1. Inspiration and Conceptualization:
* Define your Style: What kind of mood or feeling do you want to evoke? Consider:
* Warm and Dreamy: Soft light, warm tones, slight desaturation.
* Moody and Dramatic: Deep shadows, cool tones, increased contrast.
* Clean and Natural: Minimal adjustments, focusing on correcting exposure and color.
* Vintage/Film: Grain, faded colors, specific color casts (e.g., greenish or magenta hues).
* High Contrast/Bold Colors: Punchy colors, sharp details.
* Browse and Analyze: Look at portraits you admire online (Instagram, Pinterest, professional photographers' websites). Note what aspects you like:
* Color Palette: Are the colors saturated, muted, warm, cool, etc.?
* Contrast: High contrast for a dramatic look, or low contrast for a softer feel?
* Brightness: Are they bright and airy, or dark and moody?
* Skin Tones: Are the skin tones warm, neutral, cool, or stylized (e.g., orange and teal)?
* Grain: Is there noticeable grain?
* Consider the Subject and Setting: The best presets complement the subject and the environment. A preset designed for a sunny outdoor portrait might not work well for an indoor studio shot.
* Create a Mood Board: Compile images that represent the look you're aiming for. This helps solidify your vision.
2. Developing the Preset in Lightroom:
* Start with a Base Image: Choose a RAW portrait photo that is well-exposed and represents a typical image you'd want to use the preset on. Ideally, find one with a variety of skin tones and lighting conditions. This is crucial for making a versatile preset.
* Basic Panel: This is your foundation.
* White Balance: Adjust the Temperature and Tint to achieve the desired color balance. Experiment with warmer tones for a cozy feel or cooler tones for a more dramatic look. Use the eyedropper tool to click on a neutral gray area in the photo for a starting point.
* Exposure: Brighten or darken the overall image as needed. Slightly underexposing can add drama.
* Contrast: Increase for punchier images, decrease for a softer feel.
* Highlights: Recover blown-out highlights. Decreasing them can create a softer, more film-like look.
* Shadows: Open up shadows to reveal detail. Be careful not to make the image look flat.
* Whites: Set the brightest points in the image.
* Blacks: Set the darkest points in the image.
* Tone Curve: This is where you can make subtle yet powerful adjustments to contrast and tone.
* Point Curve:
* S-Curve: Creates contrast by brightening highlights and darkening shadows. The steeper the "S," the higher the contrast.
* Linear Curve: A flat line for minimal contrast.
* Faded/Matte Look: Raise the bottom point of the curve slightly to lift the blacks and create a faded effect.
* Channel Curves (Red, Green, Blue): Fine-tune color casts. For example:
* Adding Blue to Shadows: Lower the bottom point of the blue channel.
* Adding Orange to Highlights: Raise the top point of the red channel and lower the top point of the green and blue channels.
* HSL/Color Panel: Refine individual colors.
* Hue: Shift colors (e.g., shift orange towards red or yellow).
* Saturation: Increase or decrease the intensity of colors. Desaturating certain colors (like blues and greens) can make skin tones pop.
* Luminance: Control the brightness of colors. Brighten skin tones for a glowing effect.
* Color Grading (Split Toning in older versions): Add subtle color casts to highlights and shadows. This can create unique and stylish looks. Common choices include:
* Orange/Teal: Orange tones in the highlights, teal tones in the shadows.
* Cool Tones: Blues and purples in the shadows.
* Warm Tones: Yellows and oranges in the highlights.
* Detail Panel:
* Sharpening: Add sharpness to bring out details. Use moderately and pay attention to the Radius and Detail sliders to avoid artifacts. Masking helps prevent sharpening in areas like the sky or smooth skin.
* Noise Reduction: Reduce noise, especially in high-ISO images. Be careful not to over-smooth the image, which can make it look artificial.
* Lens Corrections:
* Enable Profile Corrections: Automatically correct for lens distortion and vignetting.
* Remove Chromatic Aberration: Remove color fringing around edges.
* Effects Panel:
* Grain: Add a film-like texture. Use it sparingly.
* Vignetting: Add a subtle darkening around the edges to draw attention to the center of the image. Negative vignetting can brighten the edges.
* Calibration: Adjust the Camera Calibration settings (Profile, Shadows Tint, Red/Green/Blue Primaries) for subtle color shifts. This can be used to create unique film-like looks.
3. Saving the Preset:
* Click the "+" button in the Presets panel.
* Select "Create Preset..."
* Give your preset a descriptive name. (e.g., "Warm Portrait," "Moody B&W," "Film-Inspired")
* Choose a group to save the preset in. Create a new group if you want to organize your presets.
* Select which settings to include in the preset. This is crucial!
* Things to *generally* include: White Balance, Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, Blacks, Tone Curve, HSL/Color, Color Grading, Detail (Sharpening, Noise Reduction), Effects (Grain, Vignetting), Lens Corrections (if appropriate for all lenses you use)
* Things to *generally* exclude: Transform (unless it's a specific perspective correction you want to apply), Spot Removal, Graduated Filters, Radial Filters, Adjustment Brush (these are usually image-specific).
* Consider excluding Profile Corrections: If you use different lenses, leaving this unchecked will allow Lightroom to apply the correct lens profile for each image.
* Click "Create."
4. Testing and Refining:
* Apply the preset to a variety of different portrait photos: Outdoor, indoor, different skin tones, different lighting conditions.
* Make adjustments as needed: No preset will be perfect for every image. Be prepared to fine-tune the exposure, white balance, or other settings after applying the preset.
* Iterate: Don't be afraid to go back and modify the preset based on your testing. The more you use it, the better you'll understand its strengths and weaknesses.
* Create Variations: Once you have a solid base preset, create variations by making small tweaks. For example, you could create a "Warm Portrait - Subtle" and a "Warm Portrait - Strong" version.
Tips for Creative and Unique Presets:
* Experiment with unconventional color combinations: Try pushing colors in unexpected directions.
* Use the Tone Curve to create unique contrast patterns: Experiment with different curve shapes.
* Add subtle film-like effects: Grain, faded blacks, color casts.
* Focus on skin tones: Pay close attention to how your adjustments affect skin tones.
* Don't be afraid to break the rules: Experiment and find what works for you.
* Learn to use the Calibration panel: This panel is often overlooked, but it can be a powerful tool for creating unique color looks.
Important Considerations:
* RAW vs. JPEG: Presets are designed to work best on RAW files because they contain more data. If you're shooting in JPEG, the adjustments may be less subtle and the results less predictable.
* Image-Specific Adjustments: Presets are a starting point, not a magic bullet. You'll almost always need to make additional adjustments to individual photos.
* Monitor Calibration: Make sure your monitor is properly calibrated to ensure accurate color representation.
By following these steps and experimenting with different settings, you can create creative Lightroom Develop presets that reflect your unique style and streamline your portrait editing workflow. Good luck!