Scott 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.
I use the presets a lot, but only as a starting point. They’re almost never exactly what I want right out of the gate, but they almost always get me in the ballpark. When I’m adjusting an entire shoot worth of images, this is crucial.
@ Kev Holloway – +1 Hipstamatic hater here! Using the instant “make it look cool” button does not make your cell phone snapshots more interesting. Want the look of vintage film? Shoot vintage film.
It seems photogs on the low end of the production scale all got hip to buying actions and presents in the past year or 2 and it feels cheap to me. I’m not a fan. I can recognize slick high end production when I see it and the third party preset clones stick out like a sore thumb.
I think that sometimes presets are a good place to start but most of the time it ends up looking a lot like picnik every time… over saturated with a completely black opaque vignette, or sepia, because it looks “cool”.
When I was in the Darkroom all by myself printing photos I didn’t have a button to push to give me the “perfect” photo…I had to work that photo out…right exposures, proper chemical mix, water temperature…blah blah blah…I had no ‘Command+Z’ to help guide me through. Obviously things are different but I really like to see MY work with MY blood sweat and tears rather then someone else’s that I could care less about.
But then again its so easy to push that button and sink into a hole of self doubt of whether or not I am actually giving my all to something I am called to…just sayn, thats where I am.
Cheers.
When I first discovered actions I went crazy and used them on everything. As I get farther along in my photography I find that none of them really give me the look I want. I have made a few of my own consisting of some of the more basic adjustments I use regularly for a time saver.
I create my own presets only when I’m processing multiple images from the same shoot that are all to have a consistent look. I rarely if ever bring them into images from a different shoot. And I refuse to buy a preset package. Most “looks” presets offer can be replicated by anyone in lightroom or aperture. I’d rather take the 5 min to figure out how it was created so I know what I like and what I don’t that’s contained in the preset and then use the knowledge of how to create various “looks” to do work on images that a bottled preset isn’t appropriate for.