The low-frequency mode activity of metal loporphyrins has been studied for iron porphine-halides (Fe(P)(X), X = CI, Br) and nitrophorin 4 (NP4) using femtosecond coherence spectroscopy (FCS) in combination with polarized resonance Raman spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT). It is confirmed that the mode symmetry selection rules for FCS are the same as for Raman scattering and that both Franck-Condon and Jahn-Teller mode activities are observed for Fe(P)(X) under Soret resonance conditions. The DFT-calculated low-frequency (20-400 cm(-1)) modes, and their frequency shifts upon halide substitution, are in good agreement with experimental Raman and coherence data, so that mode assignments can be made. The doming mode is located at similar to 80 cm(-1) for Fe(P)(CI) and at similar to 60 cm(-1) for Fe(P)(Br). NP4 is also studied with coherence techniques, and the NO-bound species of ferric and ferrous NP4 display a mode at similar to 30-40 cm(-1) that is associated with transient heme doming motion following NO photolysis. The coherence spectra of three ferric derivatives of NP4 with different degrees of heme ruffling distortion are also investigated. We find a mode at similar to 60 cm(-1) whose relative intensity in the coherence spectra depends quadratically on the magnitude of the ruffling distortion. To quantitatively account for this correlation, a new "distortion-induced" Raman enhancement mechanism is presented. This mechanism is unique to low-frequency "soft modes" of the molecular framework that can be distorted by environmental forces. These results demonstrate the potential of FCS as a sensitive probe of dynamic and functionally important nonplanar heme vibrational excitations that are induced by the protein environmental forces or by the chemical reactions in the aqueous phase.