Use Develop Presets in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
Save Time and Quickly Add Creative Effects
Aug 16, 2008
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom has recently released version 2.0 of its popular photo management software. Develop presets are available in both versions 1 and 2, and can be used as creative and time-saving tools.
What Are Develop Presets?
Develop presets are templates containing specific photo adjustments. They can be found in the Develop module of Lightroom. The software comes with a variety of presets, such as photo aging, black and white conversion, sepia toning, cold toning, and sharpening.
The real power of develop presets comes from within the Lightroom community. Users can save and share presets they’ve created, and a great many talented photographers and Lightroom gurus have done just that. Hundreds of presets are available on the internet (as a search of “Lightroom presets” in Google shows).
Creative presets exist for effects like:
- Infrared conversion
- Black and white conversion
- Fantasy vignetting
- Polaroid emulation
- Film emulation (such as, T-Max 400 and Velvia)
- 1970’s style photo tinting
More presets show up on the web every week, and keeping up with them is a great journey into digital post-processing creativity.
Where to Find Develop Presets
A Google search of “Lightroom presets” will return a wealth of options for finding and downloading develop presets created by enthusiastic Lightroom users, but here are a few places to start:
- Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips Presets Archive
- Inside Lightroom - Scroll down toward the bottom under “Lightroom Presets” to view the various categories - cross process presets, point curve presets, calibration presets, etc.
These sources and many others offer presets free for downloading. Some have specific terms of use, such as an allowance for non-commercial use only. Check each web site for licensing terms and conditions.
Some sites offer presets packaged in a compressed file, such as .zip format. Double-click the zip file in Windows or Mac to extract its contents. Lightroom develop presets will have a file extension of .lrtemplate.
How To Install Lightroom Develop Presets
- Open Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.
- Select a photo to work on.
- Click on the Develop module at the top right.
- In the Presets panel on the left, right-click on the User Presets category (CTRL-click on a Mac).
- Choose Import from the pop-up menu.
- Browse to the .lrtemplate file(s) you downloaded and select one or more.
- Click Import.
How To Use Lightroom Develop Presets
- Complete steps 1-7 above.
- Hover your mouse over each of the develop presets in the Presets panel. The preview pane will show the effects of each preset.
- Choose a preset and then click its name in the Presets panel to see its effects on your selected photo.
- Tweak the results using the Develop panel on the right, or undo the preset and choose another.
In short, develop presets can be applied by simply clicking on the desired preset while viewing a photo in loupe mode.
Creating Lightroom Develop Presets
To make short work of repetitive adjustments in Lightroom, record your own custom develop presets. These are especially useful for batch processing photos, particularly from the same shoot. Apply exposure adjustments, white balance settings, and other development corrections with one click.
- Process a photo in the Develop module as desired.
- In the Presets panel on the left, click the plus sign (+).
- Type in a descriptive name for the new preset.
- Choose which adjustments to include in the new preset.
- Click create.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom has revolutionized the digital photo workflow process for thousands of photographers worldwide. Expand your creative options and save time by using and sharing Lightroom Develop Presets. After all, time is money!
Source:
- Adobe Photoshop Lightroom version 2.0
