blurry; preserve details in the eyes, for example.
II. Lightroom 4 Settings Breakdown:
A. Basic Panel:
* Temperature: Slightly warmer (move the slider slightly to the right, maybe +3 to +10) to add a touch of warmth, making skin tones more pleasing. Adjust according to the existing lighting in your image.
* Tint: Adjust according to the image, often slightly towards magenta to help with skin tones.
* Exposure: Increase slightly (e.g., +0.20 to +0.50). Adjust according to the image. The goal is to brighten the overall image without blowing out highlights.
* Contrast: Decrease significantly (e.g., -20 to -40). Reducing contrast contributes to the overall softness.
* Highlights: Decrease (e.g., -10 to -30). This helps to recover detail in bright areas and prevent harsh highlights.
* Shadows: Increase (e.g., +10 to +30). This brightens the shadow areas, further reducing contrast and revealing detail in darker areas.
* Whites: Adjust as needed, potentially decrease slightly (e.g., -5 to -15) to prevent clipping.
* Blacks: Adjust as needed, potentially increase slightly (e.g., +5 to +15) to lift the blacks and contribute to the softer look.
B. Tone Curve:
* Point Curve or Parametric Curve: Creating a slight "S" curve (or a very shallow one) can enhance the soft look.
* Point Curve: Gently pull the highlights up slightly and the shadows down slightly.
* Parametric Curve: You can use the Regions sliders:
* Highlights: Slight increase.
* Lights: Slight increase.
* Darks: Slight decrease.
* Shadows: Slight decrease.
Important: Keep the "S" curve very subtle. An aggressive curve will reintroduce contrast.
C. HSL/Color Panel:
* Hue: Subtle adjustments can improve skin tones. Generally, adjusting the orange hue towards yellow slightly can be beneficial.
* Saturation: Slightly desaturate the orange and yellow colors (e.g., -5 to -15). This helps to reduce redness in the skin. Be careful not to desaturate too much, or the image will look dull.
* Luminance: Increase the luminance of orange and yellow (e.g., +5 to +15). This brightens skin tones.
D. Detail Panel:
* Sharpening: Reduce sharpening Amount (e.g., Amount: 20-40). This is crucial for softening the skin.
* Radius: Keep this low (e.g., 0.5 - 0.8).
* Detail: Lower this as well (e.g., 10-20).
* Masking: Increase masking (e.g., 50-70). This prevents sharpening from being applied to smooth areas of the image, like skin, focusing it on edges and details like eyes and hair. Hold ALT/Option while dragging the masking slider to see the mask. White areas are sharpened, black areas are not.
* Noise Reduction:
* Luminance: Increase slightly (e.g., 5-15). This helps to smooth skin and reduce grain. Be careful not to overdo it, as it can make the image look waxy.
* Color: Increase slightly to reduce color noise (e.g., 10-20).
E. Effects Panel:
* Vignetting: Consider adding a subtle vignette (Amount: -5 to -15) to draw the viewer's eye towards the subject. Negative values darken the corners, positive values lighten them.
* Grain: Avoid adding grain for a soft portrait.
F. Camera Calibration (Optional):
* Experiment with profiles if desired, but this is usually less important than the above settings.
III. Creating the Preset:
1. Import a Sample Image: Choose a portrait photo to work with.
2. Adjust Settings: Go through the settings described above and adjust them until you achieve the desired soft portrait look on your sample image. Remember to pay close attention to skin tones.
3. Create the Preset:
* In the "Presets" panel (usually on the left), click the "+" button.
* Name the preset (e.g., "Soft Portrait").
* Crucially, select the settings you want to include in the preset. This is very important. For a soft portrait preset, you'll want to include:
* Basic Tone (Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, Blacks, Temperature, Tint)
* Tone Curve
* HSL/Color
* Sharpening
* Noise Reduction
* Effects (if you used Vignetting)
* Camera Calibration (only if you significantly changed the profile)
* Click "Create."
IV. Applying and Fine-Tuning the Preset:
1. Apply to Other Images: Select a different portrait image.
2. Click on Your Preset: The "Soft Portrait" preset will now be available in the "User Presets" (or similar) section of your Presets panel. Click on it to apply the preset to the new image.
3. Fine-Tune: This is essential! No preset works perfectly on every image. You'll likely need to make adjustments to the following based on the individual photo:
* Exposure: Adjust to correct overall brightness.
* White Balance (Temperature & Tint): Adjust for accurate skin tones and overall color.
* HSL/Color: Fine-tune skin tones further.
* Noise Reduction: Adjust based on the amount of noise in the original image.
* Sharpening: Adjust depending on the original image's sharpness and desired softness level.
V. Tips and Considerations:
* Start Subtle: Don't overdo the settings, especially noise reduction and sharpening.
* Skin Tones are Key: Pay very close attention to skin tones. Use the HSL/Color panel to refine them.
* Image Quality Matters: The quality of the original image significantly impacts the results. A well-exposed and properly focused photo will always yield better results.
* Experiment: Don't be afraid to experiment with different settings to find what works best for your style.
* Batch Processing: Once you have a preset you like, you can apply it to multiple images at once using Lightroom's batch processing capabilities. However, you'll still need to fine-tune each image individually for optimal results.
* Targeted Adjustments: Consider using Lightroom's adjustment brush or graduated filter to apply certain effects (like noise reduction) selectively to specific areas of the image. For example, you might apply noise reduction only to the skin.
By following these steps and experimenting with the settings, you can create a beautiful "Soft Portrait" preset in Lightroom 4 that will enhance your portrait photography. Remember that the key is to customize the preset for each individual image to achieve the best possible results. Good luck!