A perfect Lightroom preset to start with

Hi all readers, fans and Lightroom lovers!

Here comes another preset made by request, from Ole at our Facebook page. This is the story behind it…
Each camera has one or more profiles that controls the colors etc. when you shoot in JPEG. All this data is embedded into the JPEG file. When you shoot in RAW-mode, In short terms – that data is attached (not merged into the images) and you are able to adjust all settings before you export your photos to JPEG (or any other format) without destroying the quality of your images.

Ole was not satisfied with the output of his RAW-images. They look flat and not as colorful/sharp as the JPEG version from his camera look.

I gave him a few tips on how to use the built in “Camera profiles” that comes with Lightroom. They are developed to mimic the cameras look of your photos as if you were shooting in JPEG-mode, sort of (You can read more about Lightroom camera profiles in another post I’ve made).

Unfortunately the camera profiles didn’t make his RAW photos look like the JPEG ones, so I made a special preset that just makes your photos a little brighter, more colorful and with a little more contrast. A perfect preset to start with when you’ve just imported your photos into Lightroom. (Note: If you’ve set your camera to overexpose +1 step, I suggest you change the exposure adjustment value in this preset to “zero”. Otherwise you’ll probably end up with photos that are way to overexposed).

Preset in action

SOOC/ORIGINAL:

PH Start With Me convenient name don’t you think? :-)

Photo: Ole Martin Bjørnli Günther

PH Start With Me (73638 downloads )

Pierre
Pierre

If you are a Lightroom lover like myself you probably going to adore this place. It's the paradise for all people who are looking for Lightroom presets. Make sure you subscribe to my posts to be first with the latest contributions. I wish you a very pleasant stay. Regards, Pierre

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12 Comments

  1. personally, over-exposure is my perfect exposure, and i’ve been editing this manually for way too long. i’m happy to have this. obviously, if you’re a sports photographer or a landscape photographer, this would be useless. but everyone who is annoyed by this preset wouldn’t nee/want it anyway! “lighten up” people :)

  2. i agree with kati, i like a tad bit over-exposed so my vote is for the tweaked one. photography is like every other kind of art. it’s subjective.

  3. All this does is bump vibrance, recovery, contrast while adding a full stop to exposure! Do you always underexpose your images? No thanks!

  4. Scott, This preset was made from request by one of our readers (Ole). If you don’t like it, nobody is going to force you to download it. And yes, your right about: “All this does…” but unfortunately, not all people know how to make these adjustments themselves.
    Thanks,
    Pierre

  5. I don’t always underexpose my images – in fact they are perfectly exposed according to my in camera meter but ALWAYS look dark. I don’t know why – they just do. BUT this is the perfect action for a quick fix and it’s not like it’s permanent – you can tweak it after you use it. I don’t get all the hate comments on this site. If you don’t like it or don’t need it… don’t use it.

    Thank you Pierre for sharing this. I can definitely make use of it :)

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