A Beginner’s Guide to Lightroom Presets
Ever wonder how friends or businesses create consistent color tones in their images? It’s easy! They use something called PRESETS! Presets are one-click editing adjustments designed to be re-applied to multiple images to create a more cohesive look. They can adjust anything from light & colors, to even smoothing out skin!
After years of training friends & creative entrepreneurs, I’ve found that Adobe Lightroom is by far the best editing software on the market to use presets. And the best part — it can be used by professionals AND amateurs.
Keep reading to learn how you can use Adobe Lightroom Presets to level up your social media game and turn your photos from good to fabulous!
Lightroom or Lightroom Classic?
Lightroom is a part of the Creative Cloud collection designed by Adobe that includes 20+ apps used for photography, design, video, web, UX, and more. These apps were originally designed for professionals, but it’s now easy for even my tech-illiterate mother to edit her photos! Pretty cool, huh?
There are TWO versions of Lightroom to choose from:
Lightroom - This FREE mobile app has basic editing capabilities that you can be used on desktop, mobile, and web. Image file backup included and saved in the cloud.
Lightroom Classic - This desktop-only app can be used by professionals because of its wide variety of editing capabilities. Paid subscription required. Image file backup not included.
Choose Your Presets
The next step is choosing your presets! You can use defaults, create your own, or purchase presets from professionals. Simply change settings then “save as new preset,” to create your own unique style as you learn and grow.
Create Your Own - Play around with settings & when you find your look, click “save as new preset.”
Default Presets - Lightroom has default presets within three categories: color, creative, and b&w. These are like Instagram filters, so they are very basic.
Purchase Presets - There are millions of photographers who have curated their own presets. ***Be careful when purchasing as some are only compatible with one Lightroom app. If you want to stay in the family, below you’ll find a link to my Sweetbay Presets designed for BOTH Lightroom & Lightroom Classic.
Installation Guide
INSTALL LIGHTROOM ON MOBILE
Download Preset Files (.dng files)
Save each file to camera roll
Download + Open Lightroom App
Create Album titled, “Preset Name”, then import preset files into the folder
Open the first image in “Preset Name” album, click the three dots icon in the top right, click create preset, label according to its name
Repeat for each preset and Viola!
INSTALL LIGHTROOM CLASSIC ON DESKTOP
For Develop Presets
Download Preset Files (.xmp files)
Open LR Classic > Go To Preferences > Preset Tab > Show LR Develop Presets
Copy + paste presets into that Settings folder
Restart Lightroom & Viola!
For Local Adjustment + Export Presets
Open LR Classic > Go To Preferences > Preset Tab > Show Other LR Develop Presets
Copy + paste presets into the appropriate folder
Restart Lightroom & Viola!
Editing Guide
Edit in Lightroom on Mobile
Editing your images on your phone is super simple! Here are 4 steps below:
Import Images - Lightroom on mobile gives you the option to automatically sync all of your photos in your phone into the app, or you can choose to individually import each photo.
Choose Preset - Simply select which preset you want on your image.
Edit Adjustments - Your phone does fairly well at auto-detecting which settings are needed for a properly exposed image. However, some settings are a little more tricky like fluorescent lighting (indoor), as well as dark lighting. You may need to adjust the exposure, temperature, or tint to make sure lighting and skin tones look natural in the final product.
Export to Phone - Simply press the share button at the top of your screen and choose where you’d like your image to go!
Edit in Lightroom Classic on Desktop
Within Lightroom Classic, there are SO many different ways to edit your images. To keep it simple, I’m going to share my workflow for batch editing an engagement session below.
Import Images - Because I’m dealing with hundreds of files, I use a program called Photo Mechanic to cull everything down before bringing files into Lightroom Classic. When I’m ready to import, I select the files on my computer, build smart previews, add to collection (create new with client name & date) and apply my preferred Sweetbay Develop Preset upon importing.
2. Batch Editing
Find & completely edit one image that has good, even natural light.
Use the Compare View (C) to compare every image, making sure to keep exposure, temperature, and tint consistent. I very rarely adjust any other settings unless absolutely necessary.
I use the Spot Removal (Q) to get rid of blemishes or distracting background noise as well as as the Adjustment Brush (K) to spot treat various places with my Sweetbay Local Adjustment Presets (ex. smooth skin, eyes, whiten teeth). For a flawless Adjustment brush, here’s my settings below:
3. Convert To Black & White - Once I’m done editing every image in color, I’ll select all, then create virtual copies. While all virtual copies are selected, I edit one with my Sweetbay B&W Develop Preset, select sync (making sure ONLY the boxes below are checked), then synchronize. Every color photo is now also in black & white!
4. Export & Send to Client - I now select all color and b&w images, click file > export, then choose my Sweetbay Export Presets depending on where I want to use the files. Last, I upload every file to a new client gallery within my gallery platform, Pic-Time. In the gallery, clients have the option to download their images optimized for web or print, as well as a built in store to purchase products seamlessly!