The best way to get luminous skin tones in portraits is really simple.

You just need to know a few natural lighting tricks and how to polish it off in your editing workflow.

First and foremost, your lighting AND you camera settings are the most important factor.

Being mindful about your lighting (especially on the skin) is the first step to re-creating this look in Lightroom. It’s harder to fix a bad photo than polishing a photo with optimal settings to begin with.

This is why I am such an advocate for getting the perfect shot in-camera.

It’s a whole lot easier to edit great photos than it is to fix bad ones.

How are good photos made?

With great lighting & perfect settings. This rings true for going after those elusive, creamy and luminous skin tones in your portraits as well.

When you choose the right settings for your subject, polishing their skin to look more luminous and “glowy” is so much easier.

This step-by-step guide will show you EXACTLY how to get creamy skin tones in your photos. And once you can crack the natural lighting code, editing will become so much easier.

After some careful practice and utilizing the light to your advantage, you are on your way to creating luminous skin tones in your portraits!

Now you are ready to create luminous skin tones in your portraits

In this Lightroom tutorial I am going to break down the top ways to achieve this dreamy look in just a few clicks.

Become even more creative with your Lightroom editing with the help of our Lightroom Presets.

These presets were created to bring out color, vibrancy, and extra flare while still retaining color-balanced skin tones INSTANTLY.

Which set of presets will suit your individual style?

If you found these tips helpful, here are some more resources that you might enjoy:

New to Lightroom presets? Get started with this step-by-step guide and download this FREE starter pack.

What’s your editing style? Here are 5 Lightroom editing styles that you can easily replicate.

Getting started with Lightroom: These are the best import settings that you should be choosing.