Best Lightroom Preset for Studio Newborns

[hkramseur]

I just switched from Photoshop to Lightroom to edit my newborns. I would like to purchase some presets for skin tones and blemishes, but every time I look at them, I can't decide which ones to purchase. Any advice?

 

[tirediron]

None of them. Treat each image as an individual; applying a whitewash brush, one-size technique is NOT going to yield optimal results. FWIW, Photoshop and Lightroom aren't really an 'or' but rather an 'and'. There are some things that both can do, and some things that one does much better than the other, but using one without the other is really like making a PB&J with the 'J'.

 

[Dave442]

I have not tried any of these type of presets. I usually select a camera profile I have for images where the face is the subject, then I adjust white balance. Recently I have been trying out On1 and opening that from LR to make some edits to the face (it detects faces) and then back to LR. If you are used to the fine adjustments you can do in PS then these other options will probably feel a bit heavy handed, but fast.

 

[EIngerson]

You should be using Photoshop and Lightroom. Like Tirediron said, individually edit photos if you are going to call them professional work. Every photo is going to have different flaws, even in controlled environments.

 

[hkramseur]

Yes, I do use both, I'm sorry I worded that question wrong. I have started using Lightroom first and then doing the detailed finishing work in Photoshop. I'm comfortable with Photoshop. I do a lot of newborns and it can become tedious. Right now I'm doing every picture individually, like you said.

 

[tirediron]

Yes, I do use both, I'm sorry I worded that question wrong. I have started using Lightroom first and then doing the detailed finishing work in Photoshop. I'm comfortable with Photoshop. I do a lot of newborns and it can become tedious. Right now I'm doing every picture individually, like you said.

If it's becoming tedious, I'm guessing you're shooting too much. I don't shoot newborns (heck, I avoid even talking to children unless they're at least old enough to drive), but if I were to do a one hour newborn session, I would anticipate shooting 50-75 frames, binning at least half of those and offering the client 20-30 proofs (which only have cropping & colour correction) from which to choose. If they want to pay me to process all 30, I'm happy to do that, but my typical client (for retail/family photography) purchases 6-8 images at most. I can't see newborn work being vastly different.

 

[HughGuessWho]

I agree with tirediron 100%. No preset will work perfectly for every photo, which means you will need to manually tweak your photos anyway. At best, a preset might get you in the ballpark if you can determine which one to use for the circumstance.
Once you get use to the the workflow of LR and PS, you can edit a photo pretty quickly without the use of presets.

 

[table1349]

Yes, I do use both, I'm sorry I worded that question wrong. I have started using Lightroom first and then doing the detailed finishing work in Photoshop. I'm comfortable with Photoshop. I do a lot of newborns and it can become tedious. Right now I'm doing every picture individually, like you said.

If it's becoming tedious, I'm guessing you're shooting too much. I don't shoot newborns (heck, I avoid even talking to children unless they're at least old enough to drive), but if I were to do a one hour newborn session, I would anticipate shooting 50-75 frames, binning at least half of those and offering the client 20-30 proofs (which only have cropping & colour correction) from which to choose. If they want to pay me to process all 30, I'm happy to do that, but my typical client (for retail/family photography) purchases 6-8 images at most. I can't see newborn work being vastly different.

Yep, I think this is a case where you need to decide which is more important for your business, quality or quantity. Presets are only a starting point, you still have to edit each photo individually.