1. Understanding the Soft Portrait Look:
* Goal: Smooth skin, reduced harshness, dreamy feel, and a generally more forgiving aesthetic.
* Key Adjustments: Reduced contrast, softened highlights, slight desaturation, gentle sharpening, and potentially some added warmth or coolness depending on your preference.
2. Steps in Lightroom 4 to Create the Preset:
* Choose a Starting Image: Select a portrait photo that represents the type of images you'll be using the preset on. This will help you visualize the effects as you make adjustments.
* Develop Module: Ensure you're in the Develop module.
* Basic Panel Adjustments:
* Temperature: Adjust slightly warmer or cooler depending on the desired tone. A subtle shift (e.g., +5 to -5) can make a difference. Err on the side of warmth for a more flattering look on most skin tones.
* Tint: A similar adjustment as Temperature, but controls the green/magenta balance. Usually needs only small adjustments.
* Exposure: Adjust to correct overall brightness. Don't overexpose (blown-out highlights are hard to fix later). Usually, a small boost can help.
* Contrast: This is crucial. Reduce contrast significantly. Try starting around -20 to -40. This reduces harshness and brings out details in the shadows.
* Highlights: Lower the Highlights. This softens bright areas and helps avoid harsh reflections on the skin. Try starting around -20 to -50. Experiment until the skin highlights are smoothed.
* Shadows: Slightly increase the Shadows. This opens up the darker areas and helps to create a more balanced image. Try around +10 to +30.
* Whites: Adjust slightly to refine overall brightness. Be careful not to clip the highlights.
* Blacks: Adjust slightly to deepen the darker areas. Be careful not to crush the shadows.
* Tone Curve Panel:
* Point Curve: A subtle "S-curve" can enhance the soft look. Grab the midpoint of the curve and pull it up slightly to lighten midtones. Then pull down slightly on the shadows end to deepen them a tiny bit. *Avoid making a drastic S-curve, it will add contrast which we want to avoid.*
* Channel-Specific Curves (Red, Green, Blue): Subtle adjustments here can fine-tune color tones. Often, lifting the shadow point in the blue channel a tiny bit can add a subtle cool tone to the shadows, contributing to a slightly ethereal look. This is optional.
* HSL/Color/B&W Panel:
* Hue: Adjust skin tones slightly. For example, shift the orange hue towards red for a warmer look, or towards yellow for a more golden look. Make subtle adjustments only.
* Saturation: Reduce overall saturation *slightly*. This helps create a softer, less intense look. Try -5 to -15. Alternatively, adjust the saturation of specific colors that dominate the skin, like Orange and Red. Desaturating these slightly can help smooth skin tones.
* Luminance: Increase the luminance of skin tones (Orange and Red). This brightens them slightly and can enhance the skin's glow.
* Detail Panel:
* Sharpening: Reduce sharpening significantly. Soft portraits should not be overly sharp. Start with an Amount of 0 or a very low value (e.g., 20-30). Increase the Radius slightly (e.g., 1.2) to soften details. Consider increasing the Masking slider to prevent sharpening background details. Use the Alt/Option key while adjusting masking to see a greyscale view of what's being masked. White areas are sharpened, black areas are not.
* Noise Reduction: Increase Luminance Noise Reduction. This smooths out skin and reduces any grain. Start with a value of 10-30 and adjust until the skin looks smooth but not plasticky. Be careful not to overdo it, as too much noise reduction will make the image look blurry.
* Lens Corrections Panel (Optional):
* Enable Profile Corrections: This automatically corrects lens distortion and chromatic aberration, which can improve the overall quality of your portrait.
* Remove Chromatic Aberration: Check this box to remove color fringing.
* Effects Panel (Optional):
* Grain: Adding a very small amount of grain can give the image a film-like look. Use with caution (Amount 5-10 is generally enough).
* Vignette: A subtle vignette can draw the viewer's eye to the subject. Consider a slight darkening (-5 to -15) with a Midpoint adjusted to the center of the image. Use sparingly.
* Calibration Panel (Optional):
* Experiment with the Red, Green, and Blue Primary Hue and Saturation sliders. Subtle adjustments here can fine-tune the overall color tone of the image.
3. Saving the Preset:
* Click the "+" button in the Presets panel (left side of the Develop module).
* Choose "Create Preset."
* Give your preset a descriptive name (e.g., "Soft Portrait - Warm," "Soft Portrait - Natural").
* Crucially, select *only* the settings you adjusted. Uncheck everything you *didn't* change. This ensures the preset doesn't unexpectedly alter unrelated aspects of other images. The important ones to select will be:
* Basic Tone
* Tone Curve
* HSL/Color/B&W
* Detail
* Effects
* Lens Corrections (if you used them)
* Calibration (if you used it)
* Click "Create."
4. Using and Fine-Tuning the Preset:
* Apply the preset to a new image.
* Analyze the results. Every image is different, so you'll likely need to make further adjustments after applying the preset.
* Fine-tune the Basic panel settings (Exposure, White Balance) first.
* Then, make smaller adjustments to other panels as needed.
* Consider creating variations of your preset. For example, you could have a "Soft Portrait - Warm" preset and a "Soft Portrait - Cool" preset.
Key Tips for Success:
* Subtlety is key: Avoid extreme adjustments. The goal is a gentle, flattering look, not an over-processed one.
* Skin tone matters: Pay close attention to skin tones. A soft portrait should still have realistic and healthy-looking skin.
* Experiment with different images: Test your preset on a variety of portraits with different lighting and skin tones to see how it performs.
* Practice and refine: The more you use your preset, the better you'll understand how it affects different images and the more refined your presets will become.
* Consider the subject's age: More aggressive skin smoothing might be suitable for younger subjects, but less so for older subjects where preserving some texture is desirable.
* Backup your presets: Export your presets regularly as `.lrtemplate` files so you don't lose them if something happens to your Lightroom catalog.
By following these steps, you can create a "Soft Portrait" preset in Lightroom 4 that will help you achieve a beautiful, flattering look for your portrait photography. Remember to practice and refine your preset to get the best results for your individual style. Good luck!