Understanding the Goal:
A soft portrait aims to:
* Reduce harshness: Minimize sharp edges and strong contrast.
* Smooth skin: Subtly reduce texture and imperfections.
* Enhance highlights: Create a glowing, dreamy feel.
* Warm tones: Often associated with a pleasant and inviting aesthetic.
Steps to Create the Preset (in Lightroom 4):
1. Start with a Representative Image:
* Open a portrait photo in Lightroom 4 that you want to use as your base for the preset. Choose a photo that's generally well-exposed.
2. Basic Panel Adjustments:
* Exposure: Adjust slightly to achieve the desired overall brightness. Usually, a slight increase (+0.1 to +0.3) can help, but it depends on the original image. Important: Don't overexpose! Preserve highlight details.
* Contrast: Reduce significantly. Aim for -20 to -40. This will flatten the image and remove harsh shadows.
* Highlights: Increase to recover some brightness in the brightest areas. Try +10 to +30. This can add a glowing effect.
* Shadows: Increase to brighten the darker areas and reveal more detail. Try +20 to +40. This opens up shadows and contributes to the soft look.
* Whites: Adjust carefully. Slightly increasing (+5 to +15) can enhance the brightness, but be mindful of clipping highlights. Watch the histogram.
* Blacks: Adjust carefully. Slightly decreasing (-5 to -15) can add a touch of depth and contrast without harshness.
3. Tone Curve Adjustments:
* The Tone Curve is *crucial* for a soft look. You'll want to create a slightly flattened "S" curve, sometimes called a "soft S-curve" or even a "negative S-curve". Here's how:
* Point Curve: Select the Point Curve (the default).
* Midtones: Slightly lift the midtones by clicking and dragging the center of the curve slightly upwards. Don't overdo it. A subtle lift is all you need.
* Highlights: Flatten the curve in the highlight area. Drag the upper portion of the curve down slightly. This protects highlights and contributes to the soft feel.
* Shadows: Flatten the curve in the shadow area. Drag the lower portion of the curve up slightly. This lifts the shadows and prevents them from being too dark.
4. HSL / Color Panel Adjustments:
* Hue: Subtle changes here can improve skin tones.
* Orange: Slightly shift orange towards red (usually a small negative value, like -5 to -10) to improve skin tone warmth.
* Yellow: Adjust as needed, usually leaving it alone or shifting it slightly towards orange (+5 to +10).
* Saturation: Reduce saturation slightly, especially in the orange and red channels. This helps to even out skin tones and soften the overall color palette. Try -5 to -15.
* Luminance: Adjust luminance to brighten or darken specific colors.
* Orange: Increase luminance of orange slightly (+5 to +15) to brighten skin.
* Yellow: Adjust as needed.
5. Detail Panel Adjustments:
* Sharpening: Reduce sharpening significantly. This is a *key* step for a soft look.
* Amount: Set this very low, like 0 to 20 (instead of the default of 25). Consider setting it to 0 for a truly soft effect, and add it back in locally later if necessary.
* Radius: Keep the radius small, around 0.5 to 0.7.
* Detail: Keep the detail low as well (around 0-20).
* Masking: Increase masking (around 40-60) to protect smoother areas like skin from excessive sharpening.
* Noise Reduction: Apply a *small* amount of luminance noise reduction. This will further smooth the image. Try 5 to 15. Be careful not to overdo it, or the image will look unnatural. Color noise reduction is usually fine left at the default 25.
6. Effects Panel Adjustments:
* Post-Crop Vignetting: Consider adding a *very* subtle, light vignette to draw focus to the subject. Choose "Highlight Priority" or "Color Priority" as the style. Amount: -5 to -15. Feather: high (80-100).
* Grain: Generally, avoid adding grain for a soft portrait look.
7. Camera Calibration Panel (Optional):
* Experiment with the Camera Calibration panel for nuanced color adjustments. This is more advanced. Try slightly shifting the Red Hue and Blue Hue for different color tones.
8. Create the Preset:
* Go to the "Presets" panel on the left side of Lightroom.
* Click the "+" button at the top of the panel.
* Choose "Create Preset."
* Preset Name: Give your preset a descriptive name, like "Soft Portrait - (Your Name)".
* Group: You can choose to create a new group for your portrait presets or place it in an existing group.
* Check: Make sure the boxes next to all the adjustments you made are checked. This ensures those adjustments are included in the preset. Important: If you don't check a box, that setting will NOT be applied when you use the preset. Pay close attention to this!
* Click "Create."
Important Considerations and Refinements:
* Image-Specific Adjustments: Remember that presets are starting points. You will almost always need to tweak the settings on individual images after applying the preset to get the perfect result. Pay particular attention to Exposure and White Balance.
* Skin Tone: Skin tone is paramount. Monitor the skin tones closely and adjust the HSL panel (especially Orange and Red) to achieve a natural and pleasing result.
* Subtlety is Key: The best soft portrait presets are subtle. Avoid overdoing any one adjustment.
* White Balance: Don't forget White Balance. A slightly warmer white balance (increase the temperature) often complements a soft portrait style.
* Experimentation: Don't be afraid to experiment and find what works best for your style and the images you typically work with.
* Local Adjustments: For even more control, use the Adjustment Brush or Graduated Filter tools to refine specific areas of the image, such as smoothing skin further or adding a subtle vignette.
Example Preset Settings (as a starting point):
These are guidelines; adjust them based on your images:
* Basic:
* Exposure: +0.2
* Contrast: -30
* Highlights: +20
* Shadows: +30
* Whites: +10
* Blacks: -10
* Tone Curve: Subtle S-curve (lift midtones, flatten highlights and shadows)
* HSL/Color:
* Orange Hue: -7
* Yellow Hue: +5
* Orange Saturation: -10
* Red Saturation: -5
* Orange Luminance: +10
* Detail:
* Sharpening Amount: 10
* Radius: 0.6
* Detail: 15
* Masking: 50
* Luminance Noise Reduction: 8
* Effects:
* Vignetting Amount: -8
* Vignetting Midpoint: 50
* Vignetting Feather: 90
By following these steps and experimenting with different settings, you can create a beautiful and versatile soft portrait preset in Lightroom 4 that will help you achieve a dreamy and flattering look for your portraits. Good luck!