Detailed texture and powerful contrast for black and white portraits full of human character.
- XMP · Lightroom Classic, CC & Camera Raw
- .costyle · Capture One
- .cube · 3D LUT (DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro)
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Character Lines
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Color rendering varies per monitor and camera model. Your photo is not saved.
Character and mood
Character Lines is a preset for portraits where the face tells the story. No smooth skin, no digital perfection. What you get is texture, depth and contrast that works like light on stone. The preset emphasizes what is already there: wrinkles, pores, the line of a jaw, the look in eyes that have seen something. It is a way of editing that respects what a person looks like, rather than correcting it.
Technically, the preset pulls the midtones back slightly, creating more separation between the lighter and darker areas of the image. The contrast is not pushed hard, but built carefully across the shadows and highlights. Clarity is raised, which brings forward skin texture and fine detail in hair or a beard. The tone curve is tight but not harsh. Blacks are genuinely black, while highlights retain their detail. The result is an image that feels three-dimensional, even on a flat screen.
The preset works best on portraits of people whose faces show some history. An older man in soft, raking light. A woman just after a conversation, not yet back in her pose. Street portraits taken quickly, where the shot already has character before you open Lightroom. Documentary and reportage photography also benefit from this preset, particularly when the surroundings are part of the story. Studio work with harder lighting setups can work well too, but may need a small exposure adjustment to sit right.
You choose Character Lines when you want to draw attention to what makes a person distinct, not what makes them look like everyone else. It is a preset for photographers who prefer honest images. If you usually keep your edits minimal, this is a good fit: the edit feels like a decision, not a filter.
One practical tip: after applying the preset, check the exposure of each individual shot. Images that are slightly overexposed tend to show more skin detail once the preset is applied. If your photo is a touch too dark, raise the exposure by 0.3 to 0.5 stops before making any other adjustments. That gives the texture enhancement the room it needs to do its job.
Installation
Lightroom Classic & CC (desktop)
Unzip the downloaded file on your computer. Open Lightroom Classic and go to the Develop module. Right-click the Presets panel, choose 'Import Presets', and select the .xmp file. The preset appears in your list immediately and can be applied to any photo straight away.
Lightroom Mobile
Lightroom Mobile syncs presets via the cloud. Import the .xmp file into Lightroom CC on your desktop first. Once cloud sync completes, the preset is automatically available on your phone or tablet. An Adobe CC subscription is required for this sync feature.
Capture One
Unzip the file. Open Capture One and navigate to the Styles panel. Click the arrow next to 'Styles' and choose 'Import Style'. Select the .costyle file. The style is available in your library immediately. Works with Capture One version 21 and later.
DaVinci Resolve / Premiere Pro (3D LUT)
Copy the .cube file to your application's LUT folder. In DaVinci Resolve via Project Settings → Color Management → LUT folders. In Premiere Pro via the Lumetri Color panel → Creative tab → Look → Browse. The LUT works on both LOG and standard exposed video footage.
