Introducing the Easy Preset System for Lightroom
I have always been a bit skeptical about using presets in any image editing software. A preset always produces vastly different results when applied to different photos. So, purchasing and using presets is always a bit of a lottery. You go through dozens and dozens of them and, maybe you find one that you like, maybe not.
But having said that, I can fully understand that people use presets to speed up their work, and I think at least in theory, the idea of using presets is great. That’s why I have created the Easy Preset System (EPS) for Lightroom that allows you to use presets in a more educated way. Check out the video below to find out what the Easy Preset System for Lightroom is all about.
Go to the Easy Preset System for Lightroom – Tutorials page to watch all the EPS tutorials.
The ratio behind the EPS
If you are using Adobe Lightroom for editing your photos, you know that it can be quite difficult to find the right settings for a specific photo in the Develop module. There are dozens of sliders, and the end result is a complex mix of the different settings. That’s one reason why presets have become so popular. A Lightroom preset is a snapshot of the Develop settings created for a specific photo. You can purchase whole packages of such presets, install them inside of Lightroom and apply any of them to your photos with a single click.
Ease Preset System: Component preset groups. Go from top to bottom and pick one preset from each group.
In theory, this sounds great, right? You get a one-click solution, you don’t have to bother with all the settings, and you can apply your favorite look to any of your images.
But the problem with any of these presets is that they only give you individual snapshots of settings that once worked for a particular image. This does not imply that they will work for your images too. Second, the basic style that you will give to your images is that of the creator of the presets. If you want to develop your own style, that’s not the best thing to do. And finally, since any of these presets only gives you a single snapshot out of all the possible settings, you will most likely end up with hundreds of preset. Going through all of them for any give photo is virtually impossible. So, you will probably end up using only a small subset of the presets you paid for, and the other ones will clutter your Presets panel.
What is the EPS – Presets à la carte?
Easy Preset System: Fully visual workflow. Swipe your mouse over the presets in a group and watch the effect in the Navigator panel.
That’s why I have created the Easy Preset System for you. The EPS – as I call it in short – takes an entirely different approach by moving away from this snapshot concept. In the development of the EPS, I have been dissecting the different aspects that can be adjusted in the Develop module, and I have grouped related adjustments together into so-called component presets.
You can now compose your own complete tailored presets by combining these components in a well-defined, step-by-step workflow. This quickly gives you a lot of control over the final look of your images without the complexity of making manual adjustments in the Develop module. In fact, you can even completely ignore all the sliders since the EPS gives you an entirely visual way of working.
Finally, the EPS also provides a simple way of learning how to make your own manual adjustments. Simply go through the preset components one by one, observe which settings they translate to, and then check out how these settings affect the image.
How to find out more
Check out the Easy Preset System page to get more information and watch the EPS tutorial videos to learn exactly how the EPS works.
Hallo Klaus,
tolle Sache, dieses Preset System für Lightroom.
Schade, dass der Navigator (Vorschau bei Mausberührung) nur mit RAW-Dateien funktioniert, nicht aber mit tif-Dateien.
Die Presets funktionieren auch mit tif-Dateien, aber man muss erst das jeweilige Preset anklicken, bevor man es begutachten kann.
Aber wie erwähnt ansonsten eine tolle Sache.
Gruß Harry.
Hallo Harry,
Danke für das positive Feedback und den Hinweise mit den TIFF-Dateien. Ich hatte das EPS bisher mit RAW-Bildern getestet. Ich werde mir das “Problem” mal anschauen.
Wenn du Fragen hast, lass es mich wissen!
Hallo Klaus,
ich muss mich korrigieren.
Bei den ersten 3 Bildern (tif-Format) blieb der Navigator regungslos. Darum habe ich das hier auch gepostet.
Mittlerweile habe ich einige tif-files mehr getestet und jetzt funktioniert auch das mit dem wechselnden Navigator.
Keine Ahnung, warum er bei den ersten 3 tifs regungslos blieb.
Meistens erstelle ich aus meinen RAW-Files HDR-Bilder, die ich dann in 16 bit tif in Lightroom exportiere.
Dein Preset-System stellt auch da eine sehr gute Unterstützung bei der Nachbearbeitung dar.
Wie erwähnt, mittlerweile funktioniert der Navigator auch mit tif-files.
Hi Harry,
Danke für das Update. Hätte mich auch echt gewundert, wenn es hier einen Unterschied zwischen den Datei-Formaten gäbe.
Ich glaube der Effekt, den du beobachtet hast hat eine andere Ursache. Manchmal klickt man auf eines der Bilder in der Bilderleiste am unteren Rand, um es zu bearbeiten und der Navigator wird nicht geupdatet oder man huscht auf dem Weg zurück zu den Presets über ein anderes Bild.
Dann wird der Navigator nicht richtig aktualisiert. Dann einfach nochmal auf das gewünschte Bild klicken, und es sollte funktionieren.
Lass mich wissen, ob das Problem für dich löst.