Summer Solace free Lightroom preset creates a warm matte look that captures the look and feel of summer. Its rich colors and soft tones also give images a matte film style.
Based on our use, this preset works best on photos that feature a broad range of tones and a lot of detail. We like how the color accents pop on images, especially those shot under diffused natural light. Try it on your travel photos of beaches, coasts, seas, and other vacation scenes. The preset works well as an Instagram filter, too, that can give your entire feed a stylish and cohesive look.
Tip: Summer Solace is a bright preset. After applying it to your images, we recommend that you tweak the exposure slider according to your photo’s requirements.
Creates a Matte Summer Aesthetic
Warm Film Tones. One of Summer Solace’s defining looks is its uniquely warm tones. We can easily tell by its rich blend of hues that ForrestLane expertly used multiple color adjustments.
It all begins with the fundamental temperature and tint sliders: he warms the color temperature and pulls the tint slider towards magenta. The result is an elegant brown tone. It gorgeously exudes the warmth of summer, plus the charm of analog photography.
In our example above, you can also notice that the preset smoothens the effect further by adding gray tones to highlights and shadows. We just love how this adds to Summer Solace’s vintage feel.
Brightens and Softens for a Relaxed Vacation Atmosphere
Bright Matte. This preset is ideal for travel photos, not only because of its aesthetic, but also as it recreates the brilliance of sunlight. After filling the image with light using exposure tweaks, it proceeds to soften tones. This creates the beautiful matte texture that we all look for. After all, this aesthetic is expected from presets that recreate the unmistakable look of analog cameras.
Summer Solace arrives at this by muting highlights completely and also lowering whites. This means that light regions look subdued. Whites are bright enough but not brilliant in themselves. Try to examine the ladder frames in our example above.
The preset completes its bright yet soft look by lightening dark regions as well. Blacks and shadows are pulled towards the gray regions. This means that, with Summer Solace, no shadow would appear too harsh nor conceal details. This effect is ideal for portraits and when processing skin tones.
Accentuates the Colors of Summer
Saturated Hues. We recommend this preset because of its color motif, too. The preset saturates hues using the slider under Lightroom’s Presence panel. This adjustment amplifies the intensity of the entire spectrum. Summer Solace, however, moderates this by lowering vibrance. This means that midtone colors are softened, which includes skin tones and some greens.
Check out our example above to see how these adjustments come together. Observe the deep greens of the plants, the man’s hand, and the mustard yellow coat.
Fine-Tunes Saturation and Luminance for a Sunny Radiance
Colorful and Balanced. The preset further refines color using Lightroom’s HSL panel. It gets to set the saturation and luminance of each color at varying degrees. To enhance its bright tropical look, it saturates aqua and blue hues more than others. In contrast, it desaturates orange, yellow, and green. As a result, blue skies and bodies of water appear colorful and crystalline, while plants and skin tones look deeply accentuated.
Summer Solace also tweaks its brilliant look by increasing the luminance of yellow and aqua colors. This pulls them towards brilliant whites: they become less colorful, but brighter. As you can tell from the photo above, this recreates the effect of direct sunlight. On the other hand, the preset decreases that of purple hues to reinforce the defining midtones.
Summer Solace is for Lightroom Mobile, Desktop, and…
You can absolutely use Summer Solace 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. If you want another matte summer preset, be sure to check out our entire collection here.
- 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
