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40 Free and Fantastic Presets For Lightroom

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Posted by Patrick on Sep 22, 2009 in Featured Content, Software, Tutorials

40 Free and Fantastic Presets For Lightroom

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One of the reasons Adobe’s Photoshop Lightroom workflow application is so good at speeding up the creative process is the use of presets. Presets are a group of settings that can be saved and yes shared, that can then be applied directly to your photographs by simply clicking on them. Better still, simply roll the mouse over a preset and you’ll see a live preview of the “effect” in your navigator panel. Not sure what direction to take with an image? Well, having a collection of presets to “roll over” is a quick and dirty way to get a good idea of which way to take it, and when you see something you like, just click it to apply it. One additional usage, presets don’t have to be transformative, they can also just be simple corrective presets. Since any setting you make can be saved as a preset, you could save white balance adjustments as presets, curve manipulations, and so on.

As we mentioned, presets can be shared, and a large number of Lightroom users not only spend a lot of time making incredibly creative presets, but also sharing them. A number of great sites create or aggregate presets, but we’ve gone around and picked out some of our recent favorites. We’ve included dramatic presets, black and white presets, several film emulations, and just some sort of cool ones. As with all presets, you can simply use them straight of the metaphorical box, use them as a starting point to make your own unique look, or as a way of deciding which way to not take an image. All of the presets included are free of charge, but please explore some of the creator’s websites, they frequently have more and better presets, sometimes at a small charge.

Installation

Installing presets couldn’t be easier. While in the develop module, simply right click on the “User Presets” option under the Preset panel. Select “import” from the subsequent menu, then navigate to your downloaded preset to import it. That’s it.

Presets

1. Rollei Retro
A Rollei Retro film emulation by Michael W. Gray at lifeindigitalfilm.com

2. Kodak High Definition
A Kodak High Definition 400 film emulation by Michael W. Gray at lifeindigitalfilm.com

3. Fuji 160S
A Fuji 160S film emulation by Michael W. Gray at lifeindigitalfilm.com

4. Agfa RSX II 100
An Agfa RSX II 100 film emulation by Michael W. Gray at lifeindigitalfilm.com

5. Classic-Pan 200
An Classic-Pan 200 film emulation by Michael W. Gray at lifeindigitalfilm.com

6 – 11. Black and White Presets by Wonderlandpresets.com for Presetheaven.com
6 black and white presets by wonderlandpresets.com for presetheaven.com. All of them available here.

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