Why I Ditched Lightroom Presets After 7 Years: Discover the Game Changer

How’s it going? Chris Denna. So, today I want to talk to you about why I quit Lightroom presets. That’s right, I broke up with my Lightroom presets. And it’s fair to say they took it kind of personally. Because for years presets were the workflow. You buy one, you apply it to everything, and suddenly your photos have a style. Specifically, someone else’s style.

Now, if you’re not sure what a preset is, this is a preset. This is that same preset on a completely different photo. Yeah. See, here’s the thing. Presets are static, which is great if every photo you take happens under identical lighting conditions, in a controlled laboratory where nothing changes. A preset does not understand lighting conditions, though. It does not understand about skin tone. It doesn’t care about subject matter. It laughs at exposure quality, thumbs its nose at weather, and your artistic intention? It doesn’t care. It simply applies the same instructions every time. Basically, a preset is kind of like a very, very confident toaster.

The Limitations of Presets

Some presets are absolutely convincing, but some are deeply chaotic, but all are trying very hard to belong somewhere and make themselves valuable and relevant. But here’s the thing. We all know that light changes. Light evolves. And I’d love to be able to tell you that a preset is like a Lord of the Rings—one preset to rule them all—but no. Believing a preset is the one-click solution is an epic fantasy, but in reality, it’s more like a horror movie.

So, if you apply the preset, the image doesn’t look right. So, then you adjust it. And you tweak it. And you fix exposure. And you fix the white balance. So, now you’re editing again, which was the original problem. Why you wanted to use presets. Because presets are not adaptive. And this is the key thing most marketing about presets avoids. A preset behaves differently depending on lighting, camera sensor, exposure, white balance, color temperature, skin tone, and environment.

A preset that looks incredible on golden hour desert portraits might collapse completely on an indoor lighting situation. It might fail on cloudy scenes. Anytime there’s mixed lighting. If you’ve underexposed your raw file, same settings, totally different results. And let’s not even talk about how different cameras render color differently. A preset made on Sony may behave differently on a Canon, on a Fujifilm, on a Nikon, or on an iPhone raw file. And especially on skin tones and the dreaded greens.

The Myth of One-Click Editing

Why have you ever realized this is why some preset packs include Fuji version, Sony version, Canon base, which quietly reveals the whole one-click universal look. It’s just not true and never was in the first place. See, here’s the thing that most people don’t realize about presets. They’re just sliders. That’s it. That’s the secret.

Honestly, I think we need to investigate the preset packs like they’re some shadowy cabal. Who is making them? Why do they all promise cinematic vibes? And this is the lie of one-click editing. See, preset packs will promise cinematic storytelling tones, which is fascinating because I used it on a photo of a bride, and now she looks like she’s fought in three wars.

One click rubbish. It’s unbelievable. One click, and suddenly your wedding reception has the emotional atmosphere of the movie Dune. See, here’s another thing about presets: they just frankly over-promise. They promise things like moody earth tones, cinematic depth, timeless filmic response, authentic texture. I mean, come on, authentic texture.

Authentic texture is my favorite fake phrase in photography. Oh my God, it’s just the worst. Ultimately, buying these presets will just date your work. Most photographers promise timeless, but we’re always anchoring our photography in phrases like dark and moody, light and airy, or 80s style.

A New Solution: Imagen

Look, I’m not anti-preset; honestly, I can forgive them. They have to make a living. More power to them. God bless them. I’m anti-being lied to by a man called Braden selling cinematic soul pack version four for 79 quid. So, no, I don’t like presets, and I think I’ve made my case why. And this is where Imagen comes in.

It doesn’t just paste settings. It looks at the photo. It reacts accordingly, and it edits like it’s trying, which is new. Same style, different photos. It just works, which is slightly unsettling. And I know photographers love their presets because honestly, they see it as equal parts art and equal parts suffering. But with Imagen, I spend less time fixing presets and more time, well, not editing, which is the goal, right?

I spent years building preset packs, and now they’re essentially decorative and a snapshot of how I edited in 2019. If you look at this completely real chart made by scientists, you’ll see presets peak early and then immediately cause problems. So, yeah, I quit Lightroom presets. They’re not bad; they’re just outdated, and I don’t miss them. Imagen is the AI solution for professional photographers and videographers who just refuse to compromise on quality. It’s the best of your frame after frame.