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Adjustment_Presets

Preset Photo Adjustments: Instant Gold or Drab Repetition?

Adjustment_PresetsScott here. Many of you know that I’m the primary retoucher here around the Chase Jarvis studio. I was surprised to get into a fairly spirited debate the other day with some of my co-workers. The topic? Adjustment presets and plug-ins in Aperture or Lightroom or Photoshop.

I’ve got a strong opinion on this, but this experience has once again reminded me that there are a thousand ways to skin a cat and that my way is just that, my way.

Instead of letting a debate rage inside the office and then fade out, I figured, why not make it public? I want to hear from you.

Do you use presets for the post production of your images?
Do you make your own, or download them from other users online?
Do you use them for initial inspiration, or to create your final files?
What are your favorites and why?

I’m interested to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Don’t be shy. For those of you who give a rip, I’ll follow up this post with my personal take and we’ll all be a little more informed.

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128 replies on:
Preset Photo Adjustments: Instant Gold or Drab Repetition?

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  1. Aaron says:
    October 10, 2011 at 11:35 am

    Lightroom doesn’t really know how to deal with my cameras raw images like Nikon’s software but I want to use lightroom so I created an import preset that really gets my images to that nice starting point similar to the jpegs I see on my screen while shooting… And then go from there.
    Aaron

  2. Joe Morgan says:
    October 10, 2011 at 6:02 am

    Interesting debate. It will depends on what i am working on. For most of my sport work, especially equine, I have created a set of presets that do the basics for me I then do final tweaks manually.

  3. michael baister says:
    October 9, 2011 at 10:19 am

    Hi, i have posted a similar item on my blog, the “magic button” preset, yet again is it a cop out using presets, another way of taking the craft element out of producing images or is it using the technology thats availible at our finger tips,have i been a photographer too long, remembering old school techniques, x processing, hand printing etc.
    The presets are there so using them is a good way to start, remember we are in the communication game, it should be about the image, full stop!!!

  4. matthew says:
    October 9, 2011 at 12:55 am

    I have a few subtle presets of my own that I know work well on certain images but they’re often just starting points.
    If I can find Aperture presets to download, I will because it helps me learn.
    BTW, heres my presets: http://cl.ly/ACUS 😉

  5. Andrew says:
    October 7, 2011 at 9:10 pm

    Also, I like to use Lightroom presets for B&W conversions.

    I have 3-4 that I regularly use, and I know how they work with colour.

    That way, when I’m shooting I can “see” in the final result, knowing that I’ll get pretty consistent results. I see it as similar to knowing how certain B&W films give different results. I don’t mean that I try to recreate specific films in post, but that I have effectively created a few of my own B&W films that I can choose between.

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