Playing with Presets

If I haven't mentioned it before Adobe Lightroom is my favorite photography program. Yes Photoshop is great but for the type of photography I like (macros and landscapes) Lightroom is ideal and so fast.

One of my favorite things about LR is using presets. These are like actions in photoshop, only faster. Someday I would love to create some of my own but for now I am still enjoying all the free ones that are out there on the web. One of my favorite sources for them is Matt Kloskowski's Lightroom Killer Tips (go watch the free podcasts as well, very informative). Another I like is Preset Heaven

Last week I wanted to play with some of my blossom images and try processing one of them some new ways by playing with all the presets I have collected. I really enjoy layering them on top of each other, which can create something wholly unique if the presets were designed right.

My normal processing:

Matts contrast 3
Matts Edge Darkening 1 (light)

All the other images started with this and then applied additional presets on top until I liked where they ended up.


Preset Heaven Presets:
GA - B&W infrared 01
PH CSI Miami
tiral1


Matt's Cross Process 1
Matt's Red Max Payne Effect
Matt's Polo/Ralph Lauren
Matt's Old Fashioned Look
Matt's Polo/Ralph Lauren


Matt's Warming - Level 2

I don't know if all of those steps are required to recreate each but I can't get the same effect on some of them without doing all of them. Go out and play with some presets and see what you can come up with.