Lightroom's latest adaptive color profiles have photographers asking if traditional presets might become obsolete.
Coming to you from Ryan with Signature Edits, this straightforward video demonstrates how adaptive color profiles use artificial intelligence to automatically analyze your photos' shadows, highlights, contrast, and colors, giving you a tailored edit in just one click. When comparing the adaptive profile to a traditional preset, the differences are immediately clear: the adaptive color handles high-contrast scenes like bright skies and dark shadows impressively, without pushing the photo into an unnatural HDR look. For beginners or anyone editing large batches of photos, this automation can significantly speed up your workflow by delivering consistently decent edits, eliminating guesswork from the editing process. This makes adaptive color especially useful for quickly producing a clean, natural look without extensive Lightroom experience. However, as the video reveals, the adaptive profiles aren't flawless.
Ryan points out that adaptive color profiles occasionally produce edits that compromise stylistic control, especially in scenes featuring subtle details like fog or nuanced skin tones. He illustrates how adaptive color tends to aggressively recover highlights and shadows, sometimes flattening images and washing out essential textures. In one example, adaptive color removed the delicate fog from a forest scene, transforming a moody landscape into something overly bright and generic. Additionally, Ryan demonstrates that adaptive profiles can introduce unwanted color shifts—particularly evident in skin tones, which can turn overly reddish or unnatural compared to carefully crafted presets. These inconsistencies highlight adaptive color's limitations when precise color grading or maintaining a particular photographic style is critical.
The video further explores a nuanced limitation: adaptive profiles significantly affect color balance and saturation, which can disrupt carefully developed color schemes you've established through traditional presets. If you rely heavily on stylistic consistency across your portfolio—especially photographers with a signature look—adaptive color might complicate your workflow rather than simplify it. The challenge arises when you attempt to blend adaptive color adjustments with existing stylistic presets. The result is often an unwanted mix, requiring further adjustments in Lightroom’s color mixer, negating some of the time saved by the AI-driven profile.
Adaptive color profiles clearly excel in images with high dynamic range situations—bright sunlight, harsh shadows, and scenes demanding balanced exposure. In these cases, the automatic adjustments deliver excellent base images requiring minimal tweaking. Yet, for nuanced, style-driven editing, adaptive profiles currently fall short. Ryan suggests the ideal scenario would allow photographers to leverage adaptive technology selectively—recovering highlights and shadows without altering carefully established color choices. Such flexibility would help experienced editors gain the speed benefits of AI without compromising their stylistic control. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Ryan.
