Understanding the Goal:
The key elements of a soft portrait look include:
* Softened Skin: Reducing harsh textures and blemishes.
* Gentle Highlights: Avoiding blown-out highlights and harsh shadows.
* Subtle Color Grading: Often leaning towards warmer tones or pastel shades.
* Slightly Diffused Appearance: A dreamy, ethereal quality.
Steps to Create the Preset:
1. Start with a Test Image: Choose a portrait photo that you want to work with. Ideally, it should be a well-exposed image with decent lighting.
2. Basic Panel Adjustments:
* Exposure: Adjust slightly to achieve the desired brightness. Typically, increasing it just a touch (e.g., +0.10 to +0.30) helps soften the light. Be careful not to overexpose.
* Contrast: Lower the contrast significantly (e.g., -20 to -50). This flattens the image and softens the highlights and shadows. Adjust based on your photo's existing contrast.
* Highlights: Reduce highlights significantly (e.g., -30 to -60). This recovers detail in bright areas and contributes to a softer look.
* Shadows: Increase shadows (e.g., +20 to +50). This brightens the darker areas, reducing harshness and revealing more detail.
* Whites: Adjust to control the brightest areas. A slight decrease (e.g., -10 to -20) can prevent blown-out highlights.
* Blacks: Adjust to set the darkest areas. A slight increase (e.g., +5 to +15) can lift the blacks and give a less harsh look.
3. Tone Curve (Subtle Adjustments):
* A slight "S" curve can add gentle contrast without being harsh. Don't make the "S" too pronounced. A gentle curve emphasizes highlights and shadows without being overly aggressive. Consider the *Point Curve*.
* Linear: You can use linear for very subtle changes.
* Medium Contrast: Start with this as a basis for your 'S' curve. You can always refine it.
* Strong Contrast: Avoid this as it won't contribute to soft tones.
4. HSL/Color Panel:
* Hue: Make slight adjustments to the hue of specific colors (e.g., skin tones, blues in the sky). Be very subtle.
* Saturation: Lower the saturation of reds and oranges (skin tones) slightly (e.g., -5 to -15) to reduce redness. You can also slightly boost the saturation of other colors (e.g., blues and greens) if desired, but don't overdo it.
* Luminance: Increase the luminance of oranges (skin tones) (e.g., +5 to +20) to brighten and smooth the skin. Increase the luminance of yellows for a warmer glow.
5. Detail Panel (Sharpening and Noise Reduction):
* Sharpening: Reduce sharpening significantly (e.g., Amount: 0-20, Radius: 0.5-0.7, Detail: 0-25). The goal is to soften the image, so avoid harsh sharpening. Set the *Masking* to a high value so sharpening is focused on edges and not skin.
* Noise Reduction: Increase Luminance Noise Reduction (e.g., 10-30). This smooths out the skin and reduces unwanted texture. Increase Color Noise Reduction (e.g., 5-15) to remove color artifacts. Use with caution, as too much noise reduction can make the image look plastic.
6. Effects Panel:
* Vignetting: Consider adding a slight negative vignette (e.g., Amount: -5 to -15) to subtly darken the edges of the image, drawing the viewer's eye towards the subject. Use the *Midpoint* and *Roundness* sliders to control the shape and intensity of the vignette.
* Grain: Adding a very subtle grain (e.g., Amount: 1-5, Size: 25-30, Roughness: 50-75) can give the image a slightly filmic feel. This is optional.
7. Calibration Panel (Advanced – Optional):
* Experiment with slight adjustments to the Red, Green, and Blue Primary Hue and Saturation sliders. For example, shifting the Red Primary Hue slightly towards orange can warm up the skin tones. Be subtle.
8. Saving the Preset:
* Once you're happy with the settings, go to the Presets panel on the left.
* Click the "+" button (New Preset).
* Give your preset a descriptive name (e.g., "Soft Portrait - Warm," "Soft Portrait - Gentle").
* Choose the settings you want to include in the preset. It's generally best to include all the settings you've adjusted.
* Click "Create."
Important Considerations and Tips:
* Experiment and Iterate: This is a starting point. Adjust the settings to suit different photos and your personal style. Save variations of the preset.
* Skin Tone is Key: Pay close attention to skin tones. Adjust the HSL/Color panel and the white balance until the skin looks natural and flattering.
* Subtlety is Important: The best soft portrait presets are subtle. Avoid extreme settings that can make the image look unnatural.
* Consider the Lighting: The preset will work differently depending on the original lighting of the photo. You may need to make minor adjustments to the exposure and other settings for each image.
* Before and After: Compare the "before" and "after" versions of your image frequently to see how the preset is affecting it.
* Batch Processing: Once you have a preset you like, you can apply it to multiple photos at once. However, it's always a good idea to review each photo individually and make any necessary adjustments.
* Lightroom 4 Limitations: Lightroom 4 lacks the more advanced features of later versions (like the Adjustment Brush's "Soften Skin" setting). Therefore, you'll have to rely more on global adjustments and noise reduction.
Example Settings (Starting Point):
These are just examples, adjust based on your image:
* Exposure: +0.20
* Contrast: -35
* Highlights: -50
* Shadows: +40
* Whites: -15
* Blacks: +10
* Sharpening: Amount: 10, Radius: 0.6, Detail: 15, Masking: 60
* Luminance Noise Reduction: 20
* Saturation (Oranges): -10
* Luminance (Oranges): +15
By following these steps and experimenting with different settings, you can create a beautiful "Soft Portrait" preset in Lightroom 4 that will enhance your portraits and give them a dreamy, flattering look. Remember to save several variations to accommodate different lighting conditions and skin tones. Good luck!