Understanding the Goal:
A soft portrait aims to:
* Reduce harsh lines and wrinkles: Smoothing out skin texture while retaining detail.
* Diffuse light: Creating a gentle, ethereal quality.
* Enhance skin tones: Bringing out warmth and natural beauty.
* Maintain sharpness in key areas (eyes): While softening skin, ensure the eyes remain sharp and focused.
Step-by-Step Guide:
1. Open Lightroom 4 and Select an Image:
* Choose a portrait image that you want to apply the soft effect to.
2. Basic Panel Adjustments:
* Exposure: Adjust to achieve a pleasing overall brightness. Usually a slight increase (+0.10 to +0.50) can help brighten the face. Be careful not to overexpose.
* Contrast: Decrease the contrast slightly (-5 to -20). This helps flatten the tonal range and reduce harsh shadows, contributing to a softer look.
* Highlights: Decrease slightly (-10 to -30). Recovering highlights can soften the overall look and prevent blown-out areas, especially on the skin.
* Shadows: Increase slightly (+5 to +20). Opening up the shadows brightens the darker areas, making the image appear more balanced and less contrasty.
* Whites: Adjust to taste. A slight adjustment can help to bring out brightness.
* Blacks: Adjust to taste. This should be a more subtle adjustment than shadows.
3. Tone Curve Panel Adjustments:
* Point Curve (Subtle S-Curve): Create a very gentle S-curve. Drag the bottom left point slightly up (raising the blacks) and the top right point slightly down (lowering the highlights). This is similar to reducing contrast. A tiny S-curve is all you need. If you're uncomfortable with the point curve, stick with the Parametric curve options.
* Parametric Curve (Alternatives): Alternatively, in the Parametric curve, slightly reduce the Highlights and increase the Shadows. This achieves a similar effect to the point curve, but in a more structured manner.
4. HSL/Color Panel Adjustments:
* Luminance: This is key for skin softening.
* Orange: Slightly increase the Orange luminance (+5 to +15). This brightens skin tones. Be careful not to overdo it, as it can make the skin look unnatural.
* Red: Slightly increase the Red luminance (+0 to +10). Red hues are often present in skin, so a subtle boost can help.
* Saturation:
* Orange: Decrease Orange saturation slightly (-5 to -15). Reducing the intensity of the orange helps prevent overly orange skin tones.
* Red: Decrease Red saturation slightly (-5 to -10). Similar to orange, reducing the red helps maintain natural skin tones.
5. Detail Panel Adjustments:
* Sharpening: This is crucial for controlling sharpness.
* Amount: Reduce the Sharpening Amount significantly (e.g., 0-25, or even lower). We're aiming for softness.
* Radius: Keep this relatively small (around 0.5 - 1.0).
* Detail: Lower the Detail slider (e.g., 0-20). This further reduces sharpness and texture.
* Masking: Increase the Masking slider (e.g., 60-90). This is *very* important. Masking protects areas of high detail (like the eyes, eyebrows, and lips) from the sharpening reduction. Hold down the Alt/Option key while dragging the slider to see the mask (white areas are sharpened, black areas are not).
* Noise Reduction:
* Luminance: Add a *slight* amount of Luminance Noise Reduction (+5 to +20). This helps smooth out skin texture. Too much will make the skin look waxy, so be subtle.
* Color: Add a small amount of Color Noise Reduction (+10 to +20).
6. Effects Panel Adjustments:
* Post-Crop Vignetting: Consider adding a very subtle vignette (Amount: -5 to -15) to draw the viewer's eye towards the subject. Experiment with the Midpoint and Roundness sliders for the desired effect.
* Grain: Adding a tiny bit of grain can make the image less clinical. A very small amount, with low size, can add texture. Experiment.
7. Camera Calibration Panel (Optional):
* This is a more advanced adjustment. Experiment with the Camera Calibration panel to fine-tune color tones. You might try slightly adjusting the Red, Green, and Blue primary hues and saturations to achieve a specific mood or enhance skin tones. However, proceed with caution as these changes can be very impactful. A popular approach is to slightly shift the Red Primary towards orange and increase the blue saturation slightly.
8. Saving the Preset:
* In the left panel of Lightroom, click the "+" button in the "Presets" panel and choose "Create Preset."
* Name your preset something descriptive like "Soft Portrait - [Your Name]".
* Important: In the "Check" section, carefully select which settings you want to include in the preset. Usually, you'll want to include all the settings you've adjusted. However, consider *excluding* Exposure, White Balance, and Process Version, as these may vary greatly depending on the individual image. This allows the preset to be applied to images with different lighting conditions without drastically altering their base exposure or white balance.
* Click "Create".
Important Considerations and Tips:
* Start Subtle: Err on the side of caution with each adjustment. It's easier to add more than to remove too much.
* Experiment and Refine: These are guidelines. Each image is different. Don't be afraid to adjust the settings to suit the specific image. Create multiple variations of the preset.
* Skin Tone Accuracy: Pay close attention to skin tones. The goal is to enhance, not distort. Use the HSL panel to fine-tune skin tones as needed.
* Batch Processing: After applying the preset, always review each image individually to ensure it looks its best. You may need to make minor adjustments to the exposure, white balance, or other settings.
* Local Adjustments (Adjustment Brush or Graduated Filter): Use the adjustment brush to selectively apply sharpening to the eyes. This ensures they remain sharp while the rest of the image is softened. Also consider using a graduated filter to apply slight adjustments to the background, further isolating the subject. This is particularly useful for portraits where the background is distracting or harsh.
* File Type Matters: Shooting in RAW provides more flexibility for adjustments. JPEG files have already undergone some processing, so you'll have less latitude.
* Monitor Calibration: A properly calibrated monitor is essential for accurate color and tone adjustments.
* Avoid Over-Processing: The key to a good soft portrait is to create a subtle and natural look. Avoid overdoing the effects, which can result in an artificial or unnatural appearance.
By following these steps and experimenting with different settings, you can create a beautiful and effective soft portrait preset in Lightroom 4. Remember to save your preset and use it as a starting point for future portrait edits! Good luck!