This preset is a freebie from one of 14 professional presets that can be purchased from our Propresets.com shop.
If you think this one looks good, you should definitely check out the rest of this master kit. It’s called “Modern Nostalgia” and can be found here with different before & after images.

Preset in action

SOOC/ORIGINAL

It was only a dream

Credit goes to ex-Tyler. Big thanks for this one!

Our new Lightroom Presets Online Store can be found here: http://propresets.com
We’ve also updated the web store with a new set of great presets called “Film Master Kit” which you can read more about here.

Take the opportunity and get 20% OFF during this weekend on ALL Products (The deal Ends on 4th Dec, this Sunday) .

Use coupon code: NEWSTORE in your shopping cart before checkout. 

Oh, and presetsheaven.com will still be free and continue to deliver presets ;-)

Here’s two great presets that Brant Smith submitted to share with the rest of you. He calls them Faded film look and if you have a peek at the preview images below I think you understand why.  I like the way they creates a vintage feeling. The applied soft and gentle tones makes these two presets great for its purpose. Will probably be in my fav-list of presets :-) Thanks Brant.

ORIGINAL/SOOC
 

Faded film look - S Curve Color
 

Faded film look - S Curve B&W

Please remember to visit Brant Smiths own web site :-)

1. PH The Weddings (146295 downloads)
   This one have been around for a long time, still it’s the top most downloaded preset/presets we got here.
   Download it from here
2. Intensive Heaven (107051 downloads)
   Funny, but I really didn’t think this one was going to be so popular as it is. I thought it would might be a little to much for most of you, but I was apparently wrong :-)
   Download it from here
3. PH Fashion Shot (97657 downloads)
   I know that when I was making this post, many people was requesting a preset for making photos with a “fashion” look. It’s fun to see it’s still so popular.
   Download it from here
4. PH Dark Light BW (89822 downloads)
   Wow, It’s amazing how a trip to Paris and a quick black & white preset can generate so many downloads :-)
   Download it from here
5. Wedding Look (86107 downloads)
   Well, Weddings are apparently very popular to  shot and to edit in Lightroom since we both have number 1 and 5 in this list containing wedding presets.
   Download it from here

If you read my last post about popular presets that I wrote in March, you’ve probably already noticed that the stats hasn’t changed much. Except for the numbers of downloads :-)

What about the ones people don’t download?

So now when this post is out, I believe  these top 5 downloads will keep their top position for a long time. With this in mind I just came up with the idea of posting the TOP 5 most ignored Lightroom presets too! :-). Let’s start from top again shall we? The most ignored presets are:

1. Cross process Lightroom presets #2 (617 downloads)
   Well, the numbers for this one might be incorrect since the real source is not on our server. We only counted the downloads collected from our mirror link before the author told us to remove the link. :-( Still it’s #1 on the list.
   Download it from here
2. Color pops out – #01 (941 downloads)
   Same goes for this one. Misleading value for the downloads.
   Download it from here
3. Lawrence Diver (2071 downloads)
   This “underwater preset for divers” is pretty new but after this post it will probably step up a bit to compete with the rest :-)
   Download it from here
4. PH Infrared Colors (2580 downloads)
   Haha, this one really sux. I can’t believe it even got over 2000 downloads! :-)
   Download it from here
5. Cross preocess Lightroom preset #1 (4348 downloads)
   Same as with the two first ones in this list. The numbers are misleading since the download source has been changed.
   Download it from here

Note: By the time I post this, I’m pretty sure the download numbers for each preset have grown to a bigger number.

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

29445 Downloads

Lawrence Lim recently asked for a Lightroom preset that could enhance his underwater photos. Since my own underwater photos look terrible (well, using a cheap disposable underwater camera didn’t quite meet the standard I was looking for when I was scuba diving in Thailand some years ago :-/ ) I asked for some sample images to work with. The image below is credited to Lawrence Lim and not me.

Most common thing about underwater photography is that light is the key to success. I’f you’re not a Pro and do underwater photography for a living, the equipment might not be affordable. Another thing is that almost everything look blue/green down “there”. So what I did in Lightroom was to adjust the saturation of the colors and added some contrast and clarity to make the photos look more crisp. Without proper light the photos tend to look dull.

This preset works best when the object, a fish perhaps? :-), is surrounded by blue water or any blue tones.

Preset in action

SOOC/ORIGINAL

Lawrence Diver

6194 Downloads

Oh, Don’t forget to join the rest on our Facebook fan page (it’s just a click away) :-)

Recently I had a fun photo session with a 7 month young kid. During the session the sky was all covered with foggy clouds. Perfect light conditions for a photographer. All I did in Lightroom was to add some fill light, brightness and sharpen to the images. Finally I also did some adjustments with the adjustment brush to lighten up the eyes a bit. This is the result and the preset that came out of it…

Preset in action
ORIGINAL/SOOC

PH KidAlbin:

25628 Downloads

You’ve probably already heard about what Holga is but if you haven’t, I’ll give you a quick brief.
Holga is the name of a Chinese camera that has a history from 1981. It’s a medium format 120 film toy camera known for its low-fidelity aesthetic. Nowadays you can find apps for your mobile phone that tries to copy the same look. It’s been so popular in the last few years that people even buy old toy cameras like this one, just to get the natural old look on film.

You can read more about Holga at Wikipedia

Dustin Leader sent me 10 presets that simulates the look of a Holga camera. Now you can play with them too!Presets in action
SOOC/ORIGINAL:

Holga:

Holga B&W:

Holga in Blue:

Holgamania 1942:

Holgamania 2011:

Holga My Dear:

Holga On The Scene:

Holga Queen:

Holga Queen:

Holga With A Side Of Pancake:

As always… Don’t forget to visit Justins place!

I hope you’re having a great summer wherever you are. I got a preset submitted by mail from Darya recently. It’s a black and white preset called “Historian” that makes your photos look like if they’re taken with an old camera.Try it out!
Thanks Darya!

Preset in action
SOOC/ORIGINAL:

Historian:

7259 Downloads

It’s time to deliver again! This time Dustin Leader is the contributor. Dustin has helped us out before with some nice presets. This time he sent us a preset called “Magic Hour Power”.

This is Dustin’s own words about the preset:

“Magic Hour Power is best used with photographs taken during the ‘magic’ or ‘golden’ hour. Apply this to your dull dusk photos for an amazing golden hue that makes sweet lovely-love to your senses. This rocks harder than a Megadeath concert at an all inclusive honey moon for newlywed metalheads!!!!”

Preset in action

SOOC/ORIGINAL:

Magic Hour Power:

32658 Downloads

Don’t forget to visit Dustin’s own website before you go to bed tonight :-)

The two last presets in this kit will frame your photos with a nice black or white frame with rounded corners! The best is that it can be applied to any photo with or without preset applied on it. The frame presets will not remove/change any settings on your photos, except for adding the frame :-)

This is one of the presets that are included in the PRO kit:

SOOC/ORIGINAL:

PH Bloggers 1

Click here If you want to go PRO and get the whole Bloggers Master Kit.

This is what it looks like when shoot in JPEG-mode

The color information of that photo is mainly filled with skintones (at least that is what the guys at the office thinks). If you’re shooting in JPEG-mode, this calibration setting is embedded into the file, so Lightroom or Photoshop Camera Raw won’t be able to apply a new one. The drop-down menu in the Camera Calibration panel will only give you one choice: Embedded.

If you shoot in RAW you have more possibilities…
Let’s go back to that photo of your mom (shoot in RAW-mode).
When you select the Camera Profile named “Camera Portrait”, you are applying the color settings that the vendor thinks will give you the best result for portraits with colors of skintones. The same goes for “landscape” photos etc.
Adobe is continuously adding new camera profiles for new cameras.

Now, you might wonder why these settings not are applied as default when you open your images in Lightroom? Well, it’s up to you and not your camera since it doesn’t know what kind of photo you have taken, unless you have told it by selecting a “mode” on it (most pocket cameras have a wheel/setting so you can select the kind of photo you want to shoot, portrait, landscape etc.)

Camera profiles for Nikon users (RAW-mode)

I have a Nikon camera but what does “Camera D2X mode” mean, mine is a D3!?

Despite the name, the D2X Mode 1, D2X Mode 2, and D2X Mode 3 profiles aren’t actually profiles for the D2X camera. These are profiles designed to match the corresponding Nikon Picture Controls of the same name. To make this easier to understand, open Nikon View NX (or Capture NX) and examine the Picture Controls menu. There are six built-in settings: Standard, Neutral, Vivid, D2X Mode 1, D2X Mode 2, and D2X Mode 3. Those last 3 contain the “D2X” name even for non-D2X cameras. In other words, this is Nikon’s naming convention.

Depending on what camera you have, these settings (the camera profiles in the drop-down menu) change accordingly to your image’s embedded camera settings. If you’re using a Canon camera, this list will be populated with other profiles to chose from.

The best way to use these camera profiles is simply to try them out. If you like what you see – keep it, if not – dump it :-)

You can read more about Camera Profiles here

Some of the panels might never be used for some photos. Perhaps you don’t need to adjust the sharpness and remove noise etc. If those non-used panels still are open, they are just taking up space and makes it harder for you to find the ones you really want to work with.

An easy way to fix this is to use something called “Solo Mode”. This feature is deactivated by default in Lightroom so you manually have to activate it.

When you’re using the “Solo Mode” for panels, each panel you expand will make the rest of the panels collapse! A much more convenient way to work, since most of the time you are just focused on one panel at the time right? If you work on a laptop, scrolling in Lightroom is really something you don’t want to do, so try this small but effective solution and you’ll probably never go back :-)

Here is a video clip showing you how to activate the Solo mode in Lightroom 3:

Watch this clip in HD!

This way you can keep your catalogs clean and smaller which will lead to better/quicker performance in Lightroom. Another great positive thing using smaller catalogs is that they will be much faster to backup.

Lightroom is pretty good at taking care of big catalogs (tens of thousands images) so if you prefer to use one big catalog instead of smaller ones, keep doing it :-)

No matter the size of your catalog, you still should “optimize” it at least once a month.

Optimizing your catalog can take some time depending on how big it is (how many photos/videos it includes), but it’s definitely worth the time when you know it can increase the performance of Lightroom a lot.

TIP: When you back up your Lightroom catalog, you can also optimize it at the same process.

Sharing is caring and I love it. Especially when I get so nice feedback from all of you.
When I’m happy I become creative, so today I felt I just had to make a new preset for you. I started without a clue on what effect it would create. After some photo browsing through my library, I found some photos that really needed to be adjusted. They were to dark from my point of view…
This preset basically brightens up your underexposed images, adds a little yellow tone to the white areas and finally reduces some noise. It only works good on photos that are underexposed allover the image. (note: The preset is made in Lightroom 3)

Preset in action
SOOC/ORIGINAL:

PH Repair my dark ones:

Example 2
SOOC/ORIGINAL:

Repair my dark ones:

33117 Downloads
Forgot how to install a preset? Read my post on how to do it…

“I thought I’d send in some presets that we use here in the studio all the time. There are three sets.”

1. HDR Effect
There’s four of them, delivering various levels of the same effect. By themselves they won’t look so great. They’re designed to be applied after using another preset, dealing with color and tone is used. Try them out and you’ll see what I mean. In some situations, they will produce a ghosting effect around high contrast edges, so you have to know when to use them, but our clients usually love the results, even though they have no idea why. Specific adjustment to blacks, exposure and saturation/vibrance will usually be necessary.

2. Common Basic Adjustments
These are a simple set of presets that apply varying degrees of only one setting. We use these all the time for quick adjustments to lots of similar images. Rather than selecting a lot of images and making adjustments to the sliders, which can sometimes produce unpredictable results, just a few clicks on these presets speeds things up a lot, in our experience.

3. Style Assortment
This is a set of three stylized presets which we don’t use a whole lot anymore, but have gotten a lot of love in the past. They are basic adjustments to split toning, tone curve and post-crop vignette.

In this post we will only show you the preview of what the Style Assortment presets look like.
Presets in action

SOOC/ORIGINAL:

B&W Brown/Red Antique:

Clear Blue/Orange Split Tone Mild Vintage:

Clear Yellow/Purple Split Tone Mild Vintage:

Please make sure you visit William’s website before you go to sleep tonight :-)

2010 was an exiting year with lots of funny events. In the end of the year I had so much things to do that it was almost impossible to keep up with the updates here at Presets Heaven. 2011 is going to be even better so lets start this year by presenting a new presets contribution.Laura from “pretty presets” sent me 4 of her own presets that she would love to share with you. They are Autumn, Pretty Presets Brown, Silver Lining and Soft Color Pop. To best describe them she also attached some before/after images for your convenience. I hope you like them!

Presets in action

Please make sure you pay a visit to Laura and her facebook page

SOOC / ORIGINAL:

Who Is Wolf 1

WIW sweet

WIW Soft Warm

WIW retro style

WIW retro soft

WIW retro2 old photo

WIW light promo

WIW kunstlich wedding hell

WIW kunstlich bw

WIW klang retro

WIW herbst licht

WIW golden dust

WIW fresh spring

WIW fable

WIW edel bw

WIW dust

WIW dunker kunstlich

WIW dunker kunstlich heller

WIW dark sw skin

WIW dark kunstlich brighter

WIW cross retro

WIW coldsteel

WIW bw light up

WIW bw golden times

WIW bw focus

WIW bw deluxe

WIW bw deluxe lighter

WIW Basic bw

78260 Downloads

Don’t forget to visit Chris own website. He got some amazing photos to enjoy :-)

Presets in action

SOOC/ORIGINAL:

Chiffon:

Velvet:

Diamond:

All photos by Lilac Saloon

As always, please visit Megan and her Lilac Saloon

-”Love the site, great work and very handy for those of us starting out with presets.
I thought I’d share one with you:
This preset fixes dark photos with a red hue.  I created it to touch up some music performance photos where the red stage light was overwhelming.”

Preset in action

SOOC/ORIGINAL

LB-FixDarkRedLight:

Photo: LeeAnn Beer

Please make sure you visit LeeAnns’ website before you go to bed tonight :-)