Lightroom Presets?

[Jack Wu]

I'm a newbie to Lightroom and am struggling with it. I tried looking up the tutorials that came with the Lightroom and Youtube videos. I know it will take me time to get good at it but am wondering if Lightroom presets are worth it. I see that there are many different websites that sell Lightroom Presets. Has anyone used them and what are your thoughts about them?

 

[Jeff A]

I made a couple of my own at the direction of videos by Anthony Morganti. He has a very fine series of instructional videos called "Mastering Lightroom Classic". These are excellent videos and they are provided at no charge. You can find them by clicking here.

 

[Drewid]

Have you looked at the construction of the supplied Presets from Adobe. I found my own 'style' and saved that preset and apply that as a batch process on most uploads.

 

[PFCosta]

Hi Jack Wu,
Yes, Lightroom has a bit of a steep learning curve, but once you get used to it you'll find it a great editing program. Jeff A is quite right: Antony Morganti's tutorials are very helpful (there are also books on the use of Lightroom). I use LrClassic, RAW files and also some presets. There's a whole world of presets (or plugins) out there and many sets of plugins are not that expensive. Even if in a set of, say 20 presets, you find only 4 or 5 that suit you, it's often worth the money. If you check your page in Adobe's Creative Cloud you'll find sets of plugins for Lr, some of them free just for you to test before deciding to buy. Looking at the world of presets you'll realize that most sets are dedicated to particular genres, for instance, portrait or landscape or B&W, etc. I use plugins a lot although I never batch process; as far as I'm concerned, every single picture is a case that should be dealt with individually and I always check in what way the preset is adjusting the settings; one learns a lot form that and one might find it as some sort of Zen and the art of photo editing, but I do enjoy spending half hour editing and readjusting. As you practice, if you find the use of plugins useful, I advise you to try the NiK collection from DxO Labs. These are programs that run over Lr or Ps, certainly worth every single penny as far as I'm concerned; I use them a lot, especially in B&W transcription.
Good luck and good pictures!

 

[Drewid]

although I never batch process; as far as I'm concerned, every single picture is a case that should be dealt with individually and I always check in what way the preset is adjusting the settings;

I found over time that I always applied similar basic adjustments to all my photos, a style perhaps. So as a workflow I check sharpness etc of the RAW file and flag the keepers. I then delete the trash and apply the basic adjustments as a preset on all that are left. I then look at each photo again and apply the finishing touches if required and under certain circumstances drop into PS to continue enhancements. Those basic changes would take a lot of time if applied individually on a large number of photos. As for paying for presets

 

[PFCosta]

But of course. It happens that I love to take a lot of time applying individual basic changes on a large/few number of pictures; on the other hand I dislike spending time developing presets. Matters of taste... the ways of preferences... Life is full of choices. [reminds the Gershwins' song "...You say either and I say either, / You say neither and I say neither"]

 

[Osval]

In my opinion, they are great time savers. There are lots of bundles around. If you are good with photo edition, you can record your own ones.

 

[Merlinator]

If you shoot wildlife and birds I personally feel presets add no real value.