Understanding the "Soft Portrait" Aesthetic
Before we dive into the Lightroom settings, it's helpful to understand what makes a portrait look "soft." Key elements include:
* Reduced Sharpness: Softening the overall image slightly reduces the harshness of details and skin texture.
* Gentle Skin Smoothing: Subtle reduction of blemishes and fine lines.
* Even Skin Tones: Balancing highlights and shadows on the face for a smoother appearance.
* Slightly Elevated Whites: A touch of brightness in the highlights for a luminous feel.
* Muted Colors (Optional): Depending on your style, you might want to slightly reduce saturation for a more vintage or ethereal look.
Step-by-Step Guide to Creating the Preset
1. Import and Select a Portrait: Import a well-lit portrait image into Lightroom. Choose an image that's representative of the types of portraits you'll typically be editing. The better the starting image, the easier it will be to refine your preset.
2. Basic Adjustments (White Balance & Exposure):
* White Balance: Adjust the white balance (Temp and Tint) to ensure accurate skin tones. Neutral or slightly warm skin tones usually work best for portraits. You can use the "Auto" white balance as a starting point.
* Exposure: Adjust the exposure to bring out the proper overall brightness to the image.
3. Tone Adjustments (Highlights, Shadows, Whites, Blacks): This is where the softness really begins.
* Highlights: Reduce highlights to recover detail in bright areas of the face and prevent blown-out areas. Try starting with -20 to -40.
* Shadows: Increase shadows to lift the darker areas and reduce contrast. Try starting with +15 to +30.
* Whites: Increase whites slightly to brighten the overall image and give it a luminous quality. Try starting with +5 to +15. Be careful not to overexpose.
* Blacks: Reduce the blacks slightly to prevent the image from looking too flat. Try starting with -5 to -15.
4. Clarity & Sharpness: Crucial for the soft effect.
* Clarity: Reduce the Clarity significantly. Clarity adds mid-tone contrast and texture, which we want to minimize. Try starting with -20 to -40. You might even go lower if you desire a very soft look.
* Sharpness: Reduce the Sharpness slightly. A value of 0 to +20 is generally sufficient for digital cameras; going much higher often creates unsightly edge sharpening. For a soft look, consider values even lower than the camera default.
5. Tone Curve (Optional): You can use the tone curve to further refine the contrast and create a more subtle look.
* Point Curve (Recommended): Go to the Point Curve tab and gently drag the bottom-left point upwards a little, and the top-right point downwards a little. This reduces overall contrast. This is a very popular approach for soft portraits.
* Region Curve (Alternative): The other alternative is to use the Region Curve. Try slightly raising the Highlights and Shadows regions, and slightly lowering the Lights and Darks regions.
6. HSL/Color (Optional): Use the Hue, Saturation, and Luminance panels to adjust skin tones and other colors.
* Orange and Red Luminance: Slightly increasing the luminance of the orange and red colors can brighten skin tones.
* Saturation: You might want to slightly decrease the saturation of overall colors, or just of the orange/red for skin, for a less vibrant look.
7. Split Toning (Optional): Adding a subtle color cast can enhance the mood.
* Highlights: Add a subtle warm tone (e.g., orange or yellow) to the highlights.
* Shadows: Add a subtle cool tone (e.g., blue or violet) to the shadows. Keep the saturation very low.
8. Noise Reduction (Optional): If your image has noise, especially in the shadows, apply a subtle amount of noise reduction. Be careful not to overdo it, as it can make the image look artificial.
9. Lens Corrections (Optional): Remove chromatic aberration and enable profile correction to fix lens distortion if needed.
10. Create the Preset:
* In the Develop module, click the "+" icon next to "Presets" in the left panel.
* Name your preset something descriptive like "Soft Portrait."
* In the "New Develop Preset" window, *carefully select which settings to include in the preset.*
* Crucially, uncheck settings that are specific to an individual image, such as:
* Exposure (unless you specifically want the preset to always brighten or darken by a certain amount).
* White Balance (unless you specifically want a particular WB applied consistently).
* Spot Removal
* Crop
* Transform
* Anything under the "Lens Corrections" section (unless you plan on using the same lens consistently).
* Ensure that you include:
* Tone Curve
* Clarity
* Sharpness
* HSL/Color (if you made changes)
* Split Toning (if you used it)
* Tone settings (Highlights, Shadows, Whites, Blacks)
* Click "Create."
Tips for Using and Refining Your Preset
* Start Subtly: Apply the preset and then make further adjustments to the individual image as needed. Presets are a starting point, not a one-size-fits-all solution.
* Experiment: Try different settings and combinations to find what works best for your style and the types of portraits you shoot.
* Refine: As you use the preset, you might find that certain settings need to be adjusted. Right-click on the preset in the Presets panel and choose "Update with Current Settings." This will save your changes to the preset.
* Practice on Different Images: Test your preset on a variety of portrait images (different lighting, skin tones, etc.) to see how it performs.
* Consider Lighting: Your preset will look different depending on the lighting conditions of the original image. Bright, harsh lighting will require different adjustments than soft, natural light.
* Skin Tone Awareness: Pay close attention to skin tones. A good soft portrait should still have healthy, natural-looking skin.
Example Settings (Starting Points):
These are just starting points. Adjust them to your taste and the specific needs of your images.
* Exposure: +0.30
* Highlights: -30
* Shadows: +20
* Whites: +10
* Blacks: -10
* Clarity: -30
* Sharpness: +10 (or even lower, around 0, depending on your sensor/lens)
* Tone Curve: Subtle S-curve OR lifting the bottom-left and lowering the top-right of the Point Curve.
* HSL/Color: Orange Luminance +5, Orange Saturation -5
By following these steps and experimenting, you can create a beautiful "Soft Portrait" preset in Lightroom 4 that will enhance your portrait photography. Remember that the key is subtlety and balance to achieve a flattering and natural-looking result.