How to use Presets in Lightroom - Desktop and Mobile.
What Are Lightroom Presets?
Presets are editing filters, prepared and saved as a way to jump start your photo editing and save time spent in post production. Everyone has their own style of editing so it is important when you consider presets to consider the style that you like the most. As Instagram continues to become a platform utilized by an ever increasing number of photographers, the ability to purchase ‘professional presets’ has become incredibly easy and there are countless styles to choose from. While no presets will work on every single photo, Preset Packs are designed to cover a wide array of lighting and color adjustments by providing a small collection of presets that have a different base edit, giving you the option to choose the direction in which you want to take your edit. It is important to understand that small adjustments may still be necessary after choosing the specific preset that makes the photo look the best to you, because not every photo is taken exactly the same way. The raw exposure of every photo is different so you may need to increase or decrease the luminance which can in turn require some tweaking to color as well.
If our style of editing matches what you are looking for, you can shop our Presets and follow the directions below to import them and start editing just like us!
Every one of our preset packs comes with a PDF which explains how to download and import them to both desktop and mobile, as well as some of our personal thoughts on the use of each preset. If you have any questions about PosiPresets you have purchased or are considering purchasing, please visit our PosiPresets FAQ. If, after reading the entire FAQ and your question is not answered, you may send a DM us through @posipresets.
How To Install Presets in 3 Easy Steps - Desktop
After purchasing our PosiPresets you will receive an email with a Zip file, containing the chosen pack, and a PDF that explains not only how to install them but how we recommend using them and possible minor adjustments after they are applied to the photo. Once you have received the email, download and unzip the file you will be ready to import them into Lightroom.
Open Lightroom on your PC or MAC and choose Import from the dropdown. Locate the Unzipped file and import the preset folder into Lightroom by highlighting it and clicking the ‘Import’ button.
After the file has been imported you will be returned to the standard photo view and you will need to open the Preset Browser. If you hit Shift-P or go through the drop down windows you will find it through View - Edit Panels - Preset Browser. Once that window has been opened you will see Lightroom’s basic preset options and a section at the bottom called, ‘My Presets’.
Once the list is visible you can simply hover the mouse over each individual preset to see how it affects your photo, without having to apply them. Once you have found the preset that you like the best, you can apply it and start making whatever minor tweaks you may want to get your photo just right. Happy editing!
How To Install Presets to Mobile
Adobe has now made it possible to sync presets from desktop to mobile, provided you have the Presets saved to your Creative Cloud. For ease of use we definitely recommend this. If unzipped, imported and saved to Lightroom on your PC or Mac they will automatically appear in your mobile app!
In the event that you do not have the desktop version and are only editing your photos on the free version of Lightroom on mobile the process is a little bit different, but certainly not difficult. The presets will come attached to a DNG file and can be extracted within the mobile app. After purchasing one of our Mobile PosiPresets just follow the simple steps below:
Download and Unzip the Preset Files
Unzip on a computer:
Locate the download, double-tap to unzip and a new folder will automatically be created with the DNG files located inside. Once this is completed you simply need to get them from your computer to you phone.
Utilizing Dropbox, Google Drive or another method is quick and certainly the preferred method for most people when transferring files. If you are using Apple products AirDrop works very well.
Use iZip or a similar app to unzip on your phone.
This will open the folder and import the DNG files directly to your phone.
Importing the Preset Files To Your Lightroom App
By now your files have been saved to your phone and you are ready to start. Please Note: These are DNG files and, while they will show up in your phone’s saved photos, they will be blank! Don’t be alarmed - this is totally normal and that is exactly what should happen. Once you import them into the application you will see the image. These images act as a carrier for the preset and you will extract it using these steps:
Open Lightroom and create a new album.
Open the album and tap the three dots on the top right of the screen and then select ‘Add Photos’.
If you downloaded the files using iZip on your phone then select ‘From Files’ and locate them. If you downloaded them to your Camera Roll then choose that option, select them all and import.
Save The Presets to Mobile
Go you your newly created album with all the DNG files you just imported and choose the first photo.
Tap the three dots on the top right and select ‘Create Preset’.
Now the ‘New Preset’ screen is up and from here you can customize, rename, and add it to any preset group you may already have or create a new group for our PosiPresets to keep them separate from the others (recommended).
There are some boxes you can check for which features of the presets that you would like to maintain and we highly recommend checking: Profile: Color, Light, Color, Effects, and Detail only.
Tap the ‘Check Mark’ on the top right and save the preset and repeat these steps for each DNG file.
Use the Presets in Lightroom Mobile
Pull any photo into the Lightroom Mobile that you would like to edit and tap ‘Presets’ on the bottom of the screen.
Use the drop down menu just below the photo to locate the new album you made for your PosiPresets, tap on the presets to decide which one you would like to use and then tap the ‘Check Mark’ on the bottom right of the screen.
That is it… Happy editing!
Something to consider…
Equipment definitely has a noticeable affect on the quality of your photos. If you are ready to invest in your photography and want to not just edit like a professional, but shoot like one as well, check out our post: ‘What’s In Our Camera Bag?’. We have everything listed and linked directly to Amazon.com so you can easily find each individual item that we use daily, by simply clicking on it.