I. Preparation & Understanding Your Vision:
1. Define Your Style: Before diving in, determine the aesthetic you want to achieve. Consider these questions:
* Warm or Cool Tone: Do you prefer a warm, sunny look or a cool, moody vibe?
* Contrast & Clarity: High contrast and clarity for a sharp, modern feel? Or soft, diffused for a dreamy look?
* Color Palette: Do you favor vibrant, saturated colors, or desaturated, muted tones? Think about which colors you want to enhance or subdue (skin tones, backgrounds, etc.).
* Overall Mood: What emotion are you trying to evoke? Joyful, pensive, dramatic, natural?
2. Choose a Base Image: Select a well-exposed RAW portrait image that's representative of the type of images you typically shoot. This will be your canvas for developing your preset.
II. The Development Process: Tweaking the Sliders
Work through the Basic panel and other panels in Lightroom's Develop module, experimenting with the following settings:
A. Basic Panel:
* White Balance (WB):
* Start with the *As Shot* setting.
* Adjust the *Temp* and *Tint* sliders. Move *Temp* towards warmer (yellow) for a sunny feel or cooler (blue) for a moody look. Adjust *Tint* to correct for green or magenta casts.
* Exposure: Correct the overall brightness. Aim for proper exposure without clipping highlights or shadows.
* Contrast: Increase for more definition, decrease for a softer look. Subtle adjustments are usually best.
* Highlights: Recover details in blown-out highlights. Lower the slider to bring back detail in bright areas.
* Shadows: Open up shadows to reveal more detail. Raise the slider to lighten dark areas. Be careful not to create too much noise.
* Whites: Set the point for pure whites in the image. Adjust carefully.
* Blacks: Set the point for pure blacks. Adjust carefully.
* Presence (Texture, Clarity, Dehaze):
* Texture: Adds or reduces fine detail. Use sparingly, especially on skin.
* Clarity: Adds mid-tone contrast. Increasing it can make images pop but can also accentuate skin imperfections. Negative clarity softens the image.
* Dehaze: Removes or adds haze. Useful for landscape-oriented portraits, but can be used creatively on faces, too. Be careful not to introduce artifacts.
* Vibrance/Saturation:
* Vibrance: Adjusts the saturation of the less saturated colors. A safer option than Saturation for portraits, as it tends to preserve skin tones better.
* Saturation: Adjusts the saturation of all colors equally.
B. Tone Curve Panel:
* Point Curve: Allows for fine-tuned adjustments to contrast.
* S-Curve: Creates higher contrast (darker shadows, brighter highlights).
* Inverse S-Curve: Creates lower contrast (flatter look).
* Experiment with different curve shapes to achieve your desired look. Subtle adjustments are key.
* Channel Curves (Red, Green, Blue): Adjust individual color channels to create color casts or fine-tune color balance. This is where you can get really creative with color grading.
C. HSL/Color Panel:
* Hue: Adjust the hue of individual colors (e.g., shift yellows towards orange or green). Subtle adjustments here can drastically change the overall feel. Use this to subtly shift skin tones or background colors.
* Saturation: Adjust the saturation of individual colors. This is important for targeting specific colors you want to enhance or suppress. Be cautious with skin tones.
* Luminance: Adjust the brightness of individual colors. Can be used to brighten or darken skin tones without affecting other areas. Useful for making eyes pop.
D. Color Grading Panel (Formerly Split Toning):
* Shadows: Adds a color cast to the shadows.
* Highlights: Adds a color cast to the highlights.
* Balance: Controls the bias between highlights and shadows.
* Blending: Controls the smoothness of the transition between highlights and shadows
* This is a powerful tool for creating specific moods and styles. Try adding a warm tone to the highlights and a cool tone to the shadows for a cinematic look.
E. Detail Panel:
* Sharpening: Adjust the sharpness of the image. Use a moderate amount for portraits.
* Amount: The strength of the sharpening effect.
* Radius: The size of the details being sharpened. Smaller radius for fine details.
* Detail: Controls the amount of sharpening applied to fine details versus broader areas.
* Masking: Protects smoother areas (like skin) from over-sharpening. Hold the Alt/Option key while dragging the Masking slider to see which areas are being masked.
* Noise Reduction: Reduce noise in the image, especially in the shadows.
* Luminance: Reduces brightness noise (graininess).
* Color: Reduces color noise (speckling).
F. Lens Corrections Panel:
* Enable Profile Corrections: Automatically corrects for lens distortion and vignetting based on your lens profile. Generally, you should enable this.
* Remove Chromatic Aberration: Fixes color fringing around high-contrast edges.
G. Transform Panel:
* Correct any perspective issues such as keystoning
III. Saving Your Preset:
1. Reset Individual Sliders: After each adjustment, consider if you want that specific slider to *always* be applied or only when it makes sense. For example, *Exposure* is usually image-specific, so you might not want to include it in your preset. To exclude a setting from the preset, reset that slider to its default value (usually by double-clicking on the slider name). Things like *Lens Corrections* or *Profile* are usually safe to include.
2. Create the Preset:
* Go to the *Presets* panel on the left-hand side of the Develop module.
* Click the "+" button (Create Preset).
* Preset Name: Give your preset a descriptive name (e.g., "Warm & Soft Portrait," "Moody Cinematic," "High-Key Black & White").
* Group: Choose or create a group to organize your presets.
* Check All/Uncheck All: Click "Check All" and then uncheck any settings that you *don't* want to include in the preset (like Exposure, White Balance if you want them to be flexible). Usually, you will UNCHECK:
* Exposure
* White Balance (unless you want a very specific and consistent white balance)
* Spot Removal
* Transform (unless always necessary for a lens)
3. Click "Create."
IV. Testing and Refinement:
1. Apply the Preset: Apply your new preset to a variety of different portrait images – different lighting conditions, skin tones, and subjects.
2. Observe and Adjust: Evaluate how the preset performs on each image. You'll likely need to make *minor* adjustments to the Exposure, White Balance, and possibly Tone Curve to fine-tune the look for each individual image. This is normal! Presets are a starting point, not a one-click solution.
3. Refine the Preset: If you find that the preset consistently needs the same adjustments on different images, go back to your original base image, make those changes, and then *re-save* the preset (right-click on the preset in the Presets panel and choose "Update with Current Settings").
V. Tips for Creative Portrait Presets:
* Skin Tone Considerations: Pay close attention to skin tones. Avoid overly saturated oranges or yellows, which can make skin look unnatural. Use the HSL/Color panel to fine-tune skin tones. Less is often more.
* Color Grading: Experiment with adding subtle color casts to the highlights and shadows using the Color Grading panel. This can create a unique and stylish look.
* Selective Adjustments: Use the Adjustment Brush, Radial Filter, or Graduated Filter to make targeted adjustments to specific areas of the image, such as brightening the eyes or smoothing skin. These can then be incorporated into a preset, but be aware that the positioning of these adjustments will be relative to the original image.
* Black and White Conversions: Experiment with black and white conversions, using the Channel Mixer to control the tonality of different colors.
* Matte Looks: Create a matte look by lifting the black point in the Tone Curve.
* Vintage Looks: Combine muted colors, subtle color casts, and a slightly faded look to create a vintage feel.
* High-Key Looks: Aim for a bright, airy look with lots of white and pastel colors.
* Moody/Dark Looks: Embrace deep shadows, muted colors, and strong contrast.
* Study Existing Presets: Analyze existing presets (both free and paid) to see how they achieve their look. This can provide inspiration for your own creations. However, avoid directly copying presets; the goal is to learn and develop your own unique style.
VI. Important Considerations:
* Shoot in RAW: RAW files contain much more information than JPEGs, giving you greater flexibility in post-processing.
* Proper Exposure: Start with a well-exposed image. Presets are easier to apply and refine when the base image is properly exposed.
* Monitor Calibration: Ensure your monitor is properly calibrated for accurate color representation.
* Practice and Experimentation: The key to creating great presets is practice and experimentation. Don't be afraid to try new things and see what works.
* Don't Overdo It: Subtle adjustments are often more effective than dramatic ones. Avoid extreme settings that can make your images look unnatural.
By following these steps and experimenting with different settings, you can create a collection of creative Lightroom develop presets that will help you achieve your desired look for your portrait photography. Remember to test, refine, and adapt your presets as your style evolves.