I. The Goal: A Soft, Flattering Portrait
We aim for:
* Reduced Harshness: Smoothing skin tones and minimizing strong shadows.
* Gentle Highlights: Avoiding blown-out or overly bright areas.
* Subtle Color Palette: Muted, warm, or soft color tones (depending on preference).
* Overall Pleasant Aesthetic: A more romantic, dream-like quality.
II. The Adjustments (in Lightroom 4 Modules):
1. Basic Panel:
* Exposure: Adjust to achieve proper brightness. Slightly overexposing (+0.1 to +0.3 stops) can contribute to the softness, but be careful not to clip highlights. Start with 0 and adjust as needed.
* Contrast: Reduce contrast significantly (-20 to -40). This is a *key* component for softening the overall image and reducing the intensity of shadows and highlights.
* Highlights: Lower the Highlights (-30 to -60). This recovers detail in bright areas and prevents them from becoming too harsh.
* Shadows: Raise the Shadows (+20 to +40). This opens up the darker areas, further reducing contrast and revealing detail.
* Whites: Adjust Whites cautiously. A slight reduction (-5 to -15) can prevent clipping.
* Blacks: Adjust Blacks cautiously. A slight increase (+5 to +15) can add a touch of airiness, but too much will flatten the image.
* Clarity: *This is crucial*. Reduce Clarity significantly (-20 to -50). Clarity adds micro-contrast, so reducing it will smooth skin and create a softer look. Experiment to find the sweet spot. Too much reduction will make the image look blurry, not soft.
* Vibrance: Increase Vibrance (+10 to +25). Vibrance affects the saturation of the less saturated colors, making them pop without affecting skin tones as much. This helps to create a more pleasing color palette.
* Saturation: Adjust Saturation cautiously (+0 to +10). Be careful not to over-saturate, especially skin tones. If your Vibrance increase results in colors that are too vibrant, slightly reduce overall Saturation.
2. Tone Curve Panel:
* Point Curve (Optional but Recommended): Create a subtle "S" curve or a shallow "Linear" curve. The key is to *flatten the curve at the top and bottom*.
* *Flattening the top*: Drag the upper right point down slightly. This further reduces harsh highlights.
* *Flattening the bottom*: Drag the lower left point up slightly. This lifts the blacks and reduces harsh shadows.
* A *subtle* S-curve can add a touch of contrast back in, but keep it gentle.
* This flattening effect is crucial for achieving the soft look. A strong S-curve will undo much of the work you did in the Basic panel.
3. HSL/Color Panel:
* Luminance: Adjust the Luminance of skin tones (Orange, Red, Yellow) to brighten them slightly (+5 to +15 each). This can give a more radiant look.
* Saturation: Fine-tune skin tone saturation. Slightly reduce the saturation of Orange and Red if needed to prevent skin from looking overly orange or red.
* Hue: Shift the Hue of skin tones (Orange, Red, Yellow) *very subtly* if needed. Avoid dramatic shifts. A slight shift of Orange towards Yellow can sometimes be flattering.
4. Split Toning Panel (Optional):
* Add a subtle warm tone to the highlights (e.g., Hue around 40-50, Saturation around 5-10).
* Add a subtle cool tone to the shadows (e.g., Hue around 220-240, Saturation around 5-10).
* Adjust the Balance slider to favor the Highlights or Shadows depending on the desired effect.
* This adds a subtle color gradient to the image, often enhancing the overall softness. Use it sparingly.
5. Detail Panel:
* Sharpening: Reduce the Sharpening Amount (e.g., 20-40). Over-sharpening defeats the purpose of the soft look.
* Noise Reduction (Luminance): Increase Luminance Noise Reduction (e.g., 15-30). This smooths out grain and further enhances the softness, especially in shadow areas. Be careful not to overdo it, as it can make the image look plastic-like.
* Noise Reduction (Color): Increase Color Noise Reduction (e.g., 20-30) to remove color artifacts.
6. Lens Corrections Panel (Optional):
* Enable Profile Corrections: Corrects for lens distortions and vignetting.
* Remove Chromatic Aberration: Reduces color fringing.
7. Effects Panel (Optional):
* Post-Crop Vignetting: A subtle vignette (Amount -10 to -20, Midpoint around 50) can draw attention to the subject. Choose a Style and Roundness that suits your preference.
III. Saving the Preset:
1. In the left panel of Lightroom, click the "+" button next to "Presets."
2. Choose "Create Preset."
3. Give your preset a descriptive name (e.g., "Soft Portrait").
4. Crucially: Check *only* the boxes for the settings you want to include in the preset. Uncheck any settings that are specific to the image you're working on (like Exposure). For example, you'll likely want to uncheck Exposure, White Balance, and Transform.
5. Click "Create."
IV. Important Considerations & Tips:
* Image-Specific Adjustments: Every image is different. Your preset is a *starting point*. You'll almost always need to tweak the Exposure, White Balance, and possibly some of the color settings to suit the specific photograph.
* Skin Tone Accuracy: Pay close attention to skin tones. Use the HSL/Color panel to make subtle adjustments to ensure they look natural and flattering.
* Don't Overdo It: The key is subtlety. Avoid extreme adjustments, which can make the image look unnatural or overly processed.
* Practice and Experiment: Experiment with different settings to find the combination that works best for your style and the types of portraits you shoot. Create variations of your preset.
* Start with Good Raw Files: A well-exposed and properly composed raw image will always yield better results.
Example Preset Settings (Starting Point):
These are *approximate* values. Adjust them based on your image.
* Basic:
* Contrast: -30
* Highlights: -45
* Shadows: +30
* Clarity: -30
* Vibrance: +15
* Tone Curve: Subtle flattening at the top and bottom.
* Detail:
* Sharpening: 30 (Adjust to taste)
* Luminance Noise Reduction: 20
By understanding the purpose of each adjustment, you can create a "Soft Portrait" preset that consistently delivers beautiful and flattering results in Lightroom 4. Remember to always fine-tune the settings to suit each individual image. Good luck!