Best Lightroom Presets for Portraits: Film, Vintage & Natural Looks (With Before and After Examples)

I've been making Lightroom presets since 2010, and every pack in my store started in my own client work: weddings, fashion campaigns and the portraits I shoot for my YouTube channel. So when people ask me which presets are best for portraits, my answer always starts with the same thing: skin tones first. A preset can have the most beautiful colour grade in the world, but if it turns skin orange, grey or patchy, it won't work on a portrait.

In this post I'm sharing my favourite portrait presets, grouped by look (natural, film, vintage, cinematic and black and white), with real before and after examples from my shoots so you can see exactly what each one does.

How to choose a Lightroom preset for portraits

Before you look at any colour grade, ask yourself three questions:

• How does it handle skin? Look at the faces in the examples, not just the background. Good portrait presets keep skin smooth and warm without pushing it orange.
• What light do you usually shoot in? Bright, sunny photos and shaded or overcast photos need different starting points. Some presets are made for golden light, others for soft, even light.
• What colours are in your scenes? If you shoot in parks and gardens, look at how a preset treats greens. Some keep them lush and vibrant, others soften them into muted, film-like tones.

Every preset will look slightly different on every photo, because each photo starts with different light and white balance. That's normal, and I'll share how I fix that at the end of this post.

Best natural Lightroom presets for portraits

Meadow

Meadow is my go-to when I want photos to pop but still look completely natural. It keeps skin tones true to life and colours clean, so it works across portraits, weddings, landscapes and street photography. If you only buy one pack and you like a natural look, start here.

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Edited with Meadow

Meadow: 5 presets for natural colour and true-to-life skin tones.

Aspen

Aspen is a clean, natural pack that makes colours pop without looking edited. It's great for bright indoor sessions and lifestyle portraits, and it comes with a PDF tips guide.

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Edited with Aspen

Aspen: 3 clean presets plus a PDF tips guide.

Best film Lightroom presets for portraits

Hibiscus

Hibiscus is my newest pack. It gives portraits a warm, low-contrast, soft film look that feels nostalgic without losing detail in the skin. It's beautiful on golden hour portraits and lifestyle sessions.

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Edited with Hibiscus

Hibiscus: 6 warm, soft film presets.

Disposable Film

Disposable Film recreates the soft, hazy grain of a 35mm disposable camera. If you love that dreamy analogue look but shoot digital, this is the one.

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Edited with Disposable Film

Disposable Film: 4 film emulation presets with a 35mm disposable look.

Best vintage Lightroom presets for portraits

Amalfi

Amalfi is one of my best sellers. It washes portraits in warm caramel tones for a vintage feel, and it's especially lovely on fashion and travel portraits.

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Edited with Amalfi

Amalfi: 4 warm vintage presets.

If you love warm, nostalgic tones, also have a look at Dulce, which is especially beautiful on greenery.

Best cinematic Lightroom presets for portraits

Havana

Havana is my most stylised pack. It makes a portrait look like a still from a movie, and it works just as well on travel and street portraits.

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Edited with Havana

Havana: 5 cinematic, highly stylised presets.

Best black and white Lightroom preset for portraits

Charcoal

Charcoal is a soft, moody black and white film simulation that works in both natural and studio light. For a bigger black and white set, the Ghosts pack has 10 low-contrast film presets.

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Edited with Charcoal

Charcoal: a moody black and white film preset.

How to make any preset look right on your portraits

A preset is a starting point, not a finished edit. After I apply one, I almost always make a few small adjustments:

1. Exposure first. If the photo is too dark or too bright, the colours won't look like the examples. Fix exposure before judging the preset.
2. White balance second. Nudge Temperature and Tint until the skin looks right. This one change fixes most "the preset looks different on my photo" problems.
3. Check the skin. If skin is still too orange or too red, lower the orange saturation slightly or raise the orange luminance in the colour panel.
4. Dial it back if it's too strong. In recent versions of Lightroom you can lower a preset's Amount to blend it with your original photo.

I go through more of my portrait editing tips in this video:

Do these presets work on Lightroom Mobile?

Yes. All of my preset packs work in Lightroom Classic, Lightroom (CC), Lightroom Mobile and Adobe Camera Raw, and every download includes an installation guide. If you have any questions, the answers are on my FAQ page.

You can browse every pack, and filter them by look, in my Lightroom Presets for Portraits collection. If you're stuck between a few, you can buy any 3 presets and save 10%.