LR Lesson 39 — Presets: Creating Your Own

Lightroom Classic — Lesson 39

Your Signature Look. Saved. One Click Away Forever.

Creating presets from your own edits is how professional photographers build consistency and speed. Once your look is captured in a preset, you never start from zero.

💾

Save Any Edit as a Preset

Any combination of sliders and panels can become a preset. Edit once, reuse forever — across any shoot, any camera, any subject.

📚

Build a Preset Library

A well-organized library of partial presets covers every phase of your workflow — from import defaults to final finishing touches.

💡 Creating presets from your own edits is how professional photographers build consistency and speed. Once your look is captured in a preset, you never start from zero.

Choosing What to Capture

What to Save as a Preset

Not every edit makes a good preset. The best presets capture settings that repeat across many images.

Good Preset Candidates

Standard import settings (lens correction, color profile, base NR)
A signature color grade you use regularly
A B&W conversion you love
Sharpening config for a specific camera/lens combo
A vignette + grain combo for a film look

Poor Preset Candidates

Exposure corrections (varies per image)
Healing/clone spot removals (image-specific)
Masks or local adjustments targeting one shot
Crop settings for a unique composition
White balance for a single specific scene

The test: Would this exact setting be useful on 20 different images from different shoots? If yes, it's a good preset. If it only makes sense for one specific image, skip it.

Step by Step

Creating a Preset

Creating a preset takes about 30 seconds once you know the workflow:

1

Edit an image to the look you want to save

Get all the relevant sliders exactly where you want them. The image doesn't need to be fully edited — just the panels you want to capture.

2

Click the + icon at the top of the Presets panel

Or go to Develop menu → New Preset. The Create Preset dialog opens with the full settings checklist.

3

Name the preset clearly — be specific

Good names: "Portrait Base — Sony A7IV", "Film Look — Kodak Warm", "Landscape Sharpening — Wide Lens". Vague names like "My Preset 1" become impossible to navigate later.

4

Choose or create a Group — then set the checklist

Check ONLY the panels your preset should affect. Uncheck everything else. This is the critical step — covered in detail on the next slide.

5

Click Create

The preset appears immediately in the Presets panel under the group you chose. It's ready to use on any image.

The Most Important Step

The Settings Checklist

The preset creation dialog shows every panel as a checkbox. This determines what the preset DOES and what it LEAVES ALONE.

Checked = Preset Sets It

When applied, the preset WILL change these sliders to the saved values. Only check panels you intentionally want the preset to control.

Unchecked = Preset Ignores It

When applied, the preset leaves these sliders completely alone — whatever you already had set stays untouched.

Classic mistake: A color grade preset that also checks Exposure and Tone will override your carefully set exposure every time you apply it. Uncheck Exposure — let the preset only do what it's designed for.

Example — Color Grade Preset: Check Color Grading and HSL. Uncheck Exposure, Tone, Lens Corrections, Detail. Result: the preset applies your color without touching anything else.

Professional Approach

Partial Presets — Stack Without Conflict

Instead of one giant all-in-one preset, create targeted presets that only affect one area. Apply several to the same image — they don't conflict.

"My Lens Correction"

Checks only Lens Corrections panel. Apply at import to every image from a specific lens.

"Portrait Skin Sharpening"

Checks only Detail panel (sharpening + NR). Apply to portraits without touching color or tone.

"Warm Color Grade"

Checks only Color Grading + HSL. Apply on top of any existing exposure and tone settings.

"Standard Vignette"

Checks only Effects panel. Apply as a finishing touch to any image, any color treatment.

Stack them: Apply Lens Correction + Warm Color Grade + Standard Vignette — three presets, zero conflicts, because each covers a different panel.

Keeping Presets Current

Updating / Overwriting a Preset

Your look evolves. When you refine a preset, you don't need to delete the old one and create a new one — update it in place.

1

Edit an image to the new desired look

Get all the sliders exactly where you want them for the updated version of the preset.

2

Right-click the preset in the Presets panel → Update with Current Settings

A dialog opens showing the checklist — same as creation. Adjust if needed.

3

Confirm the checklist → Update

The preset is updated in place. It keeps its name and group position. All future applications use the new settings.

Note: Updating a preset does NOT retroactively change images you already applied it to. It only affects future applications. Existing edits are unchanged.

Library Structure

Organizing a Preset Library

A logical group structure matched to your workflow makes presets fast to find and use. Example structure:

00 — Import Defaults

Lens corrections, color profile, base noise reduction. Applied at import to every shoot.

01 — Color Grades

Warm / Cool / Film / Cinematic — your signature color looks. One per style, partial presets.

02 — B&W Conversions

High contrast, soft, classic — different black and white interpretations.

03 — Finishing

Vignette, grain, dehaze combos. Applied last as a final layer on top of everything else.

04 — Sharpening by Camera

One preset per camera/lens combo with the optimal Detail panel settings for that gear.

Naming convention: Leading numbers (00, 01, 02) keep groups sorted in the order you use them in your workflow — import first, finishing last.

Backup & Sharing

Exporting Presets for Backup or Sharing

Your preset library represents significant creative work. Back it up and share it easily:

→

Right-click any preset → Export

Saves the preset as a .xmp file to a location you choose. Export individual presets or entire groups at once.

→

Back up your entire User Presets folder regularly

Located inside the Lightroom catalog folder on your drive. Copy the entire folder to an external drive or cloud storage. Include it in your regular catalog backup routine.

→

Share with other photographers or move to another machine

Send the .xmp files to anyone — they import them using the same right-click Import method covered in Lesson 38.

Preset .xmp files are plain text. They're tiny (a few kilobytes each), easily shared via email or cloud, and even version-controllable with Git if you want a full history of your preset evolution.

Workflow Multiplier

Presets + Sync = Batch Power

A preset applied to one image can instantly spread to an entire shoot via Sync Settings — one of the most powerful batch workflows in Lightroom.

1

Apply your preset to the best representative image from the shoot

Choose the image with the most typical exposure, lighting, and color for the series.

2

Select all similar images in Library → Sync Settings (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+S)

The Sync dialog opens with the same checklist. Check the same panels your preset covers.

3

Click Synchronize

The preset's settings spread to every selected image in seconds. Entire shoot done. Then spot-check outliers individually.

⚡ Or use Auto Sync (covered in LR 42) to apply preset changes to all selected images in real time as you move sliders.

Your Turn

Challenge + Recap

3-Part Challenge:

Create a partial preset that applies only your standard lens correction settings. Name it clearly and put it in a group called "00 — Import Defaults."
Create a color grade preset (check only Color Grading + HSL) with a warm look you like. Test it on three different images to verify it doesn't touch exposure.
Export both presets as .xmp files and save them to a "Preset Backup" folder on your desktop.

Save Only Relevant Panels

The checklist is everything. Uncheck panels your preset shouldn't touch.

Partial Presets Stack

Targeted presets covering different panels can be applied together without conflict.

Update with Current Settings

Right-click → Update to overwrite a preset in place. Doesn't affect already-edited images.

Organized Groups

Number groups to match your workflow order. Import defaults first, finishing last.

Export for Backup

Right-click → Export saves .xmp files. Back up your User Presets folder regularly.

Presets + Sync

Apply to one image, sync to hundreds. The fastest batch editing workflow in Lightroom.

Up Next

LR 40 — Snapshots & History

Every edit you ever made — saved, reversible, forever. Navigate history and bookmark versions with Snapshots.