Understanding the Soft Portrait Look
Before we dive in, let's understand what makes a portrait "soft":
* Reduced Sharpness: Subtle blurring of details.
* Lower Contrast: Less harsh transitions between light and shadow.
* Increased Exposure: A brighter, airier feel.
* Gentle Highlights: Glowing highlights, often diffused.
* Warm or Neutral Tone: Avoiding overly cool or harsh colors.
* Skin Smoothing (Optional): Reducing blemishes and imperfections.
Step-by-Step Lightroom 4 Settings
1. Open Your Portrait Image: Select a portrait image that you want to use as a reference.
2. Basic Panel Adjustments:
* Exposure: Increase this slightly (e.g., +0.30 to +0.70) to brighten the image. Adjust based on your image.
* Contrast: Decrease this significantly (e.g., -20 to -40) to soften the shadows and highlights.
* Highlights: Decrease this to recover details in blown-out areas (e.g., -20 to -40).
* Shadows: Increase this to brighten the shadows and reveal detail (e.g., +20 to +40).
* Whites: Adjust based on the image. Usually a slight decrease can help (-5 to -15)
* Blacks: Adjust based on the image. Usually a slight increase can help (+5 to +15)
* Clarity: This is key! Reduce this (e.g., -10 to -30). A negative Clarity value softens the image and reduces harsh edges. Go too far, and it will look blurry.
* Vibrance: Increase slightly (e.g., +5 to +15) to boost the colors in a natural way, especially skin tones.
* Saturation: Adjust according to preference. A slight increase (e.g., +3 to +7) might be beneficial, but be careful not to over-saturate.
3. Tone Curve Panel:
* Point Curve: A very slight S-curve can add a subtle contrast boost while retaining softness. Grab the center of the curve and pull it up *slightly*. Then grab the bottom left point and pull it down very slightly to deepen the blacks. The key is subtlety.
* Channel Curve (Red, Green, Blue): Minor adjustments here can fine-tune your color tones. Experiment with subtle curves to add warmth (adjust Red and Blue) or cool tones (adjust Green and Blue).
4. HSL/Color/B&W Panel:
* Luminance:
* Orange: Increase (e.g., +5 to +15) to brighten skin tones.
* Yellow: Increase (e.g., +5 to +15) to brighten yellow hues. Adjust depending on background.
* Saturation:
* Orange: Slight decrease (-3 to -7) to reduce overly saturated skin tones.
* Yellow: Adjust based on the image and background elements.
* Hue: Slightly shift skin tones towards the red or yellow if needed. This is highly image-dependent.
5. Detail Panel:
* Sharpening: This is where you control the overall sharpness. Leave this *lower* than you normally would.
* Amount: Reduce this (e.g., 20-40).
* Radius: Leave at the default (1.0).
* Detail: Increase to compensate for the reduced Amount and retain some sharpness.
* Masking: Hold the Alt/Option key and drag the Masking slider to the right. This will only apply sharpening to the edges and avoid sharpening areas of smooth skin.
* Noise Reduction: Increase this to smooth out any digital noise (especially in shadows) and further enhance the soft look.
* Luminance: Increase (e.g., 10-30) depending on the noise levels in your image.
* Color: Increase (e.g., 10-20) to reduce color noise.
6. Lens Corrections Panel:
* Enable Profile Corrections: Check this box to correct lens distortions and vignetting. This can often improve the overall look of the portrait.
* Remove Chromatic Aberration: Check this box to eliminate any color fringing.
7. Effects Panel:
* Post-Crop Vignetting: A *very* subtle vignette can help draw attention to the subject.
* Amount: A slight negative amount (e.g., -5 to -15) is usually sufficient.
* Midpoint: Adjust the midpoint to control the size of the vignette.
* Grain: Avoid adding grain for a clean, soft look.
8. Saving Your Preset:
* Click the "+" button in the Presets panel.
* Name your preset (e.g., "Soft Portrait," "Dreamy Portrait").
* Crucially, carefully select *which settings* you want to include in the preset. You probably *don't* want to include lens corrections (as different lenses will have different profiles) or spot removal. You almost certainly don't want to include White Balance, because that is specific to each image.
* Click "Create."
Important Considerations and Tips:
* Image-Specific Adjustments: Remember that presets are a starting point. You'll almost always need to make further adjustments to each individual image.
* White Balance: White balance is crucial for good skin tones. Adjust this before applying the preset, or exclude it from the preset and adjust it manually each time.
* Skin Smoothing (Advanced): Lightroom 4 doesn't have dedicated skin smoothing tools like later versions. You can achieve a subtle smoothing effect by using the Adjustment Brush with:
* Negative Clarity (-15 to -30)
* Positive Sharpness (10 to 20)
* Slightly Reduced Noise
* Paint over the skin with the brush, avoiding eyes, lips, and hair.
* Practice and Experiment: The best way to learn is to experiment. Try different settings and see what works best for your style and the types of portraits you shoot.
* Before/After Comparison: Use the "Y" key to toggle between the before and after views and see the effect of your adjustments.
Example Values (Starting Point)
These are just starting points. Adjust them based on your image:
* Exposure: +0.50
* Contrast: -30
* Highlights: -30
* Shadows: +30
* Clarity: -20
* Vibrance: +10
* Sharpening Amount: 30
* Noise Reduction Luminance: 15
By following these steps and experimenting with the settings, you can create a beautiful "Soft Portrait" preset in Lightroom 4 that will give your portraits a dreamy, flattering, and timeless look. Good luck!