Lightroom presets can be a handy tool for learning how to edit. However, it’s easy to fall into a trap of thinking that they’re a quick fix for all of your images. In this video, Mark Denney explains why buying presets isn’t such a good idea. Instead of investing money, it’s much better to invest some time and create your own presets, and here are three big reasons why.Advertisements
1. Better workflow efficiencies
First, making your own presets will help you to speed up your workflow and be more efficient. If you apply the same effects to most of your photos, you can create a custom-made preset that will make your editing time much shorter. From here on, you can make minor tweaks to each photo, but you won’t have to edit every one of them from scratch. I’d like to add something that crossed my mind: the same settings will not work for all of your shots. Instead, make several “quick start” presets to cover your different types of photo. For example, make a preset for night time shots, for landscape photos in cloudy weather, in sunny weather, etc.
2. Finding your own creative style
Finding your own style is an important part of being a photographer and creating your own presets is a great step towards it. Mark notes that most of the presets he used to buy would contain far too detailed settings. So, he would have to spend lots of time fixing the preset after applying it. I remember doing the same when I first started playing with presets – most of the time, they just didn’t look right on my photos and I always had to tweak them to match my style and preferences. So, isn’t it easier to just create your own presets? Then, they will contain the edits that match your style and preferences and won’t require you so much time to tweak them. Mark notes that it works much better if you create presets that only contain one setting instead of the whole set.
3. Improving your post-processing
Last, but definitely not the least, creating your own Lightroom presets makes you better at post-processing. When you apply readymade presets you bought, it can make you lazy. But creating your own presets makes you do everything from scratch and practice all the details of Lightroom editing. Ultimately, you’ll become better at post-processing, and it’s an important part of creating your own style and making the best of your images. Personally, I played with presets a bit when I started using Lightroom, but I soon gave it up. I prefer creating my own presets and I agree with Mark’s points. What about you? Do you buy presets or prefer to make your own? [3 Reasons to CREATE YOUR OWN Lightroom PRESETS | Mark Denney]
