Presets are like cookbooks, & this is what Gordon Ramsey says about cookbooks when a chef was calling out another chef for memorizing cookbooks & not being innovative enough, he said this... “I don’t care if she has memorized cookbooks or not, her cooking tastes better than yours!” It doesn’t matter if you use presets or not, what matters is does your image look good? People sell cookbooks, why not presets? I have no problem with that, none whatsoever, being open minded is so important. On a side note, your sound has always been good, now it’s about 3.14% better then before... your going in the right direction 🧭
Exactly, I see this sort of anti preset hate on music software too. it's so petty, for one, there's literally hundreds of thousands of LR presets ( probably millions of synth/instrument ones) and the chances someone is going to do exactly what you're doing is next to zero. just have fun and if it works it works. I hate egos lol
I used to edit all my images on my phone using VSCO and the C7 preset. Since I shot Fuji the JPEGs were incredible and I always used to get compliments for them. When I transitioned to RAW and Lightroom I ended up using VSCO's C8 preset on all my images and it became my "look". And I'm satisfied with it. Using presets and doing the "shortcut" that you mentioned gives me Imposter Syndrome from time to time whenever people ask me how I get my "look", and sometimes those people would be shocked when they found out I was using presets, but you know what? I'm over it now. Because I noticed that people who edit their own images aren't always great photographers. Hell, sometimes their images are kinda crap. It feels bad to say it but the time I don't spend on editing is the time I spend on framing, composing, posing, and actually putting something worth while in front of my sensor. There's no "shortcut" to that. There's no cheating on that. I don't cheat with my composition, I don't cheat with my actual photography. After a while I stopped seeing it as a lazy mentality and more as a film photography mentality. I already shoot manual lenses and Fujifilm, so I just took it an extra step further and just process my images the same way I'd shoot film. After all, back then film photographers didn't use their own custom film stock and roasted other photographers for using commercial stock, or in modern terms "commercial presets".
I use Buttery Luts presets for BRAW.. And they are hands down the best LUTS for Blackmagic cameras. When it comes to still photography, I’m still a beginner so I’ll try some of your recommendations. Thanks for a great video. 👍🏾😊
I think every photographer enjoys different steps in the photo making process. Personally I love hunting for, composing, and capturing a great photo. I don’t really enjoy editing at all. It’s more of a means to an end for me. I don’t personally use presets but I can definitely see the appeal.
Same here.. Pluss, I don't think presets would be to much help in my case, as I mostly do as little editing as I can to things like color, but spend most of the time with masks dodging and burning to get the look I want. And, those masks are never the same from one photo to another..
I wholeheartedly agree with you here Todd. All these people saying 'oh but presets are cheating', sorry but that's garbage. A preset isn't and was NEVER meant to be the be all and end all of a photo and just a, for lack of a better word, one click solution. A 'preset' is meant to be a starting point. You STILL have to tweak your images to suit your own style, so it's not as if it's removing you from the creative developing process AT ALL because it's not. It's only a starting point if you don't know what you want a particular photo to look like, and then adjust it to suit YOU. You still have to do the work yourself.
1000% agree. Personally: I understand the tools in Lightroom on a technical level (except calibration tbh) to the point where I could make tutorials on them. But it takes years to develop a style. That's perfectly fine by me btw. But why not learn from others in the mean time? In reality, creativity is always a process of adaptation of someone else's ideas. If you don't treat presets as a "cheat code", then they're genuinely not a cheat code. And if you do treat them that way - well good luck standing out from the crowd; you won't. Everyone with an artistic vision will create their own style. Everyone without an artistic vision won't get anywhere by copying others. That's why presets, in my opinion, have only positive effects.
Todd, great vid. Two things: Your audio always sounds good, rich and clear. And about something you mentioned regarding all the areas that a pre-set might modify: The Camera Calibration channels. I've used LR since 2006, and I've never played (or noticed!) these sliders. I shoot a fair bit of infrared, and suddenly, I'm able to get colors out of my IR raws that I've never been able to access before. Thank you!
Great advice, presets are a good place to learn to understand how each tool in LR works. The trouble is one size never fits all and when I was starting out many of the presets seemed to be created for the weather/light of the US and not the often overcast conditions here in the UK. So in turn I learnt how to create my own basing them on the light, weather and mood I was trying to convey. I often start in LR, apply a base then dip into AS or photoshop to tweak further...
Thanks for this video. I read at many places that presets were useless, as they work only with the advertised photo. Still, I got a few packs recently. And I must admit that I’ve been positively surprised. First and foremost, i need to say that i did experiment with the sliders. A lot. It becomes quickly obvious what happens when you move one slider or modify one curve. The tough part, which takes a long practice (for which amateur photographers with long job hours and kids don’t always have enough time if they also want to shoot photos), is to understand how each setting interacts with the others. Also, i had a lot of jpegs from an Around The World Tour that needed to be enhanced. Trying to get it done by myself led to a catastrophe! In the jpeg optimised preset pack i bought, i found some that were suited for the Australian or Filipino beaches, others for the Aussie red and sandy Outback or Malaysian jungle, and even others for the green mountains of NZ or the Snow in Nepal! Very happy I found those, which I still adjust to my own taste.
Todd, great stuff, I have just begun learning about presets and film emulation and I found your video very helpful. I look forward to giving them a try. Thanks, Al
the user submitted recommended presets is a huge help. Because although you can make your own, it's much quicker to just select a pre-made one and then adjust it to your needs. Plus youre able to try out a bunch of different presets to see what works best for your image rapidly. And of course you can adjust them. But I'm personally not trying to make an art gallery photo, im doing it for social media posts. I just wish that feature was added to premiere pro as well. Because right now it's still a choir to to experiment and find a good lut. And ive tried importing the cube file into premiere and it doesn't work at all.
I've got about a dozen or so presets that I use. They've all got a different purpose for me, depending on the scene in the photo. I still process some images without using my presets, but I will usually try one or more of them first, just to see where the image could go.
Thanks Todd, Great Vlog and great opinion and advice on point as normal. I haven't used presets ever unless you count pressing the Auto button in Camera Raw. I don't have a opinion about them one way or another. In terms of your sound, your auto quality is always great. It does sound a bit deeper and richer, but it was great before anyway.
I don't have any objection to using presets to achieve a desired look or get you 80% of the way to your desired look. My issue with presets is that I just don't think they work as advertised. Whenever you see images with a look you like and buy the preset they look total crap when applied to your own images. If there was a company who sold presets that were willing to take user submitted raw files and film the editing I might take them seriously.
Great video and great ideas. I am into photography since 9 years now and I totally agree with everything you said. I would add a few thoughts` - The issue with presets IMO is marketing. Pretty much everybody who sells presets says they're the best you've ever seen and they will dramatically improve all your photos and make you an awesome photographer. This is just plain wrong, as you explained there are a step in the workflow or a way to learn how to edit or a way to discover different looks. Nothing more. That kind of bullshit marketing is misleading and can make beginner photographer spend huge amount of money for nothing. - Second issue with presets is there are often too much and priced too high compared to the value you really get. In my experience I generally really use only 10% to 20% of the presets in a pack. The rest I either don't like or they don't match my style of photography. It pisses me of that you have to pay a huge price to really only use a small part of what is delivered. And sorting through them to find the ones that actually fit you takes a lot of time and testing. - Speaking of which, sorting through presets, as well as researching online what are the best ones or the ones fit for you is work in itself. In this way, I am not ashamed to say I use presets in my edits. Because I spent time, effort and money finding the few presets I really like and use regularly. I chose them because they allow me to create the look I want, they are not creating a look for me. In the same way as I spend time, effort and money researching the camera I use, or the editing software I use. Fortunately for me I don't have to create them myself... - A piece of advice I would give every photographer is when you get presets, deconstruct them. Look at what they're modifying. And tweak them to your liking. Modify them. Use them as a starting point to create your own presets and editing tools. I usually only keep part of the changes made by presets to speed up my workflow and not mess with my own edits. For example, in Lightroom I like to keep only the tone curves adjustments of the presets. This way I can do all my basic edit and then add some pre-made curve to give a nice contrast that fits the photo. Or I do the same with Color grading, I just add a nice touch of colour at the end of my editing. The possibilities are endless. In this way presets are stepping stones to the final edit. - Here are two additional presets creator I would recommend: Nathan Elson and Seim effects. Just google them and you'll find them. Just like the ones recommended by Todd, they're created by photographers for photographers.
With the recent Lightroom update it changed all the RNI presets in to profile slider. Completely ruined the presets. No longer applies the adjustments to the photo. It’s all done with a slider which does not help at all.
Really balanced view in a well articulated video. This is really nice, unlike those over the top, in your face type videos with a lot of pointless monologue.
Do you think I should apply presets / emulations after tweaking my exposure, color balance and whatnot or just lay down the preset right away ? Cheers ^^
it doesn't matter, BUT! if you just adjust the exposure first you'll be able to preview the presets easier. otherwise you'll probably see dark images (if you're protecting your highlights)
Thanks Todd. Some people are illiterate. Some people are innumerate. I am colour illiterate. I am not colour blind, I just can't understand how colours work. So, for me, presets are a gift from the photo gods. 🎉. Thanks for your show.
Another great video, Todd!! I personally don't care for presets unless they are made for the photographer by the photographer. They can speed up the editing time. However, editing is where the magic happens and I echo your sentiments, why cheat yourself from the learning process!! Editing is when a picture becomes a photograph.
So presets suck because "We are stealing someone else's work, and calling it our own" ? Surely no one just bangs a preset on then prints, bangs it on social media etc, a preset to me is a beginning, find something that you like for a particular photo, then continue to edit ! So someone else has gotten me closer to my goal, I finished it off, that's my work, not someone else's !
imagine folk actually caring about this. I jjust bought some presets and applied them to all my images. But I had to make adjustments to EVERY ingle photo. You know?
Personally I use presets the last two years, and the last months the recommended presets in LR cc especially the cinematic ones! What I know is that YOU CAN NEVER RELY ONLY ON PRESETS! I Always continue the editing process, after the preset apply, to the point I make the photo be what I WANT! And what you said is absolutely right! A preset gives you the details you want on how to edit! You can "learn" from them, so yes later on you can make an editing process from scratch!
Been using a combination of Alex Ruskman's via his gumroad and RNI for the last months. Adore them!
Presets are like cookbooks, & this is what Gordon Ramsey says about cookbooks when a chef was calling out another chef for memorizing cookbooks & not being innovative enough, he said this... “I don’t care if she has memorized cookbooks or not, her cooking tastes better than yours!” It doesn’t matter if you use presets or not, what matters is does your image look good? People sell cookbooks, why not presets? I have no problem with that, none whatsoever, being open minded is so important. On a side note, your sound has always been good, now it’s about 3.14% better then before... your going in the right direction 🧭
haha what a great comparison!
THIS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is such a great explanation wauww
Exactly, I see this sort of anti preset hate on music software too. it's so petty, for one, there's literally hundreds of thousands of LR presets ( probably millions of synth/instrument ones) and the chances someone is going to do exactly what you're doing is next to zero. just have fun and if it works it works. I hate egos lol
One click meal prep
I used to edit all my images on my phone using VSCO and the C7 preset. Since I shot Fuji the JPEGs were incredible and I always used to get compliments for them. When I transitioned to RAW and Lightroom I ended up using VSCO's C8 preset on all my images and it became my "look". And I'm satisfied with it. Using presets and doing the "shortcut" that you mentioned gives me Imposter Syndrome from time to time whenever people ask me how I get my "look", and sometimes those people would be shocked when they found out I was using presets, but you know what? I'm over it now.
Because I noticed that people who edit their own images aren't always great photographers. Hell, sometimes their images are kinda crap. It feels bad to say it but the time I don't spend on editing is the time I spend on framing, composing, posing, and actually putting something worth while in front of my sensor. There's no "shortcut" to that. There's no cheating on that. I don't cheat with my composition, I don't cheat with my actual photography. After a while I stopped seeing it as a lazy mentality and more as a film photography mentality. I already shoot manual lenses and Fujifilm, so I just took it an extra step further and just process my images the same way I'd shoot film. After all, back then film photographers didn't use their own custom film stock and roasted other photographers for using commercial stock, or in modern terms "commercial presets".
Where do I get the VSCO C8 preset?
I use Buttery Luts presets for BRAW.. And they are hands down the best LUTS for Blackmagic cameras. When it comes to still photography, I’m still a beginner so I’ll try some of your recommendations. Thanks for a great video. 👍🏾😊
Thanks for the tip :)
I think every photographer enjoys different steps in the photo making process. Personally I love hunting for, composing, and capturing a great photo. I don’t really enjoy editing at all. It’s more of a means to an end for me. I don’t personally use presets but I can definitely see the appeal.
Same here.. Pluss, I don't think presets would be to much help in my case, as I mostly do as little editing as I can to things like color, but spend most of the time with masks dodging and burning to get the look I want. And, those masks are never the same from one photo to another..
I’ve been using RNI presets for the past year now. However, I only use them at 50%. RNI is, by far, the best set of presets that I have found.
I wholeheartedly agree with you here Todd. All these people saying 'oh but presets are cheating', sorry but that's garbage. A preset isn't and was NEVER meant to be the be all and end all of a photo and just a, for lack of a better word, one click solution. A 'preset' is meant to be a starting point. You STILL have to tweak your images to suit your own style, so it's not as if it's removing you from the creative developing process AT ALL because it's not. It's only a starting point if you don't know what you want a particular photo to look like, and then adjust it to suit YOU. You still have to do the work yourself.
1000% agree. Personally: I understand the tools in Lightroom on a technical level (except calibration tbh) to the point where I could make tutorials on them. But it takes years to develop a style. That's perfectly fine by me btw. But why not learn from others in the mean time? In reality, creativity is always a process of adaptation of someone else's ideas. If you don't treat presets as a "cheat code", then they're genuinely not a cheat code. And if you do treat them that way - well good luck standing out from the crowd; you won't. Everyone with an artistic vision will create their own style. Everyone without an artistic vision won't get anywhere by copying others.
That's why presets, in my opinion, have only positive effects.
Todd, great vid. Two things: Your audio always sounds good, rich and clear. And about something you mentioned regarding all the areas that a pre-set might modify: The Camera Calibration channels. I've used LR since 2006, and I've never played (or noticed!) these sliders. I shoot a fair bit of infrared, and suddenly, I'm able to get colors out of my IR raws that I've never been able to access before. Thank you!
Great advice, presets are a good place to learn to understand how each tool in LR works. The trouble is one size never fits all and when I was starting out many of the presets seemed to be created for the weather/light of the US and not the often overcast conditions here in the UK. So in turn I learnt how to create my own basing them on the light, weather and mood I was trying to convey. I often start in LR, apply a base then dip into AS or photoshop to tweak further...
Thanks for this video. I read at many places that presets were useless, as they work only with the advertised photo. Still, I got a few packs recently. And I must admit that I’ve been positively surprised. First and foremost, i need to say that i did experiment with the sliders. A lot. It becomes quickly obvious what happens when you move one slider or modify one curve. The tough part, which takes a long practice (for which amateur photographers with long job hours and kids don’t always have enough time if they also want to shoot photos), is to understand how each setting interacts with the others.
Also, i had a lot of jpegs from an Around The World Tour that needed to be enhanced. Trying to get it done by myself led to a catastrophe! In the jpeg optimised preset pack i bought, i found some that were suited for the Australian or Filipino beaches, others for the Aussie red and sandy Outback or Malaysian jungle, and even others for the green mountains of NZ or the Snow in Nepal!
Very happy I found those, which I still adjust to my own taste.
Todd, great stuff, I have just begun learning about presets and film emulation and I found your video very helpful. I look forward to giving them a try. Thanks, Al
Thanks a lot! I was searching reviews for RNI, and reading you talk good about them really makes me confident to buy :)
Love the honesty and the knowledge. GREAT CONTENT CREATOR BUT STILL UNERRATED TH-camR. I will be there when you get 100k subs and EVEN 1 MILLION SUBS!
Why are RNI presets for LR expensive compared to the presets for iPhone and iPad?
Presets helped me learn how to edit. I would fond presets I liked then I would learn from what was done and usd that to learn color grad techniques
oh my god, your voice so crispy how do you do it record and edit it?
the user submitted recommended presets is a huge help. Because although you can make your own, it's much quicker to just select a pre-made one and then adjust it to your needs. Plus youre able to try out a bunch of different presets to see what works best for your image rapidly. And of course you can adjust them. But I'm personally not trying to make an art gallery photo, im doing it for social media posts. I just wish that feature was added to premiere pro as well. Because right now it's still a choir to to experiment and find a good lut. And ive tried importing the cube file into premiere and it doesn't work at all.
I've got about a dozen or so presets that I use. They've all got a different purpose for me, depending on the scene in the photo. I still process some images without using my presets, but I will usually try one or more of them first, just to see where the image could go.
RNI is pricey but worth it so much. I esp love the Fuji Sensia 200 and the Aerochrome emulation
Thanks Todd, Great Vlog and great opinion and advice on point as normal. I haven't used presets ever unless you count pressing the Auto button in Camera Raw. I don't have a opinion about them one way or another. In terms of your sound, your auto quality is always great. It does sound a bit deeper and richer, but it was great before anyway.
Hello,does rebecca lily presets show the changes in lightroom?
I hope you have some bass traps in the corners too.
Unfortunately I don't, but I might look into that at some point. Do they make aa difference?
I don't have any objection to using presets to achieve a desired look or get you 80% of the way to your desired look. My issue with presets is that I just don't think they work as advertised. Whenever you see images with a look you like and buy the preset they look total crap when applied to your own images. If there was a company who sold presets that were willing to take user submitted raw files and film the editing I might take them seriously.
Great video and great ideas. I am into photography since 9 years now and I totally agree with everything you said.
I would add a few thoughts`
- The issue with presets IMO is marketing. Pretty much everybody who sells presets says they're the best you've ever seen and they will dramatically improve all your photos and make you an awesome photographer. This is just plain wrong, as you explained there are a step in the workflow or a way to learn how to edit or a way to discover different looks. Nothing more. That kind of bullshit marketing is misleading and can make beginner photographer spend huge amount of money for nothing.
- Second issue with presets is there are often too much and priced too high compared to the value you really get. In my experience I generally really use only 10% to 20% of the presets in a pack. The rest I either don't like or they don't match my style of photography. It pisses me of that you have to pay a huge price to really only use a small part of what is delivered. And sorting through them to find the ones that actually fit you takes a lot of time and testing.
- Speaking of which, sorting through presets, as well as researching online what are the best ones or the ones fit for you is work in itself. In this way, I am not ashamed to say I use presets in my edits. Because I spent time, effort and money finding the few presets I really like and use regularly. I chose them because they allow me to create the look I want, they are not creating a look for me. In the same way as I spend time, effort and money researching the camera I use, or the editing software I use. Fortunately for me I don't have to create them myself...
- A piece of advice I would give every photographer is when you get presets, deconstruct them. Look at what they're modifying. And tweak them to your liking. Modify them. Use them as a starting point to create your own presets and editing tools. I usually only keep part of the changes made by presets to speed up my workflow and not mess with my own edits. For example, in Lightroom I like to keep only the tone curves adjustments of the presets. This way I can do all my basic edit and then add some pre-made curve to give a nice contrast that fits the photo. Or I do the same with Color grading, I just add a nice touch of colour at the end of my editing. The possibilities are endless. In this way presets are stepping stones to the final edit.
- Here are two additional presets creator I would recommend: Nathan Elson and Seim effects. Just google them and you'll find them. Just like the ones recommended by Todd, they're created by photographers for photographers.
With the recent Lightroom update it changed all the RNI presets in to profile slider. Completely ruined the presets. No longer applies the adjustments to the photo. It’s all done with a slider which does not help at all.
Presets are a starting point for the look you are going for. You still ah w to correct for the specific image.
Really balanced view in a well articulated video. This is really nice, unlike those over the top, in your face type videos with a lot of pointless monologue.
Do you think I should apply presets / emulations after tweaking my exposure, color balance and whatnot or just lay down the preset right away ? Cheers ^^
it doesn't matter, BUT! if you just adjust the exposure first you'll be able to preview the presets easier. otherwise you'll probably see dark images (if you're protecting your highlights)
Thanks Todd. Some people are illiterate. Some people are innumerate. I am colour illiterate. I am not colour blind, I just can't understand how colours work. So, for me, presets are a gift from the photo gods. 🎉. Thanks for your show.
can these presets be convert to capture one or luminar 4?
If you're asking about Really Nice Images, they sell Capture One versions of their presets. Don't believe Lily does tho.
Have you ever used presets from Serge Ramelli? If so, what’s your opinion of his pack?
I have not used his. Perhaps someone else has who can comment?
I know his work. He really uses bright exaggerated colors. Not my taste. Kitsch.
Another great video, Todd!! I personally don't care for presets unless they are made for the photographer by the photographer. They can speed up the editing time. However, editing is where the magic happens and I echo your sentiments, why cheat yourself from the learning process!! Editing is when a picture becomes a photograph.
hi, it didnt work on windows?
Man you need more views, your content is awesome. This makes no sense
So presets suck because "We are stealing someone else's work, and calling it our own" ? Surely no one just bangs a preset on then prints, bangs it on social media etc, a preset to me is a beginning, find something that you like for a particular photo, then continue to edit ! So someone else has gotten me closer to my goal, I finished it off, that's my work, not someone else's !
You are incredible!! Thank you for sharing
Amazing Video! Thank you very much
Fun Fact: Your voicereminds me of Rainn Wilson's (aka Dwight Schrute.)
Use presets to learn what each thing does and slowly learn. Presets are a great way to learn!
Sound is great.
imagine folk actually caring about this. I jjust bought some presets and applied them to all my images. But I had to make adjustments to EVERY ingle photo. You know?
Well said.
Personally I use presets the last two years, and the last months the recommended presets in LR cc especially the cinematic ones!
What I know is that YOU CAN NEVER RELY ONLY ON PRESETS!
I Always continue the editing process, after the preset apply, to the point I make the photo be what I WANT!
And what you said is absolutely right! A preset gives you the details you want on how to edit! You can "learn" from them, so yes later on you can make an editing process from scratch!
Processing from scratch is rewarding as it is authentic.
Presets are someone else’s authenticity
👊😎🔥
I Think Your Channel is abort to blow up. Amazing content Todd
구독하고 갑니다!
fu my ears 2:01
Loud
people love to gate keep everything cause they dont thave a life. do what you wanna do homie i like presets
too much chitchat, cut straight to the point, would you?
Selling your own presets to another photographer is BS. Wasted of money in learning curve. Money grab for TH-camrs.
Thanks for commenting. I hear ya. You're definitely not alone on this one. I've heard similar opinions from others.