5 photo edits for portrait photos with Lightroom Classic

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

The portraits I shoot are usually edited using only Adobe Lightroom Classic. Lightroom lets you improve your photos so much. The edits I make can vary from photo to photo, but I apply these five steps to almost every photo.

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1. Remove blemishesAlmost nobody has completely flawless skin. You do sometimes see it in children, and good make-up can hide a lot too, of course. In practice, the first step I take when editing a photo is to remove blemishes.

For this, I almost always use the Spot Removal tool, the Q shortcut, in Lightroom Classic. Usually with the feathering set to around 50 and the opacity at 100. The size naturally varies depending on what is needed. You can make the brush larger with the square brackets ] or smaller [.

Depending on the purpose of the photo, I edit more or less. If I really want to make a portrait of the person, I mainly remove temporary blemishes, such as spots or a stray hair falling across the face.

I then dab moles with the Spot Removal tool while setting the opacity to, for example, 40 per cent. This makes them less visible, while they are still present.

Sometimes I also choose to remove moles. In that case, it is usually not about the person, but about the image I am creating.

2. Soften the skinHave you removed all the obvious blemishes? The skin will usually still look a little uneven. It helps to soften the skin a little more.

For softening the skin, I use a simple technique combined with Lightroom Classic's handy masking features, SHIFT - W. I choose 'People', then tick 'Facial Skin' and 'Body Skin', and have it create one mask.

The only adjustment I make to this mask is to reduce the 'Texture' slightly under 'Effects'. For example, to -20 or -40. Are you having problems with bright spots on the skin? You can also reduce the 'Highlights' under 'Tone' a little.

For both sliders, the same applies: do not take the edit too far, as it will look unnatural.

I mainly apply this step to women, by the way. With men, it often looks better to leave the skin a little rougher.

3. Apply a preset

You can create a preset yourself, or use an existing preset. Mark the presets you like to use as 'favourites'. They will then appear conveniently at the top of your list of presets.

4. Darken the background

That is why it works well in many photos to make the background a little darker. You can do this easily in Lightroom Classic by using a mask again. You then choose the 'Background' mask.

This automatic method usually works well. It creates a selection of the surroundings in one go. The only thing you then need to do is move the 'Exposure' slider to the left, making the background in your photo darker.

5. Add vignetting

Basically, this is a lens fault. These days, it is usually corrected automatically in the camera, but it can also genuinely improve your photo.

I therefore add a subtle vignette to my photos as a matter of course. Your vignette should be so subtle that it is not noticeable that you have used the effect.

You add a vignette by going to 'Effects' and moving the Amount slider to the left. Minus 15 is often enough.

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