What to leave and include in Lightroom Presets

[Mark G]

Hi all

I've been looking around this weekend at some other photographers websites and I'm feeling inspired.
I'd like to create some Lightroom presets for my photos but I don't really know which settings are best used for a preset? For example, if I change white balance for one photo and it will have a poor effect on another so do I change the colour cast another way?

I've found a million tutorial online saying how to create presets, but none really explain which settings are best to change and why. They mostly relate to if you have a hand full of photos which were taken at the same time in the same setting.

So I guess my question is, what are the best adjustments to make which will give a universal effect on all photos?

If it helps you know what sort of effects I'm after, I have mostly gained inspiration from Paint the Moon but I'd like to have these effects in lightroom.

 

[Kerioak]

I very much doubt there is a universal setting unless you shoot all your pictures under exactly the same conditions, even ghen , what is best, is very much personal taste

 

[swanseamale47]

When you create a preset the general advise is to only alter the things you need, start with all the setting at default and just ajust say sharpening, create your preset and choose check none then tick sharpening, that way it doesn't alter anything else. I always try to avoid using the white ballance or basic tone tabs (unless I have to) for a preset, because these tend to be image specific anyway.

 

[garryknight]

Mark, a preset is a starting point. You apply it to a photo to get close to the look you want, then you refine it.

For example, suppose you shoot street candids and you want a modern, kind of gritty look. You get a suitable photo and you drag the sliders to get a look that you like. You save it as a preset then you apply it to more street candid photos, adjusting it until it gives you a good baseline look that you can use in the future, and you update the preset as you go. Then in future when you process more photos of that type, you can select multiple photos, apply the preset, then go in and do small adjustments on the ones that need it.

You can use this approach with other 'looks' such as HDR, the 'painterly' look, food shots, low and high-key photography, product shots, etc, etc.

So, which settings you include in any particular preset depends on what kind of result you want to get.