Lightroom Presets Do You Use Them?

[MarkWok]

Where would I be able to get my hands on a cheap copy of Lightroom?


Sent from my iPhone using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app

 

[donny1963]

There is only one way to get Adobe Lightroom, Though adobe and it's cheap, you can get both Lightroom & photoshop as a photography package for only $9.99 a month,, you generally lease it..

www.adobe.com/CreativeCloud‎

 

[donny1963]

New to LR, and still exploring all the features and have some questions on presets

1. Do you use them and why?
2. Suggestions on the best ones to use?

they are times where you can't always use the lighroom presets, it all depends on the condition of your image to begin with..
But presets can help you in some situations.. it all depends, if your raw images are good from the start then the presets will work well..

 

[Derrel]

YES, I use dozens of Lightroom presets. They are the strength of the app. I use them allllllll the time. They are a fundamamental basic part of the app. I leave the preview on, and scroll down, and look at how different ones will modify the image. The B&W Color Filter effects are commonly used. I've built up a big set of custom presets. I use seven basic vignettes, as well as some color toning tweeks.

 

[zombiesniper]

It's great that you use them but disagreeing with my post that I don't use them makes no sense. I still don't use them.

 

[Derrel]

It's great that you use them but disagreeing with my post that I don't use them makes no sense. I still don't use them.

I SELDOM use the disagree option. YOUR post was my 29th "disagree" in about 16,000 ratings I have given. Does that tell you something?

I do not mean to offend you. But your "Prefer adjust each image." rationale is what got the Disagree X from me.

I've spent a ton of time trying to help you over the past two weeks. I vehemently oppose advocating NEVER using Lightroom presets and adjusting EACH IMAGE, one at a time.. And I do not like the disagree "X"....but sometimes, I will use it. Like 29 times in 16,316 post ratings given.

 

[zombiesniper]

Not offended.
But I have just not found anything I need a preset for so I son't use them. Especially since when I made that post 100% of my photos were wildlife.

I appreciate the studio help you and others have given but still up to this point when done in the studio I only have at max 10 photos to edit.
Will I ever use them? Don't know. In the studio maybe.
Will I ever use them for wildlife? Not likely. I can't control a single thing about the scene so I doubt I'll ever find a cut and paste solution.

 

[smoke665]

@zombiesniper I've made a diligent effort to learn all that PS and LR can offer. Presets can be anything from simple to complex. IE: I've learned there certain adjustments that always look better with "my" camera. Rather than do that adjustment every time I import I use my preset. There are also many presets that while they may not get you exactly what you want, they get you close so that rather than tweaking everything just a few quick adjustments brings you to a final image. No offense but it sounds like you're reinventing the wheel on every image. In reality I would guess that there are some basic adjustments you make on every image that could be saved as a preset.

 

[Rick50]

I use presets a lot. Lets say I go out and shoot a scene and end up with a fair amount of photo's. I'll edit one and save the edit as a preset and then apply to the remaining similar photo's as a base point or starting point. It saves time. Plus I have other presets for particular tasks like sharpening that get used a lot.

 

[table1349]

There are two ways to work in this world, harder, or smarter. I choose to work smarter. I'll let you guess whether I use presets or not.

 

[donny1963]

presets are a time safter, i do many wedding shoots, and on average wedding shoot i take about 1500 pictures or more..
now of course i got about 50 shots in the church, then another 100 out side, then the rest at the reception at a different location.
So each place my images are going to have different light balance , light settings some with just fill flash some with the flash is the main light.

So lets say i start working with the shots in the church, the light balance is going to be the same, the light situation will be as well, so all my images will have similar exposures , what i do is edit the first picture and save what adjustments i did to that picture in a pre-set, then each time i move on to the next image i first apply the pre-set to get the next image i'm working on to be similar at least to what i want then if needed make more adjustments.

This saves me the time to have to manually set each image with the settings, i even do them as a batch processing then move on to the next set where the lighting and situation would be different and so i manually edit the fist one and then save that preset and apply them to all the other image that where taken in that location.. it's so much a life saver, this cuts down my post- production time by 80% or more.

When you have to edit like 1000 or more images your going to want to use presets, even editing just 200 pictures, why do the same adjustments to 199 of your pictures that you just did to your first picture, that makes no sense..

Donny

 

[OGsPhotography]

Are we talking about using the " Previous Button" now for batch processing, thats a seperate function to adjustment brush presets.

I dont use them ( either form) but that is probably due to not having a need and or the knowledge to need them.

 

[smoke665]

@donny1963 I was referring to presets that would be used on a more recurring basis, but the flexibility of the preset is such that your use works as well. I am curious though as to why you save your initial settings as a preset rather than selecting all the photos in the group and using the Synch Button. Wouldn't that accomplish what you want with even less effort?

@OGsPhotography I guess presets could include batch type processing but my OP was more on those which adjust the sliders to a preset point.

 

[Rick50]

@donny1963 I was referring to presets that would be used on a more recurring basis, but the flexibility of the preset is such that your use works as well. I am curious though as to why you save your initial settings as a preset rather than selecting all the photos in the group and using the Synch Button. Wouldn't that accomplish what you want with even less effort?

@OGsPhotography I guess presets could include batch type processing but my OP was more on those which adjust the sliders to a preset point.

I prefer the preset method as it allows me to skip photo's as I go but both methods achieve the same thing.