Mastering Portrait Editing: A Professional Look at Lightroom Presets

As professional photographers, we wear a lot of hats. We’re artists, technicians, business owners, and sometimes even therapists for our clients. But the hat that often feels the heaviest is “photo editor.” Staring at hundreds, or even thousands, of photos from a single portrait session or a wedding can be daunting. This is where the magic of Lightroom presets comes in, or so we’re told. Presets promise a one-click solution to beautiful, consistent photos. But as any seasoned pro knows, it’s never quite that simple, especially with portraits.

Key Takeaways

Presets are a starting point: Think of a preset as a “recipe” of saved slider settings in Lightroom. They are not a final, one-click solution.
Consistency is the goal: Presets help apply a uniform look across a set of photos, which is crucial for building a recognizable brand style.
Skin tones are the challenge: The biggest problem with generic presets is that they apply settings globally. They don’t know the difference between a green tree and a human face, often leading to unnatural skin tones.
Not all presets are equal: The market is flooded with low-quality presets. Professional presets are built to handle high-quality RAW files and varied lighting.
AI is the next step: Modern AI tools, like those from Imagen, offer a dynamic alternative. They learn your style and adapt to each individual photo, solving the core problems that static presets create.

What Exactly Are Lightroom Presets?

If you’re new to the professional side of editing, let’s clear this up. A preset is just a saved file (in the .xmp format) that stores a specific combination of settings from Lightroom’s Develop module.

A Simple Definition

Imagine you edit a photo and you love the look. You’ve adjusted the Tone Curve, shifted the Colors in the HSL panel, and added some Color Grading to the shadows and highlights. Instead of trying to remember those exact settings for your next photo, you can save that “recipe” as a preset. The next time, you just click the preset, and all those sliders jump to their saved positions.

How They Work in Lightroom

Inside the Develop module, you have a Presets panel on the left. You can hover over any preset to see a preview on your photo and click to apply it. That’s it. All the settings are instantly applied.

This sounds like a perfect solution, right? A single click to a finished photo. Well, not quite. The preset only applies the saved settings. It has no idea what’s in your photo. It doesn’t know if your photo is dark or bright, or if the white balance is cool or warm. It just does what it was told.

The Good: Why Do Photographers Love Presets?

Don’t get me wrong. Presets are a cornerstone of many professional workflows for good reason.

Speed: They can get you 80% of the way to a final edit in a fraction of a second. This is a massive time-saver.
Consistency: This is maybe the most important one. When you deliver a gallery of 50 portraits, you want them to look like they belong together. A preset provides a consistent base of color and tone.
Style: Presets are the foundation of a photographer’s “look.” That light and airy, dark and moody, or filmic style you see on Instagram? That’s almost always built on a core preset.
Learning: For beginners, presets are fantastic learning tools. You can apply one and then go look at all the sliders. “Oh, that’s how they get that muted green look. They shifted the green hue and lowered the saturation.”

The Challenge of Using Presets for Portraits

Everything I just said is true. But when it comes to portraits, presets show their biggest weaknesses. A preset that makes a landscape look stunning can make a person look like a disaster.

The Skin Tone Problem

This is the number one hurdle. Skin tones are sacred. If the skin looks “off,” the whole portrait is a failure.

Presets apply settings globally. Let’s say a preset is designed to make foliage look deep and moody. It does this by shifting the green and yellow hues and dropping their luminance. What else has yellow and red tones in it? Skin.

You apply that preset, and suddenly your client looks sick, green, or magenta. The preset has no idea it’s editing a face. It just sees colors and applies its recipe. This problem gets worse in different lighting. A preset that makes skin look perfect in golden hour sun will make someone in open shade look like a ghost.

One Size Never Fits All

This leads to the next big issue. A preset is made from one specific photo. It was probably a perfectly lit, perfectly exposed shot.

What happens when you apply it to your photo, which might be slightly underexposed or shot in harsh midday light? The preset applies its settings blindly. A preset designed for a bright, airy shot will crush all the shadows in a low-key, moody portrait.

This creates more work. You end up in a cycle I call “fixing the fix.” You apply the preset, then you spend the next five minutes re-adjusting the exposure, white balance, contrast, and HSL sliders just to get the skin to look human again. At that point, did the preset really save you time?

The Market is Saturated

It’s tough to find good, professional-grade presets. The internet is full of “influencer” preset packs that look great on sunny phone snaps but fall apart when you apply them to a 50-megapixel RAW file from a professional camera. You can spend hundreds of dollars collecting packs, only to find you can just use one or two presets from each.

Section Summary

Presets are a fantastic concept, but they are a “dumb” tool. They are static. They apply the same settings whether you’re shooting a dark-skinned model in a studio or a fair-skinned child in a bright field. This lack of adaptability is their single biggest failure, and it’s most obvious when editing portraits.

A Practical Guide to Using Portrait Presets in Lightroom

So, how do we use presets professionally, knowing these limitations? It’s all about the workflow.

How to Find and Install Quality Presets

First, you need the right tools. Look for presets sold by professional portrait and wedding photographers. They are the ones who live and breathe skin tones. Look for examples of their presets on RAW files in varied lighting conditions (sun, shade, indoors, flash). If they only show perfect, golden-hour photos, be careful.

To install them in Lightroom Classic, it’s simple:

Go to the Develop module.
Find the Presets panel on the left.
Click the little plus sign (+) and choose Import Presets.
Navigate to the .xmp files you downloaded, and you’re done.

Step-by-Step Workflow: Applying and Tweaking a Preset

This is the professional’s workflow. Never just click and export.

Apply the Preset: In the Develop module, click your chosen preset.
Step 1: Fix White Balance (WB). This is always the first thing I do. The preset’s WB is almost certainly wrong for your photo. Use the WB Dropper Tool on a neutral gray or white area, or adjust the Temp and Tint sliders manually until the skin looks right.
Step 2: Adjust Exposure. The preset was made for a different exposure. Use the Exposure slider to get the correct brightness for your subject.
Step 3: Check Skin Tones. This is the critical part. Go to the HSL/Color panel. Your preset has already messed with these. Your job is to fix them.
- Orange: This slider controls 90% of most skin tones. Adjust the Luminance (brightness) of the orange channel. This is the secret to making skin “pop.”
- Red/Yellow: These channels also affect skin. Play with the Saturation and Luminance of all three (Orange, Red, Yellow) until the skin looks natural and healthy.
Step 4: Local Adjustments. Now that your global edit is good, use Lightroom’s masking tools. Create a Subject Mask and slightly boost the exposure or add clarity. Create a Background Mask and drop the exposure. A preset can’t do this for you.

Creating Your Own Portrait Presets

The best presets are the ones you make yourself because they are built for your style and your camera.

Edit a photo using the steps above. Get it to a point where you love the color and tone.
Go to the Presets panel, click the plus sign (+), and choose Create Preset.
Give it a name. Now, the most important part: uncheck the boxes you don’t want to save.
Pro Tip: I always uncheck White Balance, Exposure, Contrast, Straighten, and any Local Adjustments (Masks).
I only want my preset to save my HSL, Tone Curve, Color Grading, Calibration, and Presence (Clarity, Texture, etc.) settings. This way, the preset only applies my “style” and doesn’t mess up the basic, unique corrections each photo needs.

The Next Generation: Moving Beyond Static Presets

We’ve established the core problem: presets are static, and portraits are dynamic. Every photo is different. Different light, different skin, different exposure. You spend more time correcting the preset than you saved by applying it.

So, what’s the solution? The solution is an edit that thinks.

The AI Solution: Editing That Thinks

This is where the game changes. Instead of a “dumb” recipe, AI-powered editing analyzes each photo individually before it applies a single edit. It sees that a photo is dark and knows to raise the exposure. It sees a face in open shade and knows how to adjust the white balance to keep the skin from looking blue.

This is exactly what Imagen does. It’s the solution to every problem I just listed.

How Imagen Solves the Portrait Preset Problem

Imagen offers a tool called a Personal AI Profile. This isn’t a preset. It’s a true artificial intelligence model that you train to edit just like you.

Here’s how it works: You give the Imagen desktop app at least 3,000 of your already edited photos from your Lightroom catalogs. Imagen studies them for up to 24 hours. It learns everything: how you adjust exposure, how you handle white balance, and—most importantly—how you edit skin tones in every possible lighting situation.

It Solves the Skin Tone Problem: Because the AI learns from your edits, it knows exactly how you treat skin. It sees a photo, identifies the light and the subjects, and applies your specific skin tone preferences with precision.
It Is Not One-Size-Fits-All: It is the exact opposite. It is a “one-size-fits-one” solution that creates a unique edit for every single photo. It adapts your style to that photo’s specific needs.
It Is Dynamic: This is the best part. Your style will change over the next year. With a preset, you’d have to start all over. With Imagen, you just keep feeding it your new, final edits. It has a Fine-tune feature that lets your AI Profile evolve with you.

What If I Don’t Have 2,000 Edited Photos?

Imagen has you covered.

Talent AI Profiles: You can use AI profiles from some of the world’s best photographers. These are also adaptive, not static presets. They apply that photographer’s logic to your photos.
Lite Personal AI Profile: This is amazing. You can give Imagen one of your favorite presets, and it will create a Personal AI Profile from it. It’s smart. It takes the style (the color and tone) from your preset but intelligently applies the basics (Exposure and White Balance) on a per-photo basis. It’s your preset, but with a brain.

How Imagen Fits Into Your Lightroom Workflow

Let’s be clear. Imagen is not a replacement for Lightroom. It’s a desktop app (for Mac or Windows) that works with Lightroom Classic, Lightroom, Photoshop, and Bridge. It’s your new AI editing assistant.

Its processing is done in the cloud, so it doesn’t slow down your computer.

Here is the professional workflow:

You finish a portrait session. You import your RAW photos into Lightroom Classic as usual.
You open the Imagen desktop app.
You create a new project, select your Lightroom catalog, and choose the photos you want to edit.
You select your Personal AI Profile (or a Talent Profile).
You click “Upload.” Imagen‘s cloud processing edits all the photos (a whole wedding in 10-20 minutes).
You get a notification. You click “Download.”
You open Lightroom Classic, and… all your photos are perfectly edited. All the sliders are moved, just as if you sat there and did it yourself.
You do a final quick review, make any tiny creative tweaks, and deliver to your client.

It takes that 90% of repetitive, corrective work completely off your plate.

Comparing Workflows: Presets vs. Imagen AI

Let’s break it down in a simple table. This is an objective look at the two processes.

Feature	Standard Lightroom Preset Workflow	Imagen AI Profile Workflow
Application	Manual, one-by-one or batch apply.	Automatic batch upload.
Logic	Static. Applies the same set of slider values to every photo, regardless of its content.	Dynamic. AI analyzes each photo and applies a unique set of slider values based on your learned style.
Accuracy	Highly variable. Often requires heavy manual correction, especially for white balance, exposure, and skin tones.	Highly consistent. Edits are based on learning from thousands of your own photos.
Skin Tones	A common problem. Global HSL changes often create unnatural skin in different lighting.	A key strength. The AI learns how you treat skin tones in varied lighting and applies edits with precision.
Adaptability	None. A preset is “frozen” in time and does not change.	High. You can Fine-tune your Personal AI Profile with your new edits, so it evolves as your style does.
Speed	Speeds up initial application but adds significant time for manual tweaking on each photo.	Extremely fast. Edits thousands of photos in minutes, delivering them back to Lightroom 95% complete.
Creation	Simple to create.	Personal AI Profile requires an initial “training” of 3,000+ photos. A Lite Profile is very fast (from one preset).
Workflow	Stays entirely within Lightroom.	The Imagen desktop app integrates with Lightroom. You upload from Imagen, and the edits appear in Lightroom.

Beyond Color: What About Other Portrait Edits?

Portrait editing isn’t just about color and tone. What about all the other things we do?

A preset only handles the global sliders (and, in recent versions, can save basic masks, but they’re still not adaptive). This is another area where a comprehensive tool shines.

Imagen isn’t just one product. It’s an entire platform. You can add other AI tools to your editing workflow:

Crop & Straighten: How many hours have you spent straightening horizons? Imagen has AI tools that do it automatically. You can’t save this in a preset effectively.
Subject Mask: This is a huge one. Imagen can automatically apply a Subject Mask and add your preferred adjustments.
Smooth Skin: A classic portrait request. Imagen has an AI Smooth Skin tool that you can apply with your edit.

You can use these tools as standalone solutions or have them all work together as part of your Personal AI Profile edit. This is what we mean by a complete, integrated platform.

Final Thoughts on the Future of Portrait Editing

Lightroom presets were a revolutionary step for photographers. They saved us time, helped us define our styles, and made pro-level editing more accessible. I built my own career on them.

But for professional portrait work, their static, “one-size-fits-all” nature creates real, time-consuming challenges. We’re forced to fight with skin tones and correct basic exposure on every single image.

The future is adaptive. It’s about tools that assist our creativity, not just apply a blind filter. Tools like Imagen represent this critical shift. They use your own creativity (your Personal AI Profile) and scale it with the power of AI.

The goal for any professional should be to spend less time behind a computer and more time doing what you love: being behind the camera. Adaptive AI tools are what finally make that possible. They let you be the artist, while your AI assistant handles the repetitive technical work, all while delivering consistent, professional edits that are 100% yours.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What’s the main difference between a Lightroom preset and an Imagen AI Profile? A preset is a static recipe; it applies the same settings to every photo. An Imagen Personal AI Profile is a dynamic AI model; it analyzes each photo and applies a unique edit based on your learned style.

2. Do presets work well on all portrait photos? No. This is their biggest weakness. A preset made for a bright, sunny photo will look terrible on a dark, indoor photo. They especially struggle with creating consistent skin tones in different lighting.

3. How do I fix bad skin tones caused by a preset? After applying the preset, go to the HSL/Color panel in Lightroom. Adjust the Luminance (brightness) and Saturation (richness) of the Orange, Red, and Yellow color channels until the skin looks natural.

4. Can I use these presets on my phone? Yes. Lightroom’s desktop app can sync presets to the Lightroom Mobile app, so you can use the same presets on the go.

5. What are the best settings to not include when I make my own preset? To make your preset more useful, uncheck White Balance, Exposure, Transform (Crop/Straighten), and Masks before you save it. This way, the preset only applies your style and doesn’t override the basic, necessary corrections for each photo.

6. Is Imagen a plugin for Lightroom? Not exactly. Imagen is its own desktop application that runs on your computer. It integrates deeply with Lightroom Classic. You send photos to Imagen from the Imagen app, and it sends the finished edits back to your Lightroom catalog.

7. Will Imagen steal my editing style? No. Your Personal AI Profile is 100% private to you and only you. Imagen provides the technology, but the creative style it learns is yours alone.

8. How long does it take to create a Personal AI Profile? After you upload your 2,000+ edited photos, the AI training process usually takes up to 24 hours. You’ll get an email when it’s ready to use.

9. Can Imagen edit black and white portrait photos? Yes. You would create a separate Personal AI Profile just for your black and white style. You train it using only your B&W edited photos.

10. What if I use Photoshop or Bridge for my editing? Imagen works with them, too. It has an “Extended Adobe Compatibility” workflow that allows you to edit photos from folders, not just Lightroom catalogs, and works with Photoshop and Bridge.

11. Does Imagen replace my presets? It can. Many photographers find that once they have a Personal AI Profile, they no longer need their old presets. The AI profile does the job faster, more accurately, and more consistently. You can even create a Lite Profile from your favorite preset.

12. What if my editing style changes over time? With a preset, you’d have to manually create a whole new one. With Imagen, you just Fine-tune your profile. You send your latest final edits to Imagen, and your AI Profile learns and adapts to your new style.

13. Is Imagen hard to use? No. The workflow is very simple. If you know how to use Lightroom, you can use Imagen. The process is: open Imagen, select your catalog and photos, choose your profile, and click “Upload.” Then, click “Download” when it’s ready. The edits appear in Lightroom like magic.