It’s really so much easier than you might think! Not all presets work on all photos. But it is super easy to create your own and will save you time in editing when you select the right preset for your photo.

Once I get my photo in Develop mode in Lightroom, first I do any necessary adjustments with the transform tool and then I crop. Typically I choose 7 x 5, but the photo could make a difference on the dimensions. For the photo below I chose 10 x 8.

This is unedited, other than the two tools I mentioned above.

You’ll just want to edit your photo as usual, making all of the adjustments until you are happy with the look.

You can also first make a folder by selecting ‘New Preset Folder’. But if you choose to just make the preset for now you can create a folder later and move your presets into it.

When you click ‘New Preset’ a window will open and you can name your preset and select the folder you want it to go in. I usually leave all of the default selections checked. Click ‘Create’ and you’re done. The preset you just created ends up in your Presets folder on the left column of Lightroom. As you can see, I’ve created several that I use on my photography. You can then use that preset on any of your future photos.

When you use a preset, you can also adjust the look to make it more suitable to your photo. Sometimes I love certain things about what a particular one does to my photo but still want a few other adjustments. The nice thing about editing is that we are free to make our photos what we want them to be. It is our art!

 

 

On this next version of the photo above I used my preset cv_breathe 2.

You can download the preset here if you like and try it out on some of your photos.

Happy editing!