Presets in Lightroom – How to Use and Download the Best Ones

Although mobile phones and professional cameras take better photos every time, there is always room for improvement, no matter how small. As a result, professional photographers rarely save photos as-is, instead using professional software such as Adobe Lightroom to enhance and retouch them to make them look perfect. And, although the normal thing is that each photo has special needs, we can save a lot of work if we decide to automate the retouching. And one way to do it is through the Lightroom presets .

A Lightroom preset is, roughly, a specific setting of values that we can easily apply to any photo with one click. These allow us to apply the same correction to a large number of photos without having to do it one by one. These pre-established configurations will allow us to perform basic editing tasks and automate repetitive tasks to apply lens corrections or eliminate halos of light and fog from photos.

Presets in Lightroom

When we apply a preset the appearance of the photo changes. We can vary the brightness, contrast, color, exposure, intensity, etc. with a single click. It is like applying an Instagram filter to photos ; change its color and appearance to look like another with minimal effort. These presents, in addition to saving us a lot of time in editing, are very useful to give the same look to a large collection of photos, so that they are all the same. We can even make these presets our “personal brand”.

How to add and apply presets in Lightroom

In order to use the presets in Lightroom , what we must do, once downloaded, is import them into the program. To do this, what we will do is navigate to the tool’s data folder, and paste them there. In the case of Lightroom Classic we can find this folder in:

C:>Users>usuario>AppData>Roaming>Adobe>Lightroom>Develop Presets

In case of using Lightroom CC instead of the Classic version, then we must replace the “Lightroom” folder with “Lightroom CC”. What we must do, after making sure that Lightroom is closed and is not running in the background, is to paste the folder that we have downloaded inside which are all the presets.

Once we have copied these settings to the previous corresponding directory, we can open the program again. The first time we do it we will see how this software takes a little longer to load. This is because it automatically converts imported presets into its own format for easy use.

Once this is done, we can find the new filters in the “Saved presets” section, to the right of the “Library” section.

Presets Lightroom Classic

Now we can select the presets that we want and see how the photo changes without having to do anything else.

Best presets (and filter packs) to use in Lightroom

Although most of the Lightroom presets that we can find are free, there are platforms that are dedicated to creating paid filters . Normally the paid ones do not add anything additional to what many of the free effects offer. However, if we don’t mind going through the checkout, we can use these just like any other free one.

Next, we are going to see some of the best packs of free presets that we can download and install at no cost.

Nate Photographic

The first of the preset packs we’re going to look at is Nate Photographic. These settings will allow us to apply a series of filters similar to those of the VSCO photos, giving our photos a unique vintage look with just one click. And we can even easily convert the photo to grayscale, and even black.

We can download them from here .

ON1

ON1 RAW is one of the most complete RAW photo development programs that we can find. More even than the popular Camera RAW. This software comes with a series of effects that we can apply to photos. And, in addition, its developers allow us to download neither more nor less than 60 presets to achieve the same results directly from Lightroom. These presets are of various types, and allow from applying a vintage effect to photos to softening the skin or completely changing the color and contrast of the photo.

We can download these presets from this website .

Zen Lightroom

Here we can find a wide variety of different presets to give a personal touch to our photos, although for very specific purposes. For example, we can find settings to improve photos of skies, highlight fireworks or, most interestingly, repair the color of the skin when we take a portrait.

We can download them from this link .

FixThePhoto

There is nothing more annoying than taking a photo and, when transferring it to the computer or looking at it in detail, realizing that it has not turned out well. FixThePhoto offers us a total of 500 presets that will allow us to give our photographs that perfect finish. For example, we can find adjustments for black and white photos, sepia, enhance colors and much more.

We can download them from your page .

Presetlove

With more than 300 different presets, this website also becomes one of the most complete to improve our shots. In it we will be able to find all kinds of presets to improve all kinds of photos. For example, we will be able to improve portraits, adjust the colors of a snowy day, highlight certain objects, switch to black and white, and much more. It also has effects for specific photos, such as weddings or newborn photos.

We can download all these filters from this page .

Rock shutter

If what we like is to photograph landscapes, on this website we are going to find a total of 15 presets that will allow us to give the perfect finish to the photos of the landscapes. These effects, very easy to use, are prepared for all types of landscapes, both natural and urban. However, they do not usually look good in portrait photos or with people.

We can download these presets for free from this website .

LookFilter

Filters in the purest Instagram style. Within this pack we will find a total of 15 presets that will allow us to apply excellent color and contrast filters. The results we get with a click, regardless of the photo we are processing, are amazing.

We can download them for free from their home page .

Photon Collective

Another of the best presets packs that we can find and download from the Internet. Probably the best and most complete free. We can find a total of 96 color filters based on 16 different styles with different levels of intensity. Most of the effects it offers us are designed to give a touch of film to our photos, for example, the cyan / orange option so popular in modern cinema.

We can download them from here .