50 Best Free Lightroom Presets for Portraits
If you already use Adobe Lightroom, you know how powerful a photo editing tool is for hobbyist photographers and professional photographers as well. It is a very useful tool that can fix all the exposure-related issues in your photos just by moving some slides. It is so much more effective to make your dull images pop.
Even if you feel boring to move various slides or you are unable to do that, you can simply use Lightroom presets. Using the presets, you can beautify images with one click. Here we are sharing 50 free Lightroom presets for portrait photos. These presets are free of cost. You can apply it to your portrait photos anytime.
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1. Barbiefy
This preset is capable of making your dark image pop. It will remove darkness and the portrait photo will seem to be like a Barbie doll. If your photo contains a deep purple color, this Barbiefy preset will make the image soft and light including some extra light. It can change skin color to milky and the image will get fresher and live. Here, we have applied Temp for a light purple hue.
We increased Exposure by +0.95 to have enough whitish and to bring out hidden pixels, we applied Clarity up to +43. However, what result we have got is in the below for example below. In your experiment, try to use a similar type of image for the best result. But if you apply this preset to different types of photographs, you may need to change the slides a little bit.
2. Blur2Light
This is a very vital preset and it can be one of the best selections for your portrait photos. Because of camera settings or a shortage of light in the studio, portrait photos can get blurred with darkness. This may happen frequently and that is not a good sign for your studio business. In such cases, you can easily fix similar issues by using this preset.
To create this preset, we have applied Exposure +1.55 and Contrast +67 to fix the lighting problem. We also move the slides of Highlights -67, Shadows -19, Whites +21, and Blacks -24. Then, we increase the slide’s Clarity and Sharpening as necessary. If you use a similar type of image, this preset will work well, otherwise, you have to retouch further moving different sliders.
3. Dark2Details
Darkness ruins the photo quality. It hides pixels and makes your portrait dull. This very preset for Lightroom will help you to remove darkness from your portrait photo. It will add a little gold complexion that will enhance the beauty and allow the photo to be lifelike. The below photos are the before-after of this preset. You can use it freely for any purpose – personal or commercial.
During creating this preset, we applied Exposure and Contrast as a necessity. We also applied Highlights, White, Shadows, Blacks, Clarity, etc. to bring forth the hidden resolution. For color correction, we use Vibrance and Saturation according to the image requirement. However, this preset works best on the same type of portrait photo, otherwise, you may require further manipulation.
4. Dim the Light
Having this Lightroom preset, you can remove glare or whitish from your portrait photo. It will also help to reduce extra light and the face will be clearer and more attractive. If you can use the same type of image, you can get the best result out of this preset. In the exception, you have to do further work on the sliders of the Editing control panel on the right side.
In this preset, we have reduced Exposure to reduce white light and increased the Contrast to sharpen the background black color. We also increase the Clarity for vivifying the image. It removes the fuzziness. We work on Sharpen and Noise Reduction to make the photo clearer.
5. Dynamic Detail
If your portrait photo has sky in the background, this preset will unhide the pixels and bring out dynamic detail. Look at the portrait below. Here we have tried to figure out the HDR effect. In this preset, we increase Temp and Tint, Exposure and Highlight, etc. to maintain natural color.
We move the Clarity upward and increase the Sharpening by 100%. To reduce noise, we increase the value of the Noise Reduction slider. Finally, we have got the result below photo is showing. To get the best result, apply this preset to a similar type of photo.
6. Dynamic Lightup
This preset works on pixels. I bring back the blur pixels and make the image more highlighted. Applying the preset, your portrait photo will get sharpened and clearer. Look at the dynamic light-up portrait below. There are before and after photos. The latter one is more vivid and highlighted.
To create this preset, we emphasize the Clarity and Sharpened sliders. We also work with the other tools of Lightroom to retouch portrait photos while making this useful Lightroom preset. To apply this preset, try to use similar portrait photos.
7. Faded Autumn
Many of us like to make various versions of her/his portrait photo. This preset can help to do that by color correction. Any photographer or individual can use this preset free to make faded color portrait photograph. To produce portrait photos like the below images, you have to desaturate photos manually.
But if you apply this Lightroom preset for faded color, you must get a cool desaturated portrait photo just by one click. So, try this preset on any type of photo. It can work everywhere.
8. Faded Nostalgia
The purpose of this preset is to make senior portraits photo faded and to bring a nostalgic feeling. You can say we mean to create something vintage. See the below before-after photo to get an idea. Here we take a recent photo and try to make a long-time-ago captured photo using Lightroom.
To bring the feel, we have worked on the Exposure and Contrast. We reduce the value of Vibrance and increase the property of Blacks and Clarity as the portrait photo demands. And finally, the below after-image we have got as a result. It is exactly what we wanted to create.
9. Glare Gaze
This very Lightroom preset will make your portrait photo sharpen and clearer. It will add extra blackish in the background removing glare (extra whitish color layer over the photo). To make the below example portrait photo, we applied Exposure and Contrast.
We also move the White controller in Lightroom to remove extra whitish and increase the Blacks. For making the photo more live, we increase the Vibrance and Saturation as needed.
10. Highlight It
When we capture our portrait photos, often they get a black shade which hides the resolution and appears the photos shortage of enough light. It turns great photos even dull to appear and this will make you sad. If you have enough knowledge about Lightroom, you make these images great to look highlighting. But, if you feel, it is boring to move the sliders of Lightroom or if you don’t have enough time, then this preset is for you.
Applying this preset, you can make your dull photos highlighted and pop with just one click. It will change your sleep photos to lifelike. To create this preset, we have worked to emphasize Highlighting and Clarity in Lightroom. Besides, we also work with Shadows, White, and Blacks. So, use this free preset of Lightroom and make your portrait photo charming.
11. It’s a Sunny Day
Look at the outdoor portrait photo below. The first one is the before the image which has a black shade over the main layer. And the second photo is the after photo which was edited by Lightroom. The difference between these two portrait photos is one appears dull and tiresome, on the contrary, the other one is lifelike and attractive.
The very preset removes the black shade over there and generates a joyous portrait photo that appears great. However, during the creation of this Sunny Day Lightroom Preset, we have increased Exposure and reduced Contrast. We’ve increased the value of Highlights and Whites. Most importantly, what we do is that we increase the Vibrance according to the photo’s demand.
12. Morning Nostalgia
There are two baby portraits below. This preset is applied to the first image and the second one is the output. Look at the photos, the before image is faded and the last one has with gold complexion. If you look at the second photo, notice it is brighter and looks as if it has sunny morning light.
To create the Morning Nostalgia preset, we reduced the property of White and increased the property of Clarity. This makes the photo clearer. We reduced Vibrance but increased the value of Saturation which brought forth the golden hue/ sunlight.
13. Purple Pleasure
This very preset can be a great tool to include a purple hue in your portrait photo. It will reduce the tint or yellowish color from your great-looking portrait photo and add life to the image. Look at the images below and find out the difference. In the second image, you can see the purple pleasure and real-life photo without over glowing color.
To make this preset, we reduced the Tint color in Lightroom and moved the slide of Temp to add a purple color. We also reduce the Exposure and reduce the Contrast and Whites.
14. Sackcloth and Ashes
The motto of this Lightroom preset is to add special effects to portrait photos. Sometimes, we kid with our photos and try to add various effects so that they look funny on social media. In this preset, we have reduced the value of Highlights and increased Shadows by 100%. We also increase Whites and minus Blacks.
To have extremely sharp image edges, we applied 100% Clarity. However, if you apply this preset to the same type of photo, you will get almost the same result as the image shows below. So, to have this effect, download the preset free and apply.
15. Shades Away
It is a very simple preset but can work extraordinarily to make children’s portrait photos pop. And, this is very useful to remove black shade away or to unhide the hidden resolution. It will add extra exposure and reduce the blackish color of your portrait photo. In a word, this preset will clean up photos which will be brighter than before.
In this preset, we have worked on the Exposure and Shadows. We reduced Contrast and increased the value of Highlights, Blacks, and Clarity. However, you can use this shade Away preset-free and try to apply it on similar types of photos to have the best output.
16. Soft Daylight
It can be a great weapon to remove away the black-vintage shade from a portrait. It will make the photo brighter than the first one and add a feel to the newly captured or drawn photo. Look at the below photos, the first one is not as clear as the second one.
There are lots of pixels here hidden under the blackish shade. This very preset will soften the black layer and unhide the resolution. Here we increased the Exposure and reduced the value of Contrast to have a brighter sunlight look. To have a better soft milky white hue, we increase the properties of Highlights, Shadows, Whites, and Blacks.
For getting sharp pixels, here we increase the value of Clarity and to remove the yellowish tint color, we reduce Vibrance, but increase the Saturation. Finally, we removed some noises from this great photo.
17. Soft Feel
This preset is for making your black and white portrait photos more attractive and pop. The below photo is an example of this preset. To create this preset, we increased the Exposure and Highlights a little bit to have more light. Then, we worked on the Shades, Whites, and Blacks to get a soft feel.
We move the slides of Clarity to have sharpened photos. We don’t want any color glare, so to ensure that, we increase the value of Vibrance and Saturation up to 100%. In this stage, our photo got bad noises and to sweep away that we worked on Noise Reduction.
18. Soft Light
Many of your great photos may suffer from small limitations. Though they are nice, they may make you sad. In such cases, this preset can be a great thing for making your photo outstanding. It will set a very small touch on your photos, but it is very useful.
To mend this small limitation, we made this preset and are sharing free. Creating this very preset of Lightroom, we increase the value of Highlights and Contrast which make the background blackish and the skin whitish. To fix the little tint color, we move the slides of Shadows and Blacks.
19. Softer Feel
The purpose of creating this preset is to make a softer feel in photos. It will sharpen the pixels, brighten the background, add life to the main object, and freshen the whole image. Portrait photo often lacks exposure and proper lighting. In such a case, you can apply this Lightroom preset to get the best output.
While creating this preset, we worked on Highlights, Shadows, White, and Blacks sliders to have proper exposure and lighting. We increase the value of Clarity to make the photo sharp. For color enhancing, we increased the property of Vibrance and Saturation.
20. Adding life
If you have dull photos that seem to be dead or leprosy-affected, you can provide life to those photos by applying this preset. This preset will add light, exposure, sharpness, hue/saturation, etc. to your photos and they will be lifelike. It will beautify your photos. For an idea, look at the below portraits.
In this preset, we worked on Highlights, Shadows, Blacks, and Whites for fixing light and exposure. For adding image cleaning capability, we have increased the value of Clarity and Vibrance for color highlighting. We also sharpen the image by moving Sharpen slide and to remove noise, we slide the Noise Reduction controller.
21. Warm Feel
It is one of the fantastic Lightroom presets. It is used to create a warm feel in portrait photos. The images seem dull and cold, and if you feel like enhancing those images to freshen and make them joyous, you can apply this preset. It is very useful to add sunlight and warmth to the photos. However, this preset can be used on various types of photos.
In making this preset, we have worked with Clarity. We also worked on Highlights, Whites, Shadows, and Blacks. Finally, we apply Tint color so that we can get a warm feel.
22. Silver Tone
This preset will add a sliver color tone to your indoor portrait photo. It will desaturate the image and include white exposure along with light green. If you use this preset on the same type of photo, you must get the same result. So, try to use on same type of photos to have the best output.
For creating this preset, we increase the Exposure and Highlights. We also increase the Whites and reduce the number of Blacks. Finally, we apply Clarity, Vibrance, and Saturation to gain a proper silver hue.
23. Reddish Away
Many of our great photos are ruined just because of some reddish overlay color. It damages the lighting, exposure, and overall beauty of a photo. The image loses its natural tone. Such an image cannot draw much attraction. However, this preset will exclude reddish color from your photos and bring back the nature of the photo.
To make this preset, we reduced 100% Shadows and Vibrance -by 62% though we increased the Saturation. We worked with Clarity, Exposure, Blacks, and Whites to achieve the perfect natural color removing reddish.
24. Gold Complexion
It can be an excellent preset for you. It will make your portrait photo remove glare. More importantly, this Lightroom Preset will add a golden complexion to your portrait photo. Retouching by the Lightroom preset, especially by this preset will make it more attractive than the previous one.
While creating this fantastic Lightroom preset, we work with Clarity, Vibrnce, and Saturation. We apply Sharpening to make this preset clearer. Later, we Noise Reduction to remove noises which got produced after applying Sharpening.
25. Autumnal Leprosy
It is another enjoyable Lightroom preset for Photographers who like to capture evening images. Usually, images taken outside against sunset have too much red sunlight. It is no doubt excellent, but for the guys who love to modify these images, this preset can be a great tool for them.
For this preset, we have worked with almost all the controllers of Lightroom such as Highlights, Shadows, Whites, Blacks, etc. We also worked on the Clarity and Vibrance. To remove noise, we sharpen the image by Sharpening and use Noise Reduction. We apply Detail for getting every pixel live.
26. Cool Vintage
It is another excellent Lightroom preset for creating very cool vintage portrait photos. This preset can desaturate photos and bring a vintage look. It will also remove shadows and add exposure to the images. However, to create this preset, we apply Temp and Tint colors.
We apply Exposure, Highlights, White, Shadows, etc. to remove black shadows from the background. Then, we apply Clarity to make the photo clearer. For color correction in Lightroom, we use Vibrance and Saturation.
27. Amaro
Amaro is an Instagram Photo editing filter. It creates a lightly desaturated photo. It looks almost like cool vintage, but very gorgeous portrait photos. Taking the below image in the Lightroom, we tried to make a photo that looks the same as the Amaro Instagram photo filter produced photo.
However, to create such an amazing effect in Lightroom, we worked with Temp and Highlights. We reduced Vibrance and increased a little bit of Saturation. We worked with Sharpening and Noise Reduction to make a smooth effect. Here, we also applied the Graduated filter to have a black shade around the main subject of the frame.
28. Brannan
It is also the same as an Instagram photo editing filter for making your portrait photo pop. This preset will produce a kind of vintage type of photo. If you like to desaturate your photo, you can apply this preset to your images with one click. It will give you a simple, but professional portrait photo.
To make this preset, we play on the slide of Contrast. To reduce the white hue, we minimize the Highlights. Though we have increased the value of Contrast, we reduce the Vibrance and Saturation. However, these following steps have combinedly made this awesome Lightroom preset for portrait photo retouching.
29. Nashville
This is one of the wonderful Lightroom presets for portrait photo manipulation. It is almost like an Instagram filter Nashville and so, we take the name. The preset can produce great desaturated portrait photos with one click. If you like this type of vintage-looked dehighlighted photo, you can apply the very Lightroom preset on your photos.
It will give you a cool and eye-soothing image. In this preset, we reduced Highlights. We also reduced Vibrance, Saturation, Shadows, and Exposure. As a result, your photo will get a dark shade along with a desaturated vintage color.
30. Sierra
Sierra is an Instagram filter. In Lightroom, we have tried to create almost the same effect using its various controllers. What preset we have created has produced the below after-photo and you will be amazed that the color correction by this preset is almost the same as you got the result after using the Sierra Instagram photo editing filter.
You must feel a dramatic situation. In this preset, we minimize Shadows, Exposure, Vibrance, and White. To get a clear photo, we applied Clarity. Here, we have used a Graduated filter to create a dark shade around the main photo/subject.
31. 1977
The very name of this preset indicates that the effect of this preset will produce images that look like old images. It will add ancient color and lighting to your photos. See the below photos, you will get an idea. The main purpose of creating this Lightroom preset is to make a new photo look like an old one.
However, there is an Instagram filter for photo editing by the same name. To create the 1977 lightroom preset, we applied a little bit of Tint color. Vibrance, Saturation, and Clarity are also applied to get this awesome preset.
32. Hudson
This is Hudson preset. It is also an Instagram photo filter and we tried to make this filter-produced effect by using a Lightroom photo editing preset that’s why, we took advantage to create a preset with the same name and effect. However, we made this preset and applied it to the portrait photo.
We get a bluish effect and hope if you apply this preset to the same type of photo, you will get the desired effect. It will provide you with a very cool, calm, and eye-soothing color shade.
For this preset, we worked on the Highlights and Whites. Here, we applied Temp and Saturation to bring about a bluish color. Anyway, this preset is free for downloading and use on personal and commercial portrait photos.
33. Ash
It is made following another Instagram filter and is also named by its name. This Lightroom preset will desaturate your photo. It will change the background color to blackish. The main subject will get an ash color and seem to appear older.
For creating this preset, we applied a Graduated filter and increased the value of Contrast. We reduced Highlights and increased Clarity. We further reduced Whites and Saturation to have a perfect desaturated Ash color portrait photo.
34. Character
This is another interesting Lightroom preset for editing portrait photos. This is interesting because it can make your photo look like a cartoon character. It will freshen and make clear images by removing glare and black shadows.
However, while creating this preset, we worked with Highlights, Whites, Shadows, and Blacks to maintain lighting focus. We reduced Vibrance to have a white faded color. Finally, to gain a character-like appearance, we increase the maximum value of Clarity and Sharpening.
35. Clarendon
This Lightroom preset is derived from an Instagram filter. Here it is tried to maintain the same Instagram effect. If you apply this filter, you will get a feel of HDR in the image. It will add a green and blue combined color. This cool effect will provide a unique standard in your images. You must feel the chill.
To create this preset, we worked on Contrast. We also handled the Highlights, White, Shadows, and Blacks for combining lighting. Color mixing has been done by Vibrance. Finally, to create HDR sharpness, we worked on Clarity and Sharpening.
36. Kelvin
Kelvin is another Instagram filter and we tried to make the same effect creator Lightroom preset by the same name. This preset will give your image a sunlight effect. Though it will change your image’s original color, but yet don’t worry, you must be happy with the result that you will gain.
Here in this preset, we didn’t work much. This cool effect has been created by just lowering exposure and increasing Temp & Tint of Lightroom. Later, we increase a little bit of the value of Clarity and Sharpening. This preset is free for personal and commercial use.
37. Mayfair
The idea of this preset is also taken from an Instagram photo editing filter and it is named by the same name. This is one of the most appealing Lightroom presets. It will make your portrait photo dreamy and you never thought of such an effect before.
This preset will add a very cool purple hue to your photo. It will highlight red, white, and black colors in the photo. There is a good amount of exposure, which will make your image fresh and dramatic. However, this preset can work well on wedding portrait photos.
For creating this preset, we worked on Highlights. We increase the property of Tint and Temp. The value of Saturation is also increased, according to the image demand. At the final stage, we played on Clarity and Sharpening, but not too much because it may make the photo look like a character.
38. Hi-Fi Crayon
This is a unique preset of Lightroom photo editors. If you like to make your portrait something hellish or devil-like, you can apply this preset to your image in Lightroom. It will make the photo fade, almost bloodless. If you apply this preset on the same image as shown below, you must get the same result- a horrific look.
However, we make this preset keeping most of the controller untouched. We only worked with Clarity and Sharpening providing a hundred percent value and as a result, huge noises are produced that make photos hilarious.
39. Eve-glory
This preset is simple, but it can affect your portrait image. It is one of the great tools for making your photo sharper and clearer. At first glance, you may not notice the difference between before and after images, but when you look, you can see every pixel of your photo.
We worked on a Contrast slider to create a comparatively darker background color. We also worked with Blacks, Shadows, Whites, and Highlights. To bring about the dramatic look, we increased 100% the value of Clear and Sharpening. Most importantly, we applied here Graduated filter option.
40. Retro2life HDR
The below images are examples of the ‘retro to life’ Lightroom preset. By this preset, the first image is edited and created a new one which is very lifelike that is the later one. It will add a blue and green combination of color and remove retro or tint color which is not suitable in all photos.
For making this preset, we reduce the value of Contrast, but increase that of the Highlights and Shadows. We also remove Temp and to make the images clearer, Clarity and Sharpening are increased. As a result, some noises and grain are produced and to eliminate those, we apply the Noise Reduction tool here.
41. Vintage look
This preset is to make your portrait photo vintage or ancient. It will add a deep tint color and a light black shadow removing extra whitish. This preset will help the original photo to be clearer and sharper and thus it can increase the quality of the photo.
While we were making this preset, we reduced the exposure and increased the Contrast to make the photo black-shadowed. To get the perfect vintage color, we lessen Shadows, Whites, and Blacks. Here, we also use the Clarity up to +26% value to have a clear image.
42. Cinematic HDR
If you apply this preset to the same type of photos as shown below, you will have a similar cinematic HDR result. It will highlight the white spots and tint color. It will also focus on the main subject, providing some extra lighting effects.
What we do first to create this preset is increase the Temp and Tint a little bit and then increase the Contrast and Highlights to focus the background cloud. Next, we decrease Whites, Shadows, and Blacks so that they can be sharp and focused.
43. Milky Noir
The very name of this preset indicates that the image produced by it will be milk white. However, to generate this preset, we worked on mainly Vibrance and Saturation so that your photos may get proper milky color. To keep the main subject in focus, we increase the property of Highlights and decrease that of Clarity.
We also decrease the value of Blacks. All these make the preset capable of creating an exact milky noir portrait photo just the same as an Instagram filter can do.
44. Real Glow
This preset can make your natural portrait photo glow artificially. In the below photo, you will get an example of this preset work. It will make all the natural elements look artificial and colorful, but still, the photo will appear beautiful, even more than earlier. This preset will affect green and purple colors as we have worked on saturation.
The first thing comes first. Here to highlight the color, we increase the value of Saturation and Clarity. To maintain proper color combination, we minimize the Exposure, Highlights, and Whites. Again, we maximize the value of Contrast, Sharpening, and Luminance for noise reduction.
45. Dreamy Indoor
It is one of the fantastic Lightroom presets to make your indoor images outstanding. This preset will make the images sharper and clearer. It will also highlight all types of colors in your photo. This preset can be very effective in every type of photo. It will bring out every pixel from a photo and it will look fresh before than the first one.
For the creation of this preset, we worked on Contrast and Clarity to make this image clear and something blackish. We also worked on Exposure and Temp for focusing colors and adding spring-life.
46. Monotonous HDR
Monotonous HDR is an awesome Lightroom preset that can make all types of photos outstanding including outdoor portrait photos. It is capable of transforming your photo into HDR painting. It will help to remove black shadows in your photos.
To create this preset, we worked on Contrast, White, Shadows, and Blacks to fix the proper color combinations. Then, we worked on Clarity, Sharpening, and Luminance for noise reduction. All these processes have capable us to create such a fantastic and popular Monotonous HDR preset.
47. Live Family
This live family preset is perfect for editing family portraits in Lightroom. It will make an awesome family image by removing blackish, whitish, shadow, and glare. It can highlight the main subject removing tint and sun flare. This preset can make dynamic the background and background objects.
For creating this fantastic Lightroom preset, we have applied Exposure and Contrast for lighting management. For removing black shadow, we worked with Shadows and Blacks and minimized the value of Whites.
To make the image clear and sharp, we worked with Clarity, Sharpening, and Luminance for noise reduction. However, all these steps have made this preset successful and one of the most popular Lightroom presets.
48. Gladding
The very Lightroom Preset is for improving the quality of the images of your happy moments. It will remove away black shades, extra white glares, and gloominess. In short, this great weapon can be your main tool for improving the lighting environment in the photos. It will provide a warm feel.
While creating this preset, we worked on Exposure and Contrast to highlight the subject. Then, we worked on White, Shadow, and Black to remove black shadows. Finally, we manipulated with Clarity, Sharpening, and Luminance for noise reduction.
49. Dark2Light
It can be a great tool for photographers to make their dark images pop removing darkness. This preset will bring forth the hidden pixels behind the black shades. The images of the evening usually receive black shades which ruin the quality of the photos. Such photos are not suitable for personal or commercial purposes.
To make this preset, we had to work on Exposure and Contrast for light management. We also worked on Highlights, Whites, and blacks to remove the black shades. We worked with Clarity and Noise reduction for image quality improvement.
50. Helena
This feminine Lightroom preset is undoubtedly very useful. It can make your photos cool and eye-soothing. It will add a mild green and tint combination in your photos as if the images are passed through a sun eclipse. This fantastic preset can be used on the images for social media sharing.
However, we make this preset work on Tint, Exposure, and Contrast sliders. Then, we work on Highlights, Shadows, and Whites. For creating the Helena effect, we worked on Clarity, Vibrance, and Saturation. Here, we further worked on the Tone Curve. To make the image clear, we played a role in Sharpening.
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Most of the presets here are unique and there are also some presets which can create effects the same as the Instagram filters can. We have shared these 50 portrait photo Lightroom presets free for download and use on your images. These awesome Lightroom photo editing tools will help to make your portrait images exclusive and engaging for social media.
Check out free Lightroom presets for portraits
