New Lightroom Presets (my first EVER)
...and why I created them (also, they're 20% off for today!)
First, story time:
For over 17 years I have been “that person” who started editing every single photo from scratch. I never once touched presets, certainly not when I started in 2007, and still not until, well… January 2024. Very recently.
I think it’s because I always preferred to have complete control from start to finish (like I’ve said before, I’m a recovering perfectionist).
But also, I spent years developing my creative flow in Lightroom. I knew and practised the flow by heart, while still letting my curiosity keep me experimenting with each image, and it was a process that I loved to lose myself in. I’d light some candles, and then hours upon hours would go by while I played with the colours, grading, highlights, shadows, brushes… every photo was like a work of art, like painting a canvas from start to finish. And, like painting, editing is just as much a part of the joy of creation for me as is taking the photo, or the finished image. And I suppose some little proud part of me didn’t want to lose that creative flow feeling by using “quick-fix presets”.
…And then, gradually, time happened. More specifically, losing time. As more pressure started piling up over the years, and as I took on more client shoots to help get by, I started to feel like I was losing precious time with all the weeks spent editing behind my computer after every shoot. It was enough that I lost a good part of my willingness to shoot and edit my own personal work - the self portraits & connection with naturey stuff, where it all began for me. I didn’t lose my passion for it - I just found myself choosing differently where to put my time, in order to get paid and get by. And let’s face it - my first love is being outside in nature, not sitting behind the computer screen for the rest of my life… So, most of my spare time over the last few years has been spent doing just that: Choosing to be outside and not give myself the pressure of more editing, even when it’s my own passion projects.
Flash forward to now. I don’t know why it’s taken me this long to have my little light bulb moment. Maybe because I’ve finally given myself the past month of less work, to slow down and let ideas bubble up naturally, giving them time to process without having to immediately shove them aside. And I’ve realized that I’ve had numerous people reach out over the years with inquiries on whether I had editing presets, or tutorials about my editing flow. But it’s like my brain had a block - it wasn’t ready to take the time to think about it, especially when my little inner perfectionist critic was like “I’m an artist! I don’t use presets!”. Oh, Lizzy. Oh, dear Lizzy.
So now I use presets.
I started playing. And I spent the last couple of weeks creating 20 presets developed from my natural style, testing and fine-tuning them over hordes of images. None of these are a “one click fixes all” sort of deal, but I’ve been realizing how helpful and *fun* these presets actually are, sparking new ideas or directions I want to go with my edits while playing with them.
And now the truth has hit me: Presets are not bad. At all. The opposite in fact. Like, completely. When you find an editing style/preset that resonates with you (or if you have to develop them yourself in order to find them, like I did), it can give you back so much time.
Now, I’m still definitely not the kind of person who can simply slap on a preset and say, “Done deal, we finished here!”… for my personal workflow, there will still always be extra steps and tools I use that will bring each image to completion. It’s still part of my process, my passion. And I love that part of my workflow. BUT. Using a preset for the starting point? To help point me in the direction I want to take the image? This is gonna save me loads of time, especially when it comes to editing client shoots.
And in saving that time… it’s giving me back time. Time I can afford to lose myself in my own personal creative flows again, editing new photos from the more personal shoots that speak to me.
Which is exactly what I’ve been doing this week… see new self portrait below. 💚
SO. Without further ado, after 17 years of editing and fine-tuning my images, since the very first 2007 version of Lightroom up to the current version of today…
I’m delighted to finally share my first EVER Lightroom presets!
(and you, my newsletter subscribers, get an exclusive 20% OFF for today only - just use the code 20OFF at the checkout to apply the discount.)
The Preset Package includes:
20 presets
1 instructions video on how to download & adjust presets
1 video tutorial on how to take editing even further!
(the videos can be found in your email after your purchase)
Here below, I’ll drop a few image examples of what some of these presets look like when applied to a few of my untouched RAW images:
I hope, if editing brings you joy, that you will have as much fun playing with these presets as I did while developing them! THANK YOU everyone for your support in this new creative endeavour! ♥
And now, as always, I’m sending SO much love and gratitude to each and every one of you - for your support, for your time in reading this, and for just being you. You are wonderful.
All my love,
Lizzy