Rich

Rich is a preset for portraits that carry something. Not through exaggeration, but through weight. Colours become fuller, shadows deeper, and the face of your subject pulls attention in a way that feels entirely natural, as if it was always meant to look this way. Calm, heavy, present.

Technically, Rich pushes the shadows down without crushing the midtones. Contrast increases in the lower part of the tonal range, making the dark areas genuinely dark. At the same time, skin tones become warmer and fuller, with a slight push toward red and yellow in the highlights. That gives skin an almost tactile quality. The highlights are pulled back just enough to reveal texture, and the tone curve carries a subtle S-shape that sharpens the image without clipping.

This preset works best with portraits shot in side light or ambient light, where shadow already plays a role on the face. Think window light in a dim room, golden hour on a city street, or single-source studio lighting. Street photography with people at the centre benefits too, especially when the background already has depth. Flat daylight images with little shadow play will need more manual adjustment after applying the preset.

You reach for Rich when a portrait has strength but does not quite feel like it yet. Sometimes the reason is simple: the photo is technically solid but lacks character. Rich brings that character back by turning up the contrast and warmth to a point that reads as deliberate. Not heavy-handed, not filtered. Just weightier, more honest, more there.

A practical tip: apply the preset and then lower the exposure by a quarter to half a stop if your subject has fair or light skin. The warmth in Rich can push lighter skin tones toward orange fairly quickly. A small exposure correction combined with a slight adjustment on the orange hue slider keeps the warmth intact without tipping into excess.