Understanding the Goals of a Soft Portrait Preset
* Reduced Harshness: Minimizing shadows and highlights.
* Smoothing of Skin: Creating a softer, less detailed skin texture.
* Highlighting the Subject's Eyes: Making them pop without looking artificial.
* Overall Warmth/Mood: Often a slightly warmer, more inviting tone.
Steps to Create Your Preset
1. Start with a Base Image: Open a well-exposed portrait photo in Lightroom's Develop module. This will be your test image. Ideally, choose an image with neutral lighting for better predictability when applying the preset to other photos.
2. Basic Adjustments:
* Exposure: Adjust to a good starting point for your image. Usually, a slight increase (e.g., +0.2 to +0.5) can help brighten the overall look.
* Contrast: Reduce contrast significantly (e.g., -20 to -40). This is key to softening the image.
* Highlights: Lower the Highlights slider (e.g., -40 to -60). This recovers detail in bright areas and softens the overall look.
* Shadows: Increase the Shadows slider (e.g., +20 to +40). This opens up the shadows and reduces harshness.
* Whites: Adjust to bring back some brightness in the highlights without blowing them out. Experiment - might require increase or decrease.
* Blacks: Adjust to darken the darks, adding some depth.
* Clarity: Reduce Clarity significantly (e.g., -15 to -30). This is another crucial step for softening skin and reducing detail. Go too far, and the image will look blurry; find the right balance.
3. Tone Curve:
* In the Tone Curve panel, select the Point Curve (click the icon in the bottom right of the panel).
* Create a very subtle "S" curve. Lift the bottom of the curve slightly to brighten the shadows, and pull down the top slightly to protect the highlights. The key is to keep it *very* subtle. Overdoing this will create a harsh effect.
4. HSL/Color Adjustments:
* Hue: Usually you can leave these alone unless you want to adjust specific colors (e.g., shifting skin tones slightly).
* Saturation: Slightly reduce the saturation of reds and oranges. These colors often dominate skin tones. Decreasing them can create a more natural, less intense look. (e.g., Red -5, Orange -10). Don't overdo it!
* Luminance: Increase the luminance of oranges to brighten skin tones (e.g., +5 to +15). Be careful not to blow out highlights. Increase the luminance of yellows also.
5. Detail:
* Sharpening: Reduce the amount of Sharpening (e.g., Amount to 20-40).
* Radius: Keep this fairly low (e.g., 0.8-1.0).
* Detail: Reduce the Detail slider to around 20-40. This softens the overall image.
* Masking: Increase the Masking slider (e.g., 60-80). This helps prevent sharpening from affecting smooth areas like skin.
* Noise Reduction (Luminance): Apply a small amount of luminance noise reduction (e.g., 5-15). This smooths out the image slightly and can further help with skin texture.
6. Effects
* Grain: Avoid adding grain for a clean soft look.
* Vignette: Add a subtle vignette (-5 to -15). This can help draw the viewer's eye towards the center of the image and create a more intimate feel. Choose a highlight priority vignette style.
7. Calibration:
* The Calibration panel allows for more advanced color adjustments. This is usually not essential for a basic soft portrait preset but can be used to further fine-tune the overall color tone. Experiment, but be subtle.
8. Save the Preset:
* In the left panel, click the + button next to "Presets."
* Name your preset something descriptive like "Soft Portrait - v1" or "Dreamy Portrait."
* Crucially: In the "Check All" list, uncheck "Process Version". This ensures your preset will work across different Lightroom versions. Also, uncheck "Crop." You almost never want a preset to change your crop.
* Click "Create."
Testing and Refining Your Preset
1. Apply to Different Images: Apply your preset to a variety of portrait photos taken in different lighting conditions and with different skin tones.
2. Adjust as Needed: You'll likely need to make small adjustments to the preset on a photo-by-photo basis. Common adjustments include:
* Exposure: This is almost always needed on a per-photo basis.
* Whites/Blacks: These may need tweaking depending on the specific image.
* Orange Luminance: Adjust to fine-tune skin tone brightness.
* Noise Reduction: Increase if the image is noisy; reduce if it looks too smooth.
3. Iterate: Based on your testing, go back and edit your preset. Repeat the process of applying, adjusting, and refining until you're happy with the results across a range of images.
Important Considerations
* Subtlety is Key: A good soft portrait preset is not about drastically changing the image; it's about subtle refinements that enhance the overall look.
* Skin Tone Consistency: Be mindful of skin tones and try to keep them looking natural. Overdoing the orange luminance can lead to artificial-looking skin.
* Avoid Over-Smoothing: Too much clarity reduction or noise reduction can make the skin look plastic.
* Lighting Matters: Your preset will work best on images with relatively good lighting to begin with. It can't fix severely underexposed or overexposed photos.
* Presets aren't magic: A preset is a starting point, not a guaranteed perfect result. You'll always need to make some adjustments to suit each individual image.
By following these steps and experimenting with different settings, you can create a "Soft Portrait" preset in Lightroom 4 that enhances your portrait photography and gives your images a beautiful, dreamy quality. Remember to be patient and persistent – refining your preset is an ongoing process. Good luck!