What are Lightroom presets?
Lightroom Presets in 2025: A Shortcut, A Signature, or Something Else?
Lightroom Presets have been part of digital photography workflows for over a decade, and yet, they still divide opinion. Some photographers rely on them as essential tools. Others, less so. Somewhere in between, there's a quieter group—those who see presets as a useful nudge rather than a finished answer.
But what hasn’t changed is the underlying motivation: speed, consistency, and style. That’s why presets are still relevant in 2025. Possibly more than ever.
What Do Lightroom Presets Do?
At a basic level, Lightroom Presets are saved combinations of editing adjustments. When applied to an image, they instantly adjust settings such as:
Exposure and contrast
White balance and tint
Colour grading and tone curves
Texture, clarity, and sharpness
Grain, vignette, and other effects
Think of a preset as a recipe. It doesn’t make the meal, but it gives you a reliable starting point. You can follow it precisely, or make it your own.
Why Use Lightroom Presets?
While they aren’t essential for every photographer, presets offer a range of practical and creative benefits:
Speed – Apply complex edits in a click, especially useful when working with hundreds of images.
Consistency – Maintain a uniform look across a body of work, regardless of varying lighting conditions.
Creative direction – Use presets to explore styles or tones you might not think to create manually.
Personal branding – Reinforce your visual identity with a signature look.
Efficient workflow – Save time on repetitive edits so you can focus more on selection and storytelling.
Used with intent, they become part of a photographer’s voice—not a shortcut, but a structure.
Tri-X Style Preset from Film Edition 3 Monochrome
Where Do You Find Lightroom Presets?
Lightroom itself comes with several built-in presets, including black and white looks, cinematic tones, and portrait-focused styles. These are fine for experimenting, but often feel too broad for consistent, professional use.
Most photographers eventually seek out third-party options, or build their own. There are thousands available online, ranging from free downloads to paid collections tailored to specific genres.
For photographers shooting weddings, candid portraits, or documentary-style work, I’ve created a curated collection of presets based on real-world editing scenarios. You can explore my Lightroom Presets here.
Can You Customise Presets?
Yes, and you absolutely should.
Presets rarely fit every image perfectly. A preset might bring the image close, but you’ll usually want to tweak exposure, white balance, or contrast depending on the conditions you shot in.
You can also modify a preset and save your version. Over time, many photographers evolve even purchased presets into something distinctly their own.
Presets are meant to be adapted, not obeyed.
Elitechrome Preset from Film Edition 3 Colour
Presets vs Profiles: Understanding the Foundation
Before diving further, it’s worth distinguishing between presets and profiles—two terms often used interchangeably, but quite different under the hood.
A Lightroom Preset adjusts slider-based settings like exposure, tone curves, colour mix, and sharpening. It’s visible. You can see the changes as soon as you apply it.
A Profile, on the other hand, changes how the RAW data is interpreted before sliders even come into play. Profiles can simulate film stocks, apply LUTs, or shift colour rendering in subtle or dramatic ways. They’re often the first layer—the invisible push beneath the edit.
You can use either independently, but many photographers stack them: apply a profile first for foundational colour, then use a preset to refine the look.
Understanding the difference matters not just technically, but creatively. Presets tweak. Profiles transform.
If you want a deeper explanation and practical breakdown, I’ve written a separate piece: Profiles vs Presets.
Why Presets Still Matter
Some people use presets as shortcuts. Others use them as foundations. Neither approach is wrong.
Presets save time. They offer predictability. They allow photographers—particularly those working to a fast pace, like wedding or event shooters—to stay consistent across hundreds of images without getting bogged down.
But increasingly, presets have become more than a tool. They’ve become part of how photographers express their visual identity. That soft fade in the blacks, the gentle warmth in the highlights, the subtle grain—that’s not just an aesthetic. It’s a fingerprint.
And in a world saturated with templated edits and auto-enhance buttons, having a look that feels distinct is worth holding on to.
What Makes a Good Preset in 2025?
A good preset doesn’t just apply a look—it solves a problem.
Maybe it’s tuned for difficult lighting: flat, foggy mornings or receptions lit by fairy lights and warm bulbs. Maybe it’s designed to echo the tones of a particular film stock. Or maybe it was born out of trying to fix a recurring issue—harsh reds in skin tones, blue-cast shadows, or digital sharpness that feels a little too clean.
What matters is that it was made with a purpose in mind. And ideally, it should come with a sense of that context. When a preset includes insight—how it’s used, where it shines, what limitations it has—it becomes something much more valuable than a slider pack.
Here’s what often separates the better preset collections from the rest:
Clear descriptions of intent (not just “warm” or “cinematic”)
Real-world usage examples
Adaptability across camera systems or lighting types
Honest expectations: when it works brilliantly, and when it doesn’t
Kodak Double-X S222 Preset from Film Edition 4 Monochrome
Real-World Application Matters More Than Ever
A preset that looks amazing in one test image might fall apart across a full wedding. Or worse—introduce weird colour casts that aren’t visible until printing.
This is why experienced photographers increasingly want more than “a look.” They want tools that hold up under pressure.
If you shoot thousands of frames across changing light—say, a ceremony inside a chapel followed by outdoor portraits—then a good preset helps unify everything, without making it feel artificial.
It’s subtle. Invisible, even. But the difference is there.
And this is where the value often lies—not in the dramatic transformation, but in the quiet consistency.
Crafting Your Own or Using Someone Else’s?
Creating your own presets takes time. But it teaches you how different edits behave in real-life situations, which sliders to trust, and which ones tend to overreach.
Using someone else’s presets isn’t a shortcut in the lazy sense. It’s a way of borrowing experience, standing on the shoulders of someone who’s tested those tones across real scenarios.
But whether you’re building or buying, one thing is worth remembering: presets are a start, not an end. They’re meant to get you 95% of the way. What you do with the final 5% is where style lives.
Tips for Choosing (or Creating) Presets That Last
Look for flexibility, not just drama. A preset that’s too strong will eventually feel tired.
Test it across a variety of images—light, dark, colour-heavy, high contrast.
Watch the skin tones. It’s the one thing clients will notice instantly if it looks unnatural.
Avoid anything that requires perfect exposure. Real photography doesn’t work that way.
Final Thought
Presets aren’t magic. They’re not supposed to be.
But when used with purpose—either your own or borrowed from someone else—they can help shape a style, speed up a workflow, and simplify the repetitive parts of editing so you can spend more time on the creative ones.
Whether they’re shortcuts or signatures depends entirely on how they’re used. In the end, it’s still your eye, your light, and your frame.
FAQ
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A Lightroom Preset is a saved set of editing adjustments that can be applied to your photos in one click. It changes things like exposure, colour balance, contrast, and tone curves—helping speed up your editing and keep a consistent look.
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Yes. Presets are particularly helpful for beginners learning to edit. They offer a visual starting point and can help develop your eye for tone, contrast, and colour grading. You’re not locked in—you can still adjust settings after applying one.
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Most presets are designed to be flexible, but no single preset suits every photo. Lighting, subject matter, and camera settings all influence the result. It’s common to make small tweaks after applying a preset.
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A preset adjusts your visible settings—things like exposure, shadows, and saturation. A profile, by contrast, changes how the RAW file is interpreted before any sliders are touched. You can learn more in this article on Profiles vs Presets.
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Absolutely. Once you've made adjustments you're happy with in Lightroom, you can save those settings as a custom preset. Over time, you may find yourself building your own collection tailored to your style and shooting conditions.
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Lightroom includes some built-in presets, but many photographers prefer third-party options. You can also explore my own collection of Lightroom Presets, designed for real-world use in weddings, street, and documentary photography.
Further Reading & Resources
Wondering what Lightroom Presets actually are—and whether they’re still worth using in 2025? This post breaks down how they work, why they matter, and how to find or customise the right ones for your photography style.