To Use Presets or Not? A question was asked about installing presets in LR. I am curious to know what y'all think about packaged presets? The ads for them make them look fantastic. I...

Marlz

A question was asked about installing presets in LR. I am curious to know what y'all think about packaged presets? The ads for them make them look fantastic. I have played around with them. It seems like it takes longer to find something I like than to simply make my own adjustments. Of course there are effects that I don't know how to get myself, but often these look unnatural to me ... comments?

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

There are good presets, and there are bad presets.
The good ones are good; the bad ones are horrid.

kenievans Loc: Dallas

I use them occasionally. Like you I don’t always know how to get a specific look or feel I am going for. I will use a preset then make note of the settings. I play with them to see how the different settings effect the shot. It has been a good learning tool for me.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

My experience with Nik Collection and Topaz (using PS Elements) is that they are rarely predictable - often quite different results depending on the image. So starting with a pre-set might depend on how much you enjoy the surprise vs. how much you prefer a more deliberate approach.

Over the years I've learned to start with my favorite pre-sets and then make tweaks or changes to opacity and/or blend mode, or to mask the effect from areas of an image, or to combine with other effects/adjustments. However, there are a couple of my older one-click Topaz Simplify results ("playful pp") that still make me smile.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

Marlz wrote:

A question was asked about installing presets in LR. I am curious to know what y'all think about packaged presets? The ads for them make them look fantastic. I have played around with them. It seems like it takes longer to find something I like than to simply make my own adjustments. Of course there are effects that I don't know how to get myself, but often these look unnatural to me ... comments?

I once had a collection of downloaded presets, I have since erased most of them, keeping only a small fraction, and simply creating my own. I picked up a collection of LUT’s recently and like how some of them effect the look, but LUT’s and Presets are simply changes you can easily make yourself, which gets them free, and teaches you how to create the effects on your own.

Presets are simply shortcuts, macros if you will of slider values, LUT’s are color look up tables to tweak color values.

You can create your own presets within Lightroom by making adjustments and saving as a preset, to create your own LUT’s it is done thru ACR and saved as camera profile. There are lots of tutorials on both on the internet.

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

Marlz wrote:

A question was asked about installing presets in LR. I am curious to know what y'all think about packaged presets? The ads for them make them look fantastic. I have played around with them. It seems like it takes longer to find something I like than to simply make my own adjustments. Of course there are effects that I don't know how to get myself, but often these look unnatural to me ... comments?

Presets can be timesavers, but they can't do anything edit-wise that LR itself can do.

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

Presets can be fun at times. I have some, don't generally use them. I love to edit and create what I want for each image. Edit a lot and you'll eventually know more than all of the presets. That's the way you learn.

traderjohn Loc: New York City

Marlz wrote:

A question was asked about installing presets in LR. I am curious to know what y'all think about packaged presets? The ads for them make them look fantastic. I have played around with them. It seems like it takes longer to find something I like than to simply make my own adjustments. Of course there are effects that I don't know how to get myself, but often these look unnatural to me ... comments?

I think the most important thing is, what do you think of them. Think of your concerns. Articulate them and then Google or go to Youtube with your question. If as you say some look unnatural to you then this is not the one(s) to use.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

I saw an ad the other day for 40 presets. I have no idea what I would do with 40 presets. I sometimes use the presets that come with a program, but I have never bought a set.

Fstop12 Loc: Kentucky

Linda From Maine wrote:

My experience with Nik Collection and Topaz (using... (show quote)

Long time user of Photoshop and Nik plugins. As far as the plugins, they are usually a starting point for me.

Revet Loc: Fairview Park, Ohio

Dngallagher wrote:

I once had a collection of downloaded presets, I h... (show quote)

Nikon1201

I will at times use LR plugins .

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

I find at times presets are a good stating point but tweak from there

tmgoonan

When I first started in digital post processing I tried presets. I didn't care for someone else's opinion of my photographs. I haven't used them since and haven't looked back.

Deanie1113

I bought a bunch then deleted them. I've found a better idea, if you have the Adobe package, is to purchase Photoshop actions. These are easy, and can be adjusted to apply just a little of the action overall, or just a portion of it to your image. I love mine. Don't use them a lot, but when I do I usually love the outcome after I adjust to my taste.