Key Concepts:
* Reducing Harshness: Soft portraits minimize sharp edges, reduce the appearance of wrinkles, and even out skin tones.
* Highlighting and Shadow Balance: A key element is managing highlights and shadows to create a gentle light.
* Color Tone: Warm, muted, or slightly desaturated colors often complement a soft portrait aesthetic.
* Adding Subtle Blur/Glow: This can be achieved with clarity and sharpness adjustments.
Steps to Create the Preset (Lightroom 4):
1. Open Lightroom and Select a Portrait Image: Choose a portrait you'd like to use as a test subject. This allows you to see the effects of your adjustments in real-time.
2. Basic Panel Adjustments:
* Exposure: Adjust to get a good overall brightness. Slightly overexposing (a tiny bit to the right on the histogram) can often help with the soft look. Be careful not to blow out highlights.
* Contrast: Reduce the contrast significantly. This is crucial. Start by sliding it to around -30 to -50. This flattens the tonal range and helps create a softer look.
* Highlights: Reduce the highlights. This is important for taming any harsh light and preventing blown-out areas. Aim for a setting of -40 to -70.
* Shadows: Increase the shadows. This opens up the dark areas of the image and reduces contrast. Aim for +20 to +50.
* Whites: Slightly adjust the whites. You can often reduce whites a small amount (-5 to -15) to further soften highlights.
* Blacks: Slightly increase the blacks (+5 to +15) can make the image feel richer.
* Temperature: Warm the image slightly. Adding a bit of warmth (move the slider slightly towards yellow) can be very flattering for portraits. Try +5 to +15.
* Tint: Adjust tint to correct for green or magenta cast. If the skin looks a bit green, add a touch of magenta, or vice versa. Adjustments are usually small, within a range of -5 to +5.
* Clarity: Reduce Clarity. This is a key step. Sliding the Clarity slider to a negative value creates a soft, slightly dreamy effect. Start around -20 to -40, and adjust based on your image. This adds to the "softness" by reducing mid-tone contrast.
* Vibrance/Saturation: Adjust subtly. Slightly increasing Vibrance (e.g., +5 to +15) can enhance the colors without overdoing it. You might also slightly decrease Saturation (-5 to -15) for a more muted, subtle look.
3. Tone Curve Adjustments (Optional but Recommended):
* Go to the Tone Curve panel. A subtle "S" curve can add a bit of depth back into the image without being harsh.
* Point Curve: Select "Point Curve".
* Adjust: Create a gentle "S" curve by adding two anchor points:
* One in the shadows (lower-left quadrant) and gently pull it *upward* a little.
* One in the highlights (upper-right quadrant) and gently pull it *downward* a little.
* Purpose: This subtly reintroduces some contrast that was lost from reducing the overall contrast slider. The gentle curve is important – don't make it too dramatic.
4. HSL/Color Adjustments (Optional):
* Hue: Minor adjustments can be made to skin tones. Subtly adjusting the orange hue can help make skin look more natural.
* Saturation: You might slightly desaturate oranges and yellows to minimize harshness in skin tones.
* Luminance: Increasing the luminance of oranges and yellows can brighten skin tones and create a gentle glow.
5. Detail Panel Adjustments:
* Sharpening: Reduce the sharpening significantly or turn it off completely. Sharpening adds harshness, which we want to avoid. Set "Amount" close to 0. If you want *any* sharpening, start with a very low value (e.g., 20) and use the masking slider to protect skin from over-sharpening (hold Alt/Option while dragging the Masking slider to see the mask).
* Noise Reduction (Luminance): Increase Luminance noise reduction slightly to smooth out skin. A setting of 10-20 is usually sufficient. Be careful not to overdo it, as it can make the image look plastic.
6. Effects Panel (Optional):
* Vignetting: A subtle vignette (negative value in the Amount slider) can draw the viewer's eye to the center of the image (the subject). Use with caution, and keep it very subtle.
* Grain: Adding a *very* small amount of grain can sometimes enhance the film-like feel of a soft portrait. If you use grain, keep it subtle.
7. Calibration (Optional):
* Experimenting with camera calibration settings (Red, Green, and Blue Primary adjustments) can subtly influence color rendition and overall mood. This is more advanced and requires some experimentation.
8. Create the Preset:
* Once you're happy with the adjustments, go to the "Presets" panel (usually on the left-hand side).
* Click the "+" (plus) button to create a new preset.
* Give your preset a descriptive name (e.g., "Soft Portrait V1").
* Crucially: In the "New Develop Preset" dialog, make sure to check the boxes for all the adjustments you made. If you only want to apply specific settings, uncheck the others.
* Click "Create."
9. Test and Refine:
* Apply the preset to several different portraits and see how it looks. You'll likely need to make minor adjustments on a per-image basis, as lighting and skin tones vary.
* Don't be afraid to tweak the preset based on your preferences and the specific look you're trying to achieve.
Troubleshooting Tips:
* Skin Tone: Always pay close attention to skin tones. If they look unnatural, adjust the Temperature, Tint, Hue, Saturation, and Luminance settings accordingly.
* Over-Softening: Be careful not to overdo the Clarity reduction or noise reduction, as this can make the image look blurry or plastic.
* Highlight Clipping: Watch for blown-out highlights (areas that are pure white and have no detail). Reduce Highlights and Whites until the highlights are under control.
* Preset Universality: No single preset works perfectly for every image. Be prepared to make adjustments after applying the preset.
Why these settings work:
* Reduced Contrast: Flattens the tonal range, minimizing harsh shadows and highlights, contributing to the soft look.
* Highlight and Shadow Adjustments: Balance the light in the image, preventing harsh contrasts and revealing detail in both bright and dark areas.
* Clarity Reduction: Reduces mid-tone contrast, blurring edges and creating a dreamy effect.
* Sharpening Reduction: Eliminates sharpness, enhancing the softness of the image.
* Noise Reduction: Smooths out skin and reduces imperfections.
* Warmth: Warmer tones are generally flattering for skin tones.
By following these steps and understanding the reasoning behind each adjustment, you can create a beautiful "Soft Portrait" preset in Lightroom 4 that will help you achieve a flattering and dreamy look in your portrait photography. Remember to experiment and refine your preset to suit your personal style.