Consistency in your photo edits can elevate your work and save time, especially when working with a large number of images. Lightroom presets are a practical way to develop a style and apply it across multiple photos, streamlining your workflow and maintaining your unique visual identity.
Coming to you from Aaron Nace with Phlearn, this insightful video breaks down how to create and apply Lightroom presets step by step. The process begins in the Develop tab in Lightroom Classic. By adjusting settings such as contrast, highlights, and shadows, you establish the foundation of your desired look. Nace uses color grading to fine-tune the image, warming the midtones for a sunny feel while cooling the shadows for balance. These subtle adjustments create a harmonious, low-contrast aesthetic that’s perfect for bright outdoor scenes. Once satisfied with the edit, you can save these settings as a preset for future use.
Presets are only useful if they’re tailored to specific changes you’ve made. Nace demonstrates the importance of selecting only the adjustments you’ve modified, like color grading and tonal changes, when saving a preset. This ensures that applying the preset doesn’t overwrite unrelated settings in other images. He names the preset descriptively—“Warm Low Contrast”—to make its function immediately clear. This small organizational step simplifies its application later.
Once the preset is created, you can apply it to multiple images with ease. Using the Sync Settings feature, Nace shows how to apply the preset to an entire collection of images in just a few clicks. This approach maintains consistency across your edits without requiring manual adjustments for each photo. Whether you’re processing images from a single shoot or building a cohesive portfolio, this method saves time while ensuring uniformity.
Beyond editing, Nace covers how to export and share presets. Lightroom allows you to save presets as files, which you can import into other catalogs or share with others. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Nace.
