Creating a "Soft Portrait" Preset in Lightroom 4
Here's a step-by-step guide on how to create a soft portrait preset in Lightroom 4, designed to give your portraits a gentle, ethereal, and flattering look. Remember to tweak these settings based on the individual photo and your own aesthetic preferences.
1. Start with a Well-Exposed Portrait:
* A good starting point is crucial. Ensure your portrait is properly exposed in-camera. Minor exposure adjustments are fine, but avoid extreme corrections.
2. Basic Panel Adjustments:
* Exposure: Slightly increase the exposure if needed. Aim for a bright, but not blown-out, image. +0.10 to +0.30 is a good starting point.
* Contrast: Reduce contrast to soften the overall look. -15 to -30. A lower contrast range can also help to reduce the sharpness of features.
* Highlights: Lower highlights to recover detail in bright areas, especially the skin. -20 to -40. This helps prevent blown-out highlights on the face.
* Shadows: Increase shadows to lift the dark areas and reduce harsh shadows. +10 to +30. This softens the shadows under the eyes and around the nose.
* Whites: Adjust whites carefully. Slightly decrease to prevent clipping in the brightest areas. -5 to -15.
* Blacks: Adjust blacks slightly. Increasing blacks a little (+5 to +15) can help brighten the shadows even further. Reducing blacks too much will make the image look washed out, but increasing can add some depth.
* Clarity: This is a crucial element for softness. Reduce Clarity significantly! -20 to -50. This reduces edge sharpness and gives the image a softer feel. The more you reduce, the softer the effect will be, so adjust to taste.
* Vibrance: Increase Vibrance slightly to enhance the colors without making them oversaturated. +5 to +15.
* Saturation: Adjust saturation carefully. A very slight increase might be okay (+0 to +5), but often it's best to leave it at zero, or even slightly decrease it (-3 to -5) depending on the skin tones in the original image.
3. Tone Curve Adjustments (Optional):
* A subtle "S-curve" can add some dimension, but be careful not to add too much contrast.
* Point Curve: Go to the tone curve panel. You can create a very gentle S curve by lifting the bottom left point slightly and lowering the top right point slightly. This is the easiest way to control overall contrast.
* Channel Curves (Red, Green, Blue): You can make very small adjustments to the individual channels for subtle color adjustments. For example, a slight lift in the red channel in the shadows can add warmth to the skin. However, it's generally best to leave these alone unless you have a specific color cast to correct.
4. HSL/Color Panel Adjustments:
* Hue: Fine-tune the hues of specific colors if needed. Pay attention to skin tones, especially orange and red. Small adjustments can make a big difference.
* Saturation: Adjust the saturation of specific colors. Slightly decrease the saturation of orange and red if the skin tones look too intense.
* Luminance: Adjust the luminance of specific colors. Increase the luminance of orange and yellow to brighten the skin. +5 to +15.
5. Detail Panel Adjustments:
* Sharpening: Reduce sharpening significantly. 0-25. You want to avoid harshness.
* Noise Reduction (Luminance): Increase luminance noise reduction slightly to smooth the skin. 10-30. This is important for a soft look. Don't overdo it, or you'll lose detail.
* Noise Reduction (Color): A slight increase to color noise reduction (5-15) can help clean up color artifacts.
6. Lens Corrections Panel:
* Enable Profile Corrections: Check "Enable Profile Corrections" to automatically correct lens distortion and vignetting.
* Remove Chromatic Aberration: Check "Remove Chromatic Aberration" to eliminate color fringing.
7. Effects Panel:
* Post-Crop Vignetting: Add a very subtle vignette to draw the eye towards the subject. Use a negative amount (-5 to -15) for a darkening vignette. Feather should be set high (50+) to create a smooth transition. Experiment with the Midpoint and Roundness sliders.
8. Saving the Preset:
* Once you're happy with the adjustments, click the "+" icon in the Presets panel on the left.
* Give your preset a descriptive name, such as "Soft Portrait - [Your Name]" or "Ethereal Portrait."
* Choose a group to save the preset to (or create a new group).
* Crucially: Carefully select the settings you want to include in the preset. *Do NOT* include Exposure settings, or White Balance, as those are highly photo-specific and should be adjusted individually. You also probably don't want to include "Process Version" unless you specifically want every image you apply the preset to, to automatically update to the latest process version in Lightroom. Generally, only include the specific sliders you adjusted to achieve the soft portrait look.
* Click "Create."
Important Considerations and Tips:
* Practice and Experiment: The key to creating a great preset is to experiment. Start with the base settings above and adjust them to your liking.
* Skin Tone is Key: Always pay close attention to skin tones. Make sure they look natural and healthy.
* Individual Photo Adjustments: Remember that every photo is different. You'll likely need to make some small adjustments to the preset for each individual image.
* White Balance: White balance is very important. If your white balance is off, the skin tones will be incorrect and your portrait will not look good.
* Avoid Over-Processing: The goal is to create a soft, natural look, not an artificial one. Don't overdo the adjustments. Subtlety is key.
* Backup your presets: Presets can get lost or corrupted. It's a good idea to export your presets regularly to back them up.
By following these steps, you'll be well on your way to creating a beautiful "Soft Portrait" preset in Lightroom 4 that will give your portraits a flattering and ethereal look. Good luck!