A warm photo of a woman wearing a black rimmed hat

Southern Drawl


Southern Drawl is a free modern Lightroom preset with some southern flair. It brightens and adds a cozy warm orange glow to images. Its vibrant colors combine with soft tones to create a classic matte film look.

Collection: Warm Presets, Cinematic Presets
Best for: Outdoor, Travel
Style: Soft Tones, Warm Orange Tones, Vibrant

This preset works best on photos taken outdoors. Its subdued and tinted tones look best under diffused natural light. You can also use it as an Instagram filter if you are going for a consistent analog film aesthetic. Unlike other soft matte presets, Southern Drawl sets itself apart with its distinct blend of warm orange hues. Try it on outdoor portraits, travel photos, landscapes, and cityscapes.

Creates a Bright Orange Motif

A warm and bright image of an orange motel signage that says "Cozy Cone Motel"

Warm Radiance. The preset’s aesthetic is a mix of sunny warm hues and vintage tones. To produce this look, the preset begins by recreating the brilliance of sunlight. It increases exposure to fill the image with light and boosts contrast to more easily draw out colors. Then, to set its retro film style, it tints shadows with brown tones and applies vignetting. Southern Drawl finalizes this artistic look by applying custom camera calibration settings.

You can examine how these adjustments come together in the After photo above. Notice the overall brightening, the soft brown shadows of the signage, and the infusion of orange warmth.

Softens and Lightens Tones

A bright retro photo of white vintage cars parked at the side of the road

Vintage Matte. Southern Drawl creates reinforces its analog look by narrowing the tonal range. This means lowering the intensity of highlights and shadows. As a result, highlights appear muted while shadows look lightened. The resulting airy tones then combine with the coffee brown hues in the shadows.

In the photos above of white vintage cars, try to observe how the preset processes light and dark regions. See how Southern Drawl illuminates and moderates the intensity of the bright white areas. Look at the pavement, too: the preset not only lightens it but also reveals more details.

Moderates the Intensity of Hues

A bright and soft outdoor portrait of a woman with sunglasses

Soft and Rich. The preset produces vibrant colors by generally amplifying its vibrance levels. This simple, straightforward, enhancement makes colors look rich without making them look artificial. After all, Southern Drawl does want to keep portraits and scenes looking natural. It even lowers saturation a bit to make colors blend better with the added warm orange hues and brown tint.

Look at the subject’s skin tones in the example above. These look bright and smooth in the After photo, as though more illuminated by sunlight. With Southern Drawl, you can expect soft, tender, and expressive portraits each time.

Refines Color Saturation and Luminance

A warm and bright photo of a big house and a garden

Balanced Hues. The preset applies more complex settings in color using Lightroom’s HSL panel. It tweaks the saturation of each color at varying levels. It amplifies orange, blue, and red, while it mutes yellow, green, purple, and magenta. These improvements are also in consideration of the added light and color accents.

You can examine the result in the After photo above. Look at the bright yet vibrant flower beds, the clear blue sky, the dark green plants, and the light violet flowers.

A bright and colorful retro photo of establishments in Route 66

Added Brilliance. The preset adds another layer of brilliance by infusing red and green hues with more light. This adjustment helps make them look light without graying them out. You can notice this effect the most if your photo has a lot of earthy tones and plant life. In the example above, you can observe the effect on the green store signage and the brick walls at the right.

Southern Drawl preset is for Lightroom Mobile, Desktop and…

Like all our presets, you can absolutely use Southern Drawl preset as is, right out of the box. With any preset, you might need to make adjustments to accommodate your specific camera, settings, lighting and subject matter.

  • Entirely Adjustable
  • Compatible with Lightroom 4, 5, 6 and CC
  • Performs with both PC, Mac, and Mobile
  • Applicable to both RAW and JPG images
  • 100% Free
Portrait Free Lightroom Presets

Free Lightroom Preset by Forrest Lane

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