Presets: What Are They & How Do You Use Them?

Presets are a current buzz word on social media platforms and if you’re like me and you follow various influencers on Instagram, then you probably have already been exposed to presets without even realizing it.

What is a Preset?

A preset is filter created through a photo editing app like Lightroom that can be copied and applied to other pictures. Presets change the levels of lighting, color, and detail elements of a picture and then those levels are saved so that they can be used on any picture. The benefits of a preset are accessing the editing tools of skilled photographers and editors and creating a consistent look across all pictures in a series, portfolio, event, or Instagram feed.

Presets have been popular among photographers for awhile who use them when editing wedding pictures, lifestyle photo shoots, etc. but have only recently made their way to Instagram feeds. You may wonder how your favorite influencer gets their photos so consistent and the secret is using a preset! Tezza is a blogger who does a really great job with her photos and she has actually developed her own set of presets.

How do you use a Preset?

Most presets are developed for editing in the desktop version of Lightroom but more and more presets are becoming available for the mobile app, which is much more simple. Presets are available for purchase through your favorite influencer but I found mine on Etsy. There are tons of presets depending on the type of look you want to create for your pictures. Since we’re heading into the Christmas season, I knew I wanted to apply a preset to my pictures that had warm tones without being too dark so I went with Mulled Wine by Victoria Bee.

Once I purchased the preset, I received a digital file that I downloaded and added to my Lightroom mobile app. I copied the settings on the picture inside the app and that saved the settings so I could use them on my pictures. I used the preset on some of my outfit pictures from Bali and you can see how they changed the overall look of the picture.

I applied the preset to all of the pictures in my Lightroom app and it completely changed the overall flow of the pictures and created a unified look. As I apply the preset to my Instagram feed moving forward, it will hopefully create a consistent look for all of my pictures.

Hopefully this helps explain what a preset is and how to use it! If you have any favorite presets, share them below in the comments so I can check them out.