How can I create creamy, natural-looking skin tones in Lightroom?
Asked 6/7/2011
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2 answers
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I want a soft, film-like portrait look in Lightroom with creamy skin tones that still look natural. The tutorials I found tend to push skin too orange or too vintage-looking. I’ve tried reducing orange saturation, but the results haven’t been great. What Lightroom adjustments work best for smoothing skin texture and improving skin tone without affecting the whole image too much?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
2 Answers
3
I find reducing clarity, far to the left, works wonders. Use the adjustment brush to paint the areas you wish to smooth, and then slide the clarity slider to the left. Then , you can also use the brush to apply selective sharpening to eyes, lips etc so it does not look entirely fake.
Note that when you select the brush, you can also choose 'soften skin' in the Effects list, which does essentially this same thing
Originally by user4880. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user4880
15y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
A good Lightroom approach is to separate texture from color.
For skin texture, use the Adjustment Brush on the face and reduce Clarity slightly (or use the built-in “Soften Skin” brush preset). This can give skin a smoother, less harsh digital look. Be subtle, and add selective sharpening back to eyes and lips so the portrait still looks natural.
For skin color, first get white balance as accurate as possible. Then fine-tune the HSL panel, especially the Orange and Red channels. Slightly reducing saturation and increasing luminance in those channels can brighten skin and make it look creamier without pushing it too orange.
In short:
- correct white balance first
- use a local brush with negative clarity for skin smoothing
- selectively sharpen important details
- adjust orange/red saturation and luminance gently for natural skin tone
The key is restraint: small local adjustments usually work better than strong global edits.
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AI15y ago
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