Understanding the Goal: What Makes a Portrait "Soft"?
A soft portrait typically aims for:
* Reduced Contrast: Fewer harsh shadows and highlights.
* Gentle Tones: A smooth and even color palette.
* Subtle Skin Softening: Reducing the appearance of blemishes and wrinkles without making the skin look unnatural or plastic.
* Slightly Dreamy, Ethereal Feel: Often achieved through subtle blurring or blooming effects.
Steps to Create the Preset in Lightroom 4:
1. Start with a Good Base Image: Open a portrait image in Lightroom's Develop module. Choose an image that's generally well-exposed and in focus to begin with.
2. Basic Adjustments:
* Exposure: Adjust slightly, if needed, to achieve a good overall brightness. Avoid overexposing.
* Contrast: Reduce this. Start by moving the Contrast slider to the left (negative values). A good starting point is -20 to -40. Experiment to find the sweet spot.
* Highlights: Bring the highlights down to recover detail in bright areas (e.g., the forehead). Try moving the Highlights slider to -20 to -50.
* Shadows: Open up the shadows to reveal more detail in darker areas of the face and body. Try moving the Shadows slider to +20 to +50.
* Whites: Slightly reduce the Whites slider to prevent clipping in the brightest areas. -5 to -15 is a good starting point.
* Blacks: Lift the blacks slightly to reduce contrast further. +5 to +15 often works well.
3. Tone Curve:
* This is crucial for achieving the soft look. Use the Point Curve (the one where you can click and drag to add points to the curve).
* Create a subtle S-curve, but a *very gentle* one.
* Add a point in the lower left quadrant and lift it slightly. This brightens the blacks and shadows.
* Add a point in the upper right quadrant and lower it slightly. This reduces the highlights.
* The key is subtlety. Don't create a sharp S-curve or you'll introduce harsh contrast.
4. Clarity:
* Reduce Clarity. This is important for softening the skin and overall image. Try -10 to -30. Too much will make the image look muddy.
5. Sharpening:
* Reduce sharpening significantly. In the Detail panel:
* Amount: Reduce to around 20-40 (or even lower). This is crucial for softening skin.
* Radius: Keep the Radius low (around 0.5 to 1.0). A larger radius will reintroduce sharpness.
* Detail: Reduce this as well, perhaps to 0-20.
* Masking: Adjust masking to avoid sharpening unwanted areas like hair or clothing.
6. Noise Reduction:
* Even if your image doesn't appear noisy, adding a *small* amount of Luminance noise reduction can help smooth out the skin and reduce subtle textures. Try a value of 5-15. Too much will make the skin look artificial.
7. Color Adjustments (Optional):
* Saturation/Vibrance: You might want to subtly increase Vibrance to enhance the colors without making them overly saturated. Try +5 to +15.
* HSL/Color Panel: Adjust individual color channels if needed. For example:
* Orange: Adjust the luminance of orange to fine-tune skin tone brightness. Increase saturation in orange slightly to improve skin tones.
* Reds/Yellows: Adjust the saturation of these colors if they are overpowering in the image.
8. Lens Corrections (Optional):
* If you notice any distortion or vignetting from your lens, go to the Lens Corrections panel and enable "Profile Corrections." This can help clean up the edges of the image. You might need to manually adjust vignetting afterwards if the automatic correction overcompensates.
9. Create the Preset:
* In the left panel of the Develop module, find the "Presets" panel.
* Click the "+" button next to "Presets" to create a new preset.
* Give your preset a descriptive name (e.g., "Soft Portrait - Light").
* Important: Carefully choose which settings to include in the preset.
* Check the boxes for all the settings you adjusted.
* UNCHECK "White Balance," "Exposure," "Lens Corrections" and "Transform" unless you specifically *want* your preset to always apply these settings. You'll usually want to adjust these individually for each photo.
* Lens profile is okay to include if you always use the same lens and want the same correction applied to every photo.
* If you want the profile to adapt to each lens, check only "Enable Profile Corrections".
* Consider not including Sharpening and Noise Reduction, as these are often highly dependent on the original image quality.
* Click "Create."
Tips for Using Your Preset:
* Apply and Adjust: Apply the preset to a new portrait. The preset is a *starting point*, not a finishing touch. You'll almost always need to fine-tune the settings based on the specific image.
* Experiment: Don't be afraid to tweak the sliders after applying the preset. Pay close attention to the skin tones, shadows, and highlights.
* Skin Smoothing: if skin is too smooth, reduce the settings from noise reduction, clarity or sharpening.
Important Considerations for Lightroom 4:
* Older Version: Lightroom 4 lacks some of the more advanced tools available in later versions (like the range mask). You'll have to rely more on global adjustments.
* Limited Skin Tone Control: The lack of dedicated skin tone tools means you'll have to rely more on subtle adjustments to the overall color balance and individual color channels.
Example Starting Values (Remember to adjust based on your image):
* Exposure: +0.10 to +0.30
* Contrast: -30
* Highlights: -40
* Shadows: +40
* Whites: -10
* Blacks: +10
* Clarity: -20
* Sharpening Amount: 30
* Sharpening Radius: 0.7
* Sharpening Detail: 10
* Luminance Noise Reduction: 10
* Vibrance: +10
By following these steps and experimenting, you can create a useful "Soft Portrait" preset in Lightroom 4 that gives your portrait images a beautiful, gentle, and flattering look. Remember to tailor the preset to your own style and preferences, and always make adjustments for individual images.