Mirror

Mirror is a preset for photographs that breathe. Not for drama, not for impact. For the moment someone looks away from the camera, light falls softly through a curtain, and everything goes quiet. The black-and-white conversion is restrained, almost a whisper. That is exactly the point.

Technically, Mirror takes the sharpest edges off a photograph. Highlights are pulled back without going flat, shadows stay open and hold texture. The contrast lives in the midtones, not at the extremes. This gives skin a gentle gradation without losing detail. The tone curve runs with a slight S-shape, but a subtle one. Black is true black, but rarely present. The overall feel is silvery, gently faded toward the edges of the histogram.

This preset works best for female portraits in natural light. Think of a bedroom in the morning, a north-facing window, soft overcast light outside. Quiet scenes. Faces looking downward, hands holding something, a chair by a window. Mirror also handles close-ups of skin, hair and clothing in neutral tones very well. Strong direct flash photography fits less naturally here, as does hard midday sun from above.

You reach for Mirror when you want a portrait that asks more than it tells. When you do not want the editing to draw attention to itself. When the photograph already has something, and you want to preserve that something rather than amplify it. That is also why Michiel made this preset: for the photographs where restraint is the right choice.

A practical tip: after applying Mirror, adjust the exposure before touching anything else. The preset is calibrated for a correctly exposed RAW file. If your shot came out slightly dark in camera, bring the exposure up half a stop first. Then look at contrast and shadows. That way the preset performs the way it was intended.