As a wedding photographer, you know that capturing the perfect moment is only half the battle. The other half? That happens in post-production, where you spend countless hours editing to bring your artistic vision to life. The right Lightroom presets are more than just a filter; they are the foundation of a streamlined, efficient workflow and the key to developing a signature style that makes your work instantly recognizable. A great preset can transform a good photo into a breathtaking one, ensuring consistency across an entire wedding gallery and, most importantly, saving you precious time.

In the fast-paced world of wedding photography, efficiency is everything. Clients are eager to see their photos, and your next shoot is always just around the corner. Presets allow you to apply a complex series of adjustments with a single click, creating a consistent look that would take hours to replicate manually. But with thousands of options out there, how do you choose the right one? This guide is here to help. We’re going to explore the 15 best Lightroom presets for wedding photography in 2025, breaking down what makes each one unique and who it’s best suited for. Whether you’re aiming for a light and airy feel, a dark and moody vibe, or something timeless and true-to-life, there’s a preset on this list for you.

Key Takeaways

  • Efficiency is Crucial: The primary benefit of using presets is the significant reduction in editing time, allowing you to deliver galleries faster and take on more clients.
  • Style and Consistency: Presets are fundamental for establishing a signature editing style and maintaining a consistent, professional look across an entire wedding album.
  • AI is the Future: AI-powered solutions like Imagen are revolutionizing the preset landscape by creating dynamic profiles that adapt to your unique style and different lighting conditions, moving beyond static, one-click adjustments.
  • Choosing Wisely: Selecting the right preset depends on your personal aesthetic, shooting style, and the type of lighting you typically encounter. It’s important to find a preset that enhances, rather than overpowers, your original images.
  • Customization is Key: Even the best presets often require minor tweaks to exposure, white balance, or contrast to perfectly fit each individual photo. They are a starting point, not a final solution.

The 15 Best Lightroom Presets for Wedding Photography

Navigating the sea of available presets can be overwhelming. To make it easier, I’ve compiled a list of the top contenders for 2025. We’ll start with a game-changing approach and then dive into some of the most respected traditional preset packs on the market.

1. Imagen: Your Personal AI-Powered Profile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EH0NjnNHlw

Let’s kick things off with something that isn’t just a preset, but an entirely new way of thinking about editing. As a professional who has spent more late nights than I can count tweaking sliders, Imagen has fundamentally changed my workflow. Instead of buying a preset pack that gets you close to someone else’s style, Imagen builds an AI Profile that is 100% your style.

How does it work? It’s brilliantly simple. You provide Imagen with a catalog of your previously edited photos—the ones that you feel truly represent your best work and signature look. The AI analyzes thousands of your editing decisions, learning how you adjust everything from exposure and contrast to individual color channels, sharpening, and grain. It learns your unique taste and how you adapt to different lighting scenarios, from harsh midday sun to dimly lit reception halls.

Within a short time, it creates your Personal AI Profile. This isn’t a static preset. It’s a dynamic editing model that applies your unique style to new photos with incredible accuracy. When you upload a new wedding gallery, Imagen edits each photo individually, just as you would, but in a fraction of the time. We’re talking about editing an entire wedding in minutes, not days.

What really sets this apart is the intelligence. A standard preset applies the same set of rules to every photo, regardless of the lighting or subject matter. That’s why you often have to make so many adjustments after applying a preset. Imagen’s AI understands context. It recognizes the difference between a golden hour portrait and a tungsten-lit indoor shot and adjusts accordingly, maintaining consistency while being intelligently adaptive.

And if your style evolves? No problem. You can fine-tune your AI Profile by feeding it your latest work, ensuring it always stays perfectly in sync with your creative vision.

For photographers who have already developed a strong, unique style, Imagen is the logical next step. It’s about scaling your artistry without sacrificing your personal touch. It’s not about making your photos look like someone else’s; it’s about making them look exactly like yours, faster than you ever thought possible.

Best for:

  • Established photographers with a consistent editing style.
  • High-volume wedding photographers looking to dramatically reduce their editing time.
  • Artists who want a truly custom solution tailored to their unique aesthetic.

2. Mastin Labs – Portra Pushed Pack

Mastin Labs specializes in creating presets that emulate the look of classic film stocks. The Portra Pushed Pack is designed to replicate the appearance of Kodak Portra film that has been “pushed” in development, a technique that increases contrast and color saturation. This process results in a look characterized by rich colors, deep tones, and a noticeable but pleasing grain structure.

The presets are engineered to produce warm skin tones and vibrant colors, particularly in the green and blue channels. The pack includes presets for Portra 160, Portra 400, and Portra 800, each with a “pushed” variation. These presets are built with a three-step workflow that involves applying the preset, adjusting for lens corrections, and then making final tweaks to exposure and white balance. The system is designed to provide consistency across a range of lighting conditions.

Best for:

  • Photographers seeking a film-emulation look with high contrast and saturation.
  • Those who appreciate the aesthetic of pushed film processing.
  • Users who prefer a structured, step-by-step editing workflow.

3. Refined Co. x KT Merry – Refined II Presets

This collection is a collaboration between preset company Refined Co. and wedding photographer KT Merry. The presets are designed to produce a clean, bright, and timeless aesthetic. The goal is to create images that have a fine-art quality, with an emphasis on soft, flattering skin tones and a color palette that is both luminous and natural.

The Refined II pack includes a set of core presets that are intended to work across various lighting situations. It also contains several variations and tools to help with specific adjustments, such as adding or reducing grain, sharpening, and correcting for different lighting color casts. The overall effect is one that enhances the natural beauty of the scene without imposing a heavy stylistic filter. The look is often described as “light and airy” but with sufficient contrast to avoid a washed-out appearance.

Best for:

  • Photographers who specialize in a high-end, fine-art wedding style.
  • Users who want a clean, bright, and timeless look.
  • Those who shoot in natural light and want to enhance it.

4. Goodlight Presets – The OG Pack

Goodlight Presets, created by photographer Eric Floberg, are designed to deliver a warm, nostalgic, and slightly desaturated look. The OG Pack focuses on creating a sense of authenticity and emotion in wedding photos. The aesthetic is often described as “earthy” and “golden,” with an emphasis on rich, warm tones, particularly in the highlights and skin tones.

The presets tend to mute cooler colors like blues and greens, giving images a cohesive and warm feel. They are designed to work well in a variety of lighting conditions, from direct sunlight to indoor settings. The pack includes several presets with different levels of warmth and contrast, allowing for flexibility in achieving the desired final look. The goal is to produce an image that feels both timeless and contemporary.

Best for:

  • Photographers who want a warm, golden, and earthy color palette.
  • Users aiming for a nostalgic and emotional feel in their images.
  • Those who shoot a lot of outdoor, golden-hour sessions.

5. Tribe Archipelago – Kevin Klein KLN Presets

The KLN preset pack, developed by photographer Kevin Klein for Tribe Archipelago, is known for its moody and cinematic style. These presets are designed to create images with deep shadows, rich contrast, and a desaturated color palette. The look is dramatic and evocative, drawing inspiration from landscape photography and cinematography.

The presets emphasize texture and mood, often enhancing the natural environment to create a powerful backdrop for the subjects. Skin tones are rendered in a way that is naturalistic within the moody context, avoiding excessive orange or red casts. The pack includes several variations to handle different lighting scenarios, including presets specifically for indoor and outdoor use. The overall effect is intended to be bold and atmospheric.

Best for:

  • Photographers specializing in elopements and adventure weddings.
  • Users who want a moody, dramatic, and cinematic editing style.
  • Those who frequently incorporate landscapes into their wedding photography.

6. Noble Presets – Signature Pack

Noble Presets are designed to emulate the bright and luminous look of Fuji Pro 400H film, a popular choice for wedding photographers. The Signature Pack aims to create images with a light, airy, and ethereal quality. The color palette is characterized by soft, pastel tones, particularly in the greens and blues, and creamy, luminous skin tones.

The presets are engineered to handle various lighting conditions while maintaining a consistent fine-art aesthetic. They lift shadows to create a brighter overall image and apply a subtle color toning that is characteristic of Fuji film. The pack is designed to produce a clean and polished look that enhances the natural light in a scene. The final result is intended to be both romantic and timeless.

Best for:

  • Photographers who want to achieve a Fuji film-inspired look.
  • Users aiming for a light, airy, and fine-art aesthetic.
  • Those who shoot primarily with natural light.

7. Archipelago Presets – Quest Pack

The Quest pack from Archipelago is a versatile collection designed for photographers who shoot in a wide variety of environments, from forests to deserts to cityscapes. The presets are intended to be adaptable, providing a range of styles from warm and earthy to cool and cinematic. The underlying goal is to enhance the natural beauty of the location while maintaining realistic and pleasing skin tones.

This pack includes a number of different preset options, each with a distinct character. Some presets offer a more muted and desaturated look, while others provide a rich, vibrant color palette. The collection is designed to be a comprehensive toolkit, allowing a photographer to maintain a consistent overall feel while still tailoring the look to the specific mood and environment of each wedding.

Best for:

  • Photographers who shoot in diverse and challenging locations.
  • Users who want a versatile toolkit with a range of stylistic options.
  • Those who want to enhance the natural environment in their photos.

8. Anni Graham Presets – The Wanderlust Pack

Anni Graham’s Wanderlust Pack is designed for adventure wedding and elopement photographers. The presets are crafted to enhance the epic scale of natural landscapes while keeping subjects looking natural. The style is characterized by rich, earthy tones, deep contrast, and a filmic quality. The presets aim to create a sense of warmth and intimacy, even in vast, open settings.

The color palette often features warm, golden highlights, deep greens, and muted blues. The presets are built to handle the challenging lighting conditions often encountered in outdoor and adventure photography, such as harsh sunlight and deep shadows. The goal is to produce images that are both dramatic and authentic, capturing the spirit of adventure.

Best for:

  • Elopement and adventure wedding photographers.
  • Users who want to create warm, earthy, and dramatic images.
  • Those who photograph couples in epic natural landscapes.

9. India Earl Presets – Honey

The Honey collection from India Earl is designed to produce warm, rich, and vibrant images with a focus on authentic color and emotion. These presets are known for their ability to create beautiful, golden skin tones and enhance the natural warmth of a scene. The look is not overly stylized, aiming instead for a “true-to-life but better” feel.

The presets provide a clean and consistent base edit, with an emphasis on rich colors and a pleasing amount of contrast. They are designed to be versatile and work well across a range of lighting situations, both indoors and outdoors. The goal is to create images that feel genuine and full of life, with a color palette that is both timeless and inviting.

Best for:

  • Photographers who want a warm, vibrant, and true-to-life look.
  • Users who prioritize authentic color and beautiful skin tones.
  • Those who want a versatile preset that works well in many different lighting conditions.

10. G-Presets – Pack 03

G-Presets, created by photographer Greg Petersen, are known for their bold and vibrant style. Pack 03 is designed to create images that pop, with rich contrast, deep tones, and saturated colors. The look is modern and energetic, with an aesthetic that is well-suited for photographers who want their images to have a strong visual impact.

The presets tend to produce warm skin tones, deep blues, and lush greens. They are designed to work well in a variety of lighting conditions, adding a layer of drama and intensity to the scene. The pack includes several different presets and variations, allowing for customization to fit the specific needs of an image. The overall effect is punchy and dynamic.

Best for:

  • Photographers who want a bold, vibrant, and high-contrast look.
  • Users aiming for a modern and energetic style.
  • Those who want their images to have a strong visual impact.

11. Dawn Charles Presets – DC Presets Classic

Dawn Charles’ DC Presets Classic collection is designed to create a light, warm, and timeless look. The presets are known for their ability to produce soft, creamy skin tones and a clean, consistent color palette. The aesthetic is often described as “light and airy” but with a distinct warmth that adds a sense of intimacy and romance.

The presets work by brightening the image, softening the contrast, and applying a subtle warm toning. They are designed to be user-friendly and versatile, working well in a variety of lighting situations, particularly with natural light. The goal is to enhance the natural beauty of the scene and create images that are both elegant and emotive.

Best for:

  • Photographers who prefer a light, warm, and romantic style.
  • Users who want to achieve soft, creamy skin tones.
  • Those who primarily shoot with natural light.

12. Jose Villa Presets – For Lightroom

Jose Villa is a well-known film photographer, and his presets are designed to replicate the look and feel of his signature style. Created in collaboration with DVLOP, these presets emulate the aesthetic of Fuji film stocks. The look is characterized by soft light, pastel colors, and luminous skin tones. The presets are designed to create a fine-art, romantic, and timeless quality in digital images.

The system is built around a set of core presets that are then modified using a series of tools and adjustments. This allows for a high degree of control over the final image. The presets are engineered to be highly consistent across different camera systems and lighting conditions. The goal is to bring the nuanced color palette and gentle contrast of film to digital photography.

Best for:

  • Photographers who admire the fine-art film aesthetic.
  • Users who want to achieve a soft, romantic, and pastel color palette.
  • Those who want a comprehensive editing system with a high degree of control.

13. Gabe McClintock Presets – Roam

Gabe McClintock’s Roam presets are designed for photographers who want to create moody, soulful, and cinematic images. The presets are known for their desaturated color palette, deep contrast, and emphasis on texture and emotion. The look is often described as raw and intimate, with a style that is well-suited for capturing candid, unposed moments.

The presets tend to mute vibrant colors, focusing instead on tone and luminosity. They work particularly well in dramatic natural light and are popular with elopement and destination wedding photographers. The collection includes several presets, each with a different tonal emphasis, allowing for flexibility in creating a specific mood. The overall goal is to produce images that are evocative and emotionally resonant.

Best for:

  • Photographers who specialize in elopements and intimate weddings.
  • Users who want a moody, desaturated, and cinematic style.
  • Those who want to create images with a strong emotional impact.

14. Fer Juaristi Presets – F/ Juaristi Presets

Fer Juaristi is known for his unconventional and artistic approach to wedding photography. His presets reflect this style, offering a look that is bold, creative, and often experimental. The presets are characterized by high contrast, unique color shifts, and a strong, graphic quality. They are not designed to be subtle, but rather to make a statement.

The collection includes a variety of presets, some of which create a dramatic black and white conversion, while others produce vibrant, almost surreal color palettes. These presets are for photographers who are looking to break away from traditional wedding aesthetics and develop a more artistic and distinctive style. They are designed to be a tool for creative expression.

Best for:

  • Photographers who want a bold, artistic, and unconventional look.
  • Users who are looking to experiment with creative color and contrast.
  • Those who want to develop a highly distinctive and recognizable style.

15. The Archetype Process – Kodak Pro Pack

The Archetype Process is another company that focuses on creating highly accurate film emulation profiles. Unlike traditional presets, their products are built as custom camera profiles within Lightroom, which can provide a more accurate and nuanced color response. The Kodak Pro Pack is designed to meticulously replicate the look of Kodak’s professional film stocks, including Portra and Ektar.

The profiles are created through a rigorous process of shooting film and digital side-by-side under controlled conditions. The result is a set of profiles that aim to be the most accurate digital representation of these films. The look is authentic to the film stock, with the characteristic color palette, tonal range, and grain structure. This approach is for photographers who are serious about achieving a true film look from their digital files.

Best for:

  • Photographers who are dedicated to achieving the most accurate film emulation possible.
  • Users who appreciate the specific color palettes of Kodak film stocks.
  • Those who want a foundational edit based on a camera profile rather than just slider adjustments.

How to Choose the Best Lightroom Presets for Your Wedding Photography

With so many incredible options, making a decision can be tough. The perfect preset for one photographer might be completely wrong for another. It all comes down to your unique vision and workflow. Here are the key criteria to consider when making your choice.

1. Define Your Artistic Style

Before you even start looking at presets, you need to have a clear idea of the look you want to achieve. Are you drawn to…

  • Light & Airy? This style is characterized by bright, soft images, pastel colors, and a romantic, ethereal feel. Look for presets inspired by Fuji film stocks, like those from Noble Presets or Jose Villa.
  • Dark & Moody? This style uses deep shadows, rich contrast, and often desaturated colors to create a dramatic, cinematic, and emotional atmosphere. Presets from creators like Tribe Archipelago (KLN) or Gabe McClintock would be a good fit.
  • True-to-Life & Timeless? This approach focuses on clean edits, authentic colors, and beautiful skin tones, aiming for a look that won’t go out of style. Presets from India Earl or a personalized Imagen AI Profile built on a clean editing style would be ideal.
  • Warm & Earthy? This style uses golden tones, muted greens, and a nostalgic feel to create a sense of warmth and authenticity. Consider presets from Goodlight or Anni Graham.
  • Filmic? If you love the distinct look of film, seek out presets that specialize in emulating specific stocks, like those from Mastin Labs or The Archetype Process.

Create a mood board of images you love. Identify the common threads in their editing—the color palette, the contrast, the overall mood. This will be your guide.

2. Analyze Your Shooting Habits

Your presets need to work with your photos, not against them. Consider your typical shooting environment and style:

  • Lighting: Do you primarily shoot outdoors with natural light, or are you often in dark churches and reception halls? Some presets excel in bright, even light, while others are designed to handle high-ISO, low-light situations.
  • Camera System: While most modern presets work across different camera brands, some are optimized for the color science of specific manufacturers (e.g., Canon, Sony, Nikon). Look for presets that offer profiles for your specific camera model for the best results.
  • Shooting Style: Do you tend to underexpose or overexpose in-camera? A preset designed for slightly underexposed images might not look good on an overexposed one. Choose a preset that complements your natural shooting tendency.

3. Versatility and Cohesion

A wedding day is a marathon of different lighting scenarios. Your chosen preset pack needs to be versatile enough to handle everything from getting-ready photos in a dimly lit hotel room to golden-hour portraits and a flash-lit dance floor.

Look for packs that include:

  • Multiple Variations: A good preset pack will offer several versions of the main look—perhaps one with more contrast, one for tungsten light, one for shade, etc.
  • Toolkit Presets: Many collections include “helper” presets or brushes that allow you to make quick, targeted adjustments like adding grain, sharpening, or correcting skin tones without affecting the core preset.
  • Consistency: The most important thing is that the presets in the pack are designed to work together, creating a cohesive look across the entire gallery, regardless of the lighting changes.

4. Customization and Control

Remember, a preset is a starting point. The best presets are those that give you a solid foundation that you can easily tweak.

  • Non-Destructive Editing: Good presets shouldn’t flatten your image or bake in changes that are impossible to reverse. They should primarily adjust the basic sliders, tone curve, and color grading panels, leaving you with full control to make final adjustments.
  • Beyond the One-Click Wonder: Be wary of presets that promise a “one-click” perfect edit. Every photo is unique and will require some level of individual adjustment. The real value is in how much time it saves you getting to that 90% mark.
  • The AI Advantage: This is where solutions like Imagen truly shine. Instead of a static preset that you have to constantly adjust, an AI Profile is inherently adaptive. It’s built on your customization choices, so it applies edits with a level of nuance and intelligence that a standard preset can’t match. It’s the ultimate form of customization.

5. Consider the Creator’s Reputation and Support

Invest in presets from reputable photographers and companies who stand behind their products. Look for:

  • Before and After Examples: Make sure they show examples in a wide variety of lighting conditions and on different skin tones.
  • Customer Reviews: See what other photographers are saying. Are they happy with the results? Is the preset versatile?
  • Support and Education: Does the creator offer tutorials, guides, or a community group to help you get the most out of the presets? Good creators want you to succeed.

By carefully considering these criteria, you can move beyond simply buying a popular preset and instead invest in a tool that truly aligns with your artistic vision and elevates your wedding photography business.

A General Guide to Using Presets Effectively

You’ve done the research and purchased the perfect preset pack. Now what? Simply clicking the button is just the first step. Here’s how to integrate presets into your workflow like a pro to get beautiful, consistent results every time.

Step 1: Start with a Solid Foundation (In-Camera)

The old saying “garbage in, garbage out” is especially true with presets. For a preset to work its magic, you need to give it a good starting image.

  • Shoot in RAW: This is non-negotiable. RAW files contain the maximum amount of data, giving you and your presets the most flexibility to recover highlights, lift shadows, and adjust color.
  • Get Your Exposure Right: While RAW offers flexibility, aim for the best possible exposure in-camera. A preset designed for a properly exposed image will struggle with a photo that is dramatically over or underexposed.
  • Custom White Balance: This is a pro move that saves a ton of time. If you can, set a custom white balance in-camera, especially in tricky mixed-lighting situations. If not, use a gray card for a reference shot. This will give your preset a much more accurate starting point for color.

Step 2: The Culling Process

Before you even think about editing, you need to cull your images. This means going through the thousands of photos you took and selecting only the best ones to edit and deliver. A streamlined culling process is just as important as efficient editing. Look for a workflow that allows you to quickly sort, rate, and filter your images. This is an area where all-in-one platforms can be a huge help, allowing you to cull and then send your selects directly to be edited.

Step 3: The Initial Application Workflow

Once you have your selected images in Lightroom, it’s time to apply the preset.

  1. Apply on Import (Optional): You can set Lightroom to apply a “base” preset to all your photos upon import. This can be a good way to get a quick preview of your images with your chosen style.
  2. Batch Apply: The most common method is to select a group of photos taken in the same lighting scenario (e.g., all the bride’s prep photos) and apply the preset to all of them at once using the “Sync” function in the Library module.
  3. Adjust White Balance First: Before you even apply the preset, it’s often a good idea to correct the white balance. Use the eyedropper tool on a neutral gray or white area in the photo. A correct white balance ensures the preset’s colors are rendered accurately.

Step 4: The Essential Tweaks (The “Dialing-In” Phase)

No preset is perfect for every single image. After applying the preset, you will almost always need to make a few key adjustments. Work your way down the Develop module’s Basic panel:

  • Exposure: This is the most common adjustment you’ll make. Does the image need to be a little brighter or darker?
  • Contrast: The preset might add too much or too little contrast for your taste or for a specific image.
  • White Balance (Temperature & Tint): Even after an initial correction, you might want to warm up or cool down the image slightly to better match the mood. This is a crucial step for getting skin tones right.
  • Highlights & Shadows: If the preset has crushed the blacks too much or blown out the highlights, use these sliders to bring back detail.

Step 5: Finesse with Local Adjustments

This is where you can really make an image sing. Use Lightroom’s masking tools (like the brush, radial, or linear gradients) to make targeted adjustments.

  • Subject Mask: Brighten your subjects slightly to make them pop.
  • Dodge & Burn: Use a soft brush with a slight exposure increase to “dodge” (brighten) and a separate brush with a slight exposure decrease to “burn” (darken) specific areas to add depth and dimension.
  • Sky Enhancement: Use a linear gradient to add a bit of drama back into a washed-out sky.

Step 6: Maintain Consistency

The whole point of using presets is to achieve a consistent look. As you edit a gallery, frequently look at the images side-by-side in Lightroom’s Grid view. Do they feel like they belong together? If one image looks much warmer or cooler than the others, go back and tweak its white balance. This final consistency check is what separates an amateur gallery from a professional one.

By following this structured approach, you’ll transform presets from a simple filter into a powerful tool that forms the core of an efficient, professional, and artistic post-production workflow.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What’s the difference between a preset and a profile? A preset is a saved set of slider adjustments in Lightroom’s Develop module. When you apply it, it moves those sliders to the saved positions. A profile is a more foundational adjustment that interprets the RAW data itself, similar to how your camera has different picture profiles (e.g., Standard, Neutral, Vivid). Some modern preset makers, like The Archetype Process, build their looks as profiles, which can sometimes provide a more accurate and flexible base for editing. Imagen’s AI Profile is a third, more advanced category; it’s a dynamic model that creates unique slider adjustments for each photo based on its specific content and your learned style.

2. Can I use these presets on my mobile phone? Many preset creators offer versions of their presets for the free Lightroom Mobile app. These are usually in DNG format. However, for professional wedding work, you’ll always want to be working with the full desktop version of Lightroom Classic or Lightroom CC to handle RAW files and large volumes of images effectively.

3. Do presets work on JPEG files? Technically, yes, you can apply presets to JPEGs. However, you will have far less control and flexibility. JPEGs are compressed files with much less data than RAW files. Trying to make significant adjustments to exposure, highlights, or shadows on a JPEG will often result in poor quality, banding, and strange color artifacts. For professional results, always shoot and edit in RAW.

4. Will buying a popular photographer’s presets make my photos look like theirs? It will get you closer, but it’s not a magic bullet. The final look of a photo is a combination of many factors: the light, the location, the gear used, the in-camera settings, and the post-processing. A preset only addresses that last part. To truly emulate a photographer’s style, you need to study their entire process. More importantly, the goal shouldn’t be to copy someone else, but to use presets as a tool to develop your own unique style.

5. Why do my skin tones look orange or unnatural after applying a preset? This is a very common issue. It usually happens for one of two reasons. First, your white balance is likely incorrect for the scene. Before you do anything else, try correcting the white balance. Second, the preset might be designed for a different camera system with different color science. This is where you’ll need to go into the HSL/Color panel in Lightroom and adjust the Orange and Red channels (specifically the Saturation and Luminance sliders) to get the skin tones looking natural.

6. Is it “cheating” to use presets? Absolutely not. Every professional photographer uses some form of preset or standardized editing process. In a high-volume business like wedding photography, it would be impossible to edit every photo from scratch. Presets are a tool for efficiency and consistency. The artistry comes from choosing the right preset for your style, knowing how to tweak it perfectly for each image, and capturing a great photo in the first place.

7. How many presets do I really need? Less is more. It’s much better to have one or two high-quality, versatile preset packs that you know inside and out than to have hundreds of presets that you barely use. Find a style that you love and stick with it. This will help you build a consistent portfolio and a recognizable brand.

8. What is the best way to organize presets in Lightroom? Lightroom’s preset panel can get cluttered quickly. Take the time to organize them. You can create your own folders within the Presets panel. A good strategy is to have a “Favorites” folder with your go-to presets. You can also hide the default Lightroom presets that you never use by right-clicking them and selecting “Hide.”

9. Can I create my own presets? Yes, and you should! Once you’ve used a purchased preset and tweaked it to perfection for a specific image, you can save those new settings as your own custom preset. You could have a “Golden Hour Portrait” version of your main preset, for example. This is how you start to evolve a purchased look into something that is uniquely yours.

10. What’s the difference between Lightroom Classic and Lightroom CC presets? Modern presets in the .XMP format will work in both Lightroom Classic and Lightroom CC (the cloud-based version). Older presets in the .lrtemplate format only work in Lightroom Classic. Most preset creators now sell their products in the .XMP format for universal compatibility.

11. Do I need to update my presets? Generally, no. A preset will continue to work across Lightroom updates. However, some creators may release updated versions of their presets to take advantage of new features in Lightroom or to refine the look. It’s always a good idea to check the creator’s website periodically to see if a newer version is available.

12. How does an AI-based solution like Imagen differ from a preset pack? A preset pack gives you a static set of adjustments created by another photographer. You apply this same set of rules to all your photos and then tweak them manually. Imagen is completely different. It doesn’t give you someone else’s style; it learns your style. It then acts as your personal AI editing assistant, applying dynamic, unique adjustments to each photo to match how you would have edited it yourself. It’s a shift from a “one-size-fits-all” starting point to a personalized, intelligent editing solution.

13. Where is the future of presets and editing headed? The future is undoubtedly in AI and personalization. While traditional presets will always have a place, the trend is moving towards smarter, more adaptive tools. Photographers are looking for solutions that not only speed up their workflow but also honor their unique artistic voice. We’ll likely see more AI-powered features that can analyze the content of a photo and apply edits with greater context and accuracy, saving photographers even more time while giving them more creative control.