Understanding the Goal
A soft portrait emphasizes:
* Reduced Sharpness: Lowering contrast and detail.
* Smooth Skin: Minimizing blemishes and imperfections.
* Even Tones: Gentle highlights and shadows.
* Warmth and Glow: Enhancing a pleasant skin tone.
Steps to Create the Preset
1. Open a Test Portrait: Choose a portrait image you want to use for testing. This will allow you to see the effects of your adjustments in real-time.
2. Basic Panel Adjustments:
* Exposure: Slightly increase exposure if needed (usually 0.10 to 0.30 stops). Be careful not to overexpose. Adjust to taste.
* Contrast: Reduce contrast. Start with -20 and adjust based on the image. A lower contrast creates a more even tone.
* Highlights: Reduce highlights. This helps recover detail in bright areas and further soften the image. Try -30 to -50.
* Shadows: Increase shadows. This lifts the darker areas, creating a more balanced look. Try +20 to +40.
* Whites: Adjust gently. Slightly lower whites can contribute to a softer look, but be careful not to make the image look dull. Try -5 to -15.
* Blacks: Adjust gently. Slightly increasing blacks can help add a touch of depth, but be careful not to introduce too much contrast. Try +5 to +15.
3. Tone Curve Adjustments (Optional, but often helpful):
* Point Curve: Use the Point Curve (if you are comfortable with it) to create a subtle "S-curve" effect. This adds a touch of contrast but in a gentler way than the Contrast slider. Pull the highlight point down ever so slightly, and lift the shadow point up ever so slightly. This creates a more muted S-curve.
* Channel Curves (Red, Green, Blue): Consider very subtle adjustments here to influence skin tones. For example:
* Red: A slight upward curve in the midtones can add warmth.
* Blue: A slight downward curve in the midtones can reduce coolness.
* Green: Adjust to get the right skin tone.
4. HSL/Color Panel Adjustments:
* Luminance:
* Increase the luminance of Orange and Yellow slightly. This enhances the luminosity of skin tones. Try +5 to +15 for each.
* Experiment with other colors, such as slightly decreasing the luminance of Blue if you want to reduce any blue hues in the image.
* Saturation:
* Slightly reduce the saturation of Orange and Yellow. This prevents skin tones from becoming overly saturated. Try -5 to -10 for each.
* Hue:
* Very subtle shifts here can improve skin tone. Experiment with slight adjustments to the hue of Orange and Yellow to find a pleasing skin tone. Generally, a slight shift towards red in orange and a slight shift toward orange in yellow is useful.
5. Detail Panel Adjustments:
* Sharpening: Reduce sharpening. This is a *key* step. Reduce the Amount considerably, somewhere between 0 and 30, start at 20 and adjust downwards if needed. Also, increase the Masking slider (above 50) to only sharpen edges. This avoids sharpening skin texture. The Radius and Detail sliders will affect how sharpening works. Adjust these sliders as needed to control the amount of sharpening and texture that appears in the image.
* Noise Reduction (Luminance): Add a small amount of luminance noise reduction. This smooths out skin and reduces overall graininess. Try +5 to +15.
6. Effects Panel Adjustments (Optional):
* Vignette: A *very* subtle positive vignette (amount slider to the right) can slightly brighten the edges, drawing attention to the center. This can add to the soft, ethereal feel. The amount should be very small, usually less than +10. Adjust the Midpoint to control the area affected.
7. Camera Calibration (Optional, but useful):
* Experiment with the Camera Calibration panel. Try selecting a different Camera Profile (e.g., Adobe Standard, Camera Portrait, or any profile specific to your camera) to see if it improves skin tones and overall color. Adjust the Red, Green, and Blue Hue and Saturation sliders in the Camera Calibration panel to adjust the overall color balance to your liking. *This is an advanced setting, so proceed with caution.* Subtle adjustments are key.
8. Save the Preset:
* In the Presets panel on the left, click the "+" button.
* Give your preset a descriptive name, like "Soft Portrait LR4".
* *Crucially,* check the boxes next to the parameters you adjusted. Make sure only the boxes are checked for the settings you altered (e.g., Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, Blacks, Sharpening, Noise Reduction, HSL adjustments, and Camera Calibration if you used it). Uncheck any settings you *didn't* change. This ensures the preset only applies the intended effects and doesn't accidentally reset other settings.
* Click "Create".
Important Considerations and Tips
* Image-Specific Adjustments: No preset works perfectly on every image. You'll likely need to make further adjustments to exposure, white balance, and other parameters on a per-image basis *after* applying the preset.
* Skin Tones: Pay very close attention to skin tones. Adjust the HSL/Color panel settings carefully to achieve natural and pleasing skin. Avoid making skin look too orange, yellow, or unnatural.
* Subtlety is Key: The best soft portraits are often the result of subtle adjustments. Avoid extreme settings.
* Practice and Experiment: The best way to develop a good soft portrait preset is to experiment with different settings and see what works best for your style and the types of portraits you typically shoot.
* White Balance: Make sure your white balance is accurate *before* applying the preset. A good starting point is crucial. Use the White Balance Selector tool (Eyedropper) or adjust the Temperature and Tint sliders to get the colors looking correct.
* Backup: It is always a good idea to backup your presets.
Why Lightroom 4?
Lightroom 4 is a capable piece of software, but bear in mind that more modern versions of Lightroom have made improvements to noise reduction, highlight/shadow recovery, masking and color grading tools, that can significantly improve the quality of your soft portraits. If you have access to a newer version, consider upgrading for those features.
By following these steps and experimenting with the different settings, you can create a custom "Soft Portrait" preset in Lightroom 4 that will help you achieve beautiful, soft, and flattering portrait images. Remember to save the preset and adjust it as needed for each individual photo. Good luck!