Testing, testing…

Everybody seems to be selling Lightroom presets these days, but I hardly use them.

The problem with ‘adopting’ someone else’s presets is that they probably won’t do what you want them to do. Yes, they could probably make a dramatic difference to some photos, but you lose control because they are almost always bundles of adjustments, not all of which are necessary.

I’ve created a few simple presets that you’re welcome to download for yourself by clicking on the button above.

As you’ll see, there aren’t very many of them, and they all do one thing and one thing only.

That’s the way I like it.

I want to have total control over my images, so I need to know when I use a preset exactly what it’s doing, and I don’t want to have to ‘unpick’ any unwanted changes afterwards.

Here is a list of the presets you’ll get together with an explanation of each:

• BPS +25
  Blue Primary Saturation set to +25

• BPS +50
  Blue Primary Saturation set to +50

• BPS +75
  Blue Primary Saturation set to +75

• BPS +100
  Blue Primary Saturation set to +100

• Calibration 0
  Reset all Calibration settings

• Color 0
  Reset Color Noise Reduction

• Color 10
  Color Noise Reduction set to 10

• Color 25
  Color Noise Reduction set to 25

• Dehaze 25
  Dehaze set to 25

• DP tone curve
  Tone Curve set to Design Pics required settings (-5 for Highlights and +5 for Shadows)

• Exposure 0
  Reset Exposure

• H&S
  Set Highlights to -100 and Shadows to +100

• Highlights
  Set Highlights to -100

• Luminance 25
  Set Luminance Noise Reduction to 25

• Luminance 40
  Set Luminance Noise Reduction to 25

• Noise Reduction 0
  Reset Luminance and Color Noise Reduction

• RCA EBC for 28-300mm
  Remove Chromatic Aberration and Enable Profile Corrections for Nikon 28-300mm lens

• RCA EBC for 80-400mm
  Remove Chromatic Aberration and Enable Profile Corrections for Nikon 80-400mm lens

• RCA EBC for 800mm
  Remove Chromatic Aberration and Enable Profile Corrections for Nikon 800mm lens

• RPS +25
  Red Primary Saturation set to +25

• RPS +50
  Red Primary Saturation set to +50

• RPS +75
  Red Primary Saturation set to +75

• RPS +100
  Red Primary Saturation set to +100

• Sepia
  Convert to sepia (by changing Treatment to Black & White and Color Grading to sepia settings)

• Shadows
  Set Shadows to +100

• Sharpening 0
  Reset Sharpening

• Silhouette
  Darken silhouettes (by changing Shadows and Blacks to -100)

• Vignette -12
  Set Post-Crop Vignetting to -12

• Vignette -20
  Set Post-Crop Vignetting to -20

• Vignette -50
  Set Post-Crop Vignetting to -50

• Vignette 0
  Reset Post-Crop Vignetting

• Vignette 20
  Set Post-Crop Vignetting to 20
  

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