A World of Convenience
There are many photo editing preset packs for Lightroom that other photographers are offering for you to buy. And sure, a lot of them give a really easy way to grade your photos without you having to worry. But I’m here to tell you that it’s not worth it to buy these, and depending on them can ruin your creative potential.
I can’t deny that we live in a world that loves convenience. You should definitely, definitely be using presets. Like, absolutely with no doubt about it. It’s okay to make shortcuts for yourself, but there comes a point where sometimes a really short shortcut is making you come up short. And in my opinion, using someone else’s preset is too short of a shortcut. It is more than worth it to create presets for yourself. And learning to make them for yourself will make you a better creator and help you to grow your own personal brand.
The Problem with Buying Presets
Most preset packs are worth $15 to $50. For what they’re worth, it’s actually not too bad. But the problem is not in their actual price but in what you lose as an artist in creating them. They’re an easy way to turn your photos from zero to one-hundred real quick without having to worry, at least some of the time. But I personally think that having someone create a preset for you to buy and use is a subtractive task more than an additive one in your photography workflow.
You see, your final export is made of two different components. First is how you shot the RAW. The second is how you edited it. A great photo can be the difference between a well made and poorly made edit in Lightroom or whatever software you fancy. So if editing your image is half the battle, why would you want it to be waged by someone who’s never even seen the photo you took? How can you rely on someone else’s preset to complete the job you started?
The biggest problem with using someone else’s premade presets is that it compromises your style as a photographer. Of course, it’s completely fine to be inspired by someone else and want to incorporate part of their style into yours. But using presets someone else made that other people can buy? It removes some of the originality of your photos. Your brand as a photographer is based on the look of your images. Why would you want the look you apply to be one that many other people can also replicate with the click of a button? You’re a unique person and photographer, and so your photos deserve to be unique as well.
And then the other problem is that not every presets works on every photo. Occasionally a preset is just not built for the conditions you shot in. What do you do then? You could try playing with it all you want, but if you don’t understand how different settings work in Lightroom because of using someone else’s presets, then what’s the use? And if you do know how to manipulate the settings of someone else’s presets to make it match your photo, the question begs itself, why aren’t you making them yourself?
Learning to Make Them Yourself
I will say that learning to make your preset when you just started out in your photography career can be a bit hard. I understand people want the convenience of having someone else’s great presets. But as I always like to say, the photo is really only as good as the photographer behind it. And learning to do edits is part of being a photographer.
Learning all the ins and outs of Lightroom settings is difficult. White balance, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites, blacks, clarity, saturation, vibrance, the HSL panel, the tone curve, split toning. You won’t learn all these things in a day, and it personally took me some three years of shooting to really understand them all. But after all the time I spent putting in, I can now instinctively create presets for any type of shoot, personalized to the content that I make.
So my advice is to play with certain things at a time. Start out just messing with your exposure and contrast, shadows and highlights, whites and blacks. Get to know one panel at a time. Even the basic lighting settings on Lightroom can make a big difference to your photo. And watch video tutorials on YouTube too. The best part is that it’s free information that can come from a wealth of diverse sources. There’s no problem with being inspired by someone. But there is a problem in copying them with the click of a single button, even if they’re selling it to you.
Eventually, learning the settings of Lightroom and learning to develop your own preset will pay for itself over time. Because knowing how to make presets allows you to understand how each setting works, you’ll have the ability to tweak your presets when they don’t quite look right. You’ll also understand how to make ones from scratch pretty quickly too. And then, you’ll begin to notice that your photos start to have something of a soul because even with different presets, you’ll still find yourself making similar adjustments. Your photos might be taken in all different places and with all different people, but knowing that you put your own personalized presets into your photos gives them a commonality. And that builds your brand because now people have an idea of what to expect when you develop your digital photos, which in the long run will find you more clients who gravitate towards your unique work. When people have a consistent and unique idea of your own “look,” they’ll be more inclined to notice your work.
And as I always like to say, photography is a process. The person who should be the forefront of every step of that process is you, the photographer, the artist. Your artistic touch should be evident in even the smallest details. Don’t let half the process of creating a work of art belong to someone else. Your art should belong to you. It’s going to take time to learn to edit well and make presets, but the pay off is well worth the climb.
So forget the dude telling you to buy his preset pack when I know you can make an even better one without having to get out your credit card.
