Using editing software like Adobe Lightroom is one of the best ways to evoke the emotions you’re trying to portray in the photos you take. Using the platform is a little complicated for beginners, but there's a way to simplify things; Lightroom presets.
Lightroom presets can help cut down your editing time, and you’ll find them especially useful if you work for clients or are trying to build a social media presence. However, they’re not all sunshine and rainbows.
Like anything else, using Lightroom presets has both benefits and drawbacks. But what are they? Keep reading, and you’ll find out.
What Are Lightroom Presets?
Lightroom presets are, in effect, filters you can add to your images. Each of these will alter various settings, such as saturation, vibrance, and clarity. You can use presets regardless of whether you have Lightroom Classic or Creative Cloud.
Adobe provides various presets in several categories, such as travel and portraits. However, you can also create your own and download other people’s presets. If you use someone else’s, you’ll need to install the presets on Lightroom.
What Are the Pros of Using Lightroom Presets?
Before we look at the cons of using Lightroom presets, it’s worth identifying the pros. To help you determine whether you should use these or not, we’ve listed the main benefits below.
1. Improve Your Editing Workflow
Photographers primarily use Lightroom presets to simplify their editing workflow. If you’ve taken hundreds (or even thousands) of photos, using a preset will help you get through the post-production process much faster.
If you’re working to a tight deadline, you’ll find presets especially useful. When you use a Lightroom preset, you need to add the filter to your image. After that, tweak what you feel is necessary and save the pictures on a hard drive.
2. Achieve Your Desired Style
The holy grail for photographers is to be recognized for a style that reflects their personality. You probably won’t have this figured out when you’re a beginner, but experimenting with your style is a good idea regardless.
Eventually, you’ll want to narrow your focus. Once you’re at this stage, using Lightroom presets is an excellent way to express your personality better. People will recognize your work as being uniquely yours, which will help you make more of a name for yourself.
3. A Lot of Them Are Free
Many of your favorite photographers will sell their Lightroom presets. You can buy these, especially if you want to support creators who have impacted your life—but you don’t need to.
In addition to Adobe’s presets, you can find several other free presets online. Some might be made by photographers you recognize, whereas you’ll find others on photography-oriented websites.
4. Increase Consistency
To become a well-known photographer, you must find a way to stand out. This is especially true if you’re trying to stand out on social media platforms like Instagram, where users have plenty of choices for who they want to follow.
Have you ever looked at someone’s feed and thought, “that looks so coherent”? In many cases, they probably used presets to achieve a consistent style. You can do the same; when you do, people will instantly know what you’re about and why they should follow you.
5. You Can Sell Your Own Lightroom Presets
You can create your own filters and sell them for a profit after exporting them from the platform.
There are several places online where you can sell your Lightroom presets. If you don’t already have a large audience, the best way to draw in more viewers is by selling them through a marketplace like Etsy. Alternatively, you can sell them on your own website if you’ve already built up a sizable following.
What Are the Cons of Using Lightroom Presets?
As you've probably gathered from the abovementioned, there are several advantages to using Lightroom presets—and it’s easy to see why they’re so popular. But at the same time, you also need to consider the associated drawbacks. Below, we identify the disadvantages of using Lightroom presets.
1. Presets Can Make You Lazy
It’s true that Lightroom presets are an excellent way to improve your editing workflow, but this isn’t always a good thing. If you’re not careful, using them can make you lazy—and your work might begin to get sloppier as a result.
If you become overly reliant on using Lightroom presets, you won’t learn how to craft a style that is uniquely yours—especially if you use other people’s presets. This is no biggie if you’re only doing photography as a hobby—but if you aspire to pursue it professionally, you’re not going to stand out.
2. They Aren’t the Be-All and End-All
It’s easy to think after sticking a Lightroom preset on your image that your work is done, and that you don’t need to worry about anything else. And while this might be true for a selection of photos, you’re going to need to make tweaks in most cases.
Lightroom presets will save you a lot of time when editing, but don’t fool yourself into thinking they’re a one-stop solution. Getting the outcome you want will still require some knowledge of Lightroom and how to use its features.
3. They Might Hold You Back
As human beings, we enjoy comfort. Once you’ve been using a specific preset—or a set of presets—for a while, it’s easy to remain stuck in your ways and refuse to adapt. If you don’t outgrow your current style, you might hold yourself back as a result.
As a photographer, you’re going to evolve throughout your life. While it’s fine to use Lightroom presets, don’t let them stop you from exploring a style that you might find more interesting and authentic.
Lightroom Presets Are Awesome but Use Them With Caution
Lightroom presets are an excellent way to simplify your photo editing workflow. They can also help you develop your own unique style and learn the basics of how Lightroom works. And once you become comfortable using the platform, you can even sell or share your own presets with others.
Despite the benefits, it’s important to remember that using Lightroom presets has its cons as well. You can use them as a guideline, but ensure that you don’t become overly dependent.