Understanding the "Soft Portrait" Look:
Before we begin, it's important to understand what elements contribute to the soft portrait aesthetic:
* Reduced Contrast: Lowers the harshness of shadows and highlights, creating a smoother tonal range.
* Subdued Highlights: Prevents blown-out highlights, maintaining detail in the skin.
* Lifted Shadows: Opens up the shadows, revealing details and reducing dark patches.
* Controlled Clarity: Softens skin texture and reduces overall sharpness.
* Gentle Colors (Optional): Desaturates or adjusts color tones for a more muted or romantic feel.
* Slight Sharpening (Targeted): Adds a small amount of sharpening to the eyes to draw focus.
* Noise Reduction (If Needed): Reduces noise, especially in the shadows.
Step-by-Step Guide to Creating the Preset:
1. Import and Select a Portrait Photo: Import a portrait photo into Lightroom 4 that you want to use as a base. Choose a photo with good lighting and a subject you can easily see the effects on.
2. Basic Panel Adjustments:
* Exposure: Adjust to achieve the correct overall brightness of the image. Start with a slightly brighter exposure than you think you need, as we'll be reducing contrast later.
* Contrast: Decrease significantly. Try starting with -20 to -40 and adjust to taste. This is a key element in creating the soft look.
* Highlights: Lower the highlights. Start with -30 to -50. This will prevent blown highlights and preserve skin detail.
* Shadows: Increase the shadows. Start with +20 to +40. This will open up the shadows and reduce harshness.
* Whites: Slightly adjust whites to fine-tune the overall brightness. Usually, a small reduction is helpful (-5 to -15).
* Blacks: Slightly adjust blacks to fine-tune the overall contrast. Usually, a small increase is helpful (+5 to +15).
* Clarity: Reduce the Clarity dramatically. Start with -20 to -50. This softens skin texture and reduces overall sharpness. This is another crucial setting.
* Vibrance/Saturation: Consider slightly adjusting Vibrance (generally increasing it) or Saturation (generally decreasing it) depending on your preferences. A subtle touch is usually best. +5 to +15 Vibrance or -5 to -15 Saturation is a good starting point.
3. Tone Curve Adjustments (Optional, but Recommended):
* The Tone Curve allows for more precise control over contrast. Consider adding a gentle "S-curve" or "Film-Like" curve.
* Subtle S-Curve: Click the point curve icon (bottom right of the tone curve panel). Gently pull the upper-right part of the curve down slightly and the lower-left part of the curve up slightly. This creates a very subtle contrast adjustment.
* Film-Like Curve (flatter highs and lows): Create a point at the top right (highlights), and another at the bottom left (shadows). Pull the highlight point down slightly, and the shadow point up slightly. This will give you flatter highs and lows with more mid-tone range, helping to create a smoother, softer look.
4. HSL/Color Adjustments (Optional):
* Skin Tones: Adjust the Hue, Saturation, and Luminance (HSL) of the orange and red channels to refine skin tones.
* Hue: Slightly shift oranges towards red or yellow to find the most flattering skin tone.
* Saturation: Reduce the saturation of oranges and reds slightly to soften the skin.
* Luminance: Increase the luminance of oranges and reds to brighten the skin.
* Other Colors: You can also adjust the colors in the background to complement your subject. For example, slightly desaturating greens and blues can help the subject stand out.
5. Detail Panel - Sharpening and Noise Reduction:
* Sharpening: Reduce the Amount significantly. Start with a value around 20-40.
* Radius: Keep the radius low (0.5-1.0).
* Detail: Adjust the Detail slider to control how much fine detail is sharpened. Often a lower value is preferred for a softer look.
* Masking: Hold down the Alt/Option key while adjusting the Masking slider. This will show you a black and white mask. Adjust the slider so that only the areas you want to sharpen (e.g., eyes, eyelashes) are white. This prevents sharpening on the skin. A higher masking value focuses sharpening on edges.
* Noise Reduction: If your photo has noise, especially in the shadows, increase the Luminance Noise Reduction. Start with a value of 10-20 and adjust as needed. Be careful not to overdo it, as this can make the image look overly smooth and artificial.
6. Effects Panel - Grain (Optional):
* Adding a very subtle amount of grain can give the image a film-like quality. Experiment with adding a small amount (2-5) and adjusting the Size and Roughness sliders to taste.
7. Lens Corrections (Optional):
* Enable "Remove Chromatic Aberration" and "Enable Profile Corrections". This will correct any distortion or vignetting introduced by your lens.
8. Calibration (Optional):
* Experiment with the Red, Green, and Blue Primary sliders in the Calibration panel to subtly adjust the overall color tone of the image.
9. Create the Preset:
* Click the "+" icon in the Presets panel on the left side of the Lightroom interface.
* Give your preset a descriptive name (e.g., "Soft Portrait", "Dreamy Portrait").
* Crucially, in the "Check All" box that appears, *uncheck* "White Balance," "Exposure," "Process Version," "Lens Corrections," and "Transform". Leaving these checked can cause the preset to drastically alter unrelated aspects of different photos, making it unusable. We want the preset to focus on creating the *soft portrait effect*, not changing the photo's fundamental properties.
* Carefully consider whether to include Profile Corrections, and remove the checkmark if you don't want these to be applied. Lens corrections vary between lenses, so sometimes leaving this unchecked allows more re-usability of the preset.
* Click "Create."
Tips and Considerations:
* Experiment: These settings are a starting point. Adjust them based on the specific photo you're working with.
* Subtlety is Key: The best soft portrait presets are subtle and enhance the natural beauty of the subject without looking overly processed.
* Adapt to Different Images: This preset may not work perfectly on every portrait. You may need to tweak the settings for different lighting conditions, skin tones, and image styles.
* Skin Tone Variations: Different skin tones will react differently to these settings. Pay close attention to how the skin looks and make adjustments accordingly.
* Eye Sharpening: Always make sure the eyes are sharp and in focus. The sharpening mask is crucial for only sharpening what's necessary.
* Batch Processing: Once you've created a preset you like, you can apply it to multiple photos at once. However, it's always a good idea to review each photo and make individual adjustments as needed.
Example Settings (Starting Point):
These are just examples, you will likely need to adjust these values depending on the individual photograph.
* Basic Panel:
* Exposure: +0.3 to +0.7 (Adjust as needed)
* Contrast: -30
* Highlights: -40
* Shadows: +30
* Whites: -10
* Blacks: +10
* Clarity: -35
* Vibrance: +10
* Detail Panel:
* Amount: 30
* Radius: 0.8
* Detail: 25
* Masking: 60-80 (Adjust to isolate sharpening to the eyes)
* Luminance Noise Reduction: 15 (If needed)
* Tone Curve: Subtle S-Curve or flatter highs and lows as described above.
By following these steps and experimenting with different settings, you can create a beautiful "Soft Portrait" preset in Lightroom 4 that will help you achieve a dreamy, flattering look in your portrait photography. Remember to practice and adapt the settings to suit different images and your personal style.