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Image editing can help you highlight the finer details in your real estate photos. Since this can be time-consuming and tedious if you are working with an extensive collection, Lightroom presets can help you batch edit your photos in one click. So, what is a Lightroom preset?
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A Lightroom Preset is a saved adjustment made to the Lightroom tools and image filters, allowing you to apply the settings on images to create a specific aesthetic or style in a single click. Presets allow you to make adjustments such as shadows, hues, grain, colors, and contrast on a single photo or batch of photos at a go.
However, after batch editing, you may need to adjust some images, as some effects won't be perfect on each image. Presets are versatile, and you can purchase presets from online specialists or create your own. If you choose to purchase online, you receive a link with your presets and then install them into Lightroom using the following steps:
Alternatively, you can create custom presets by adjusting the Lightroom tools in the Develop Module. Once satisfied with the tools' settings, navigate to the Presets panel, click on the + icon, and in the New Develop Preset dialog box that pops up, enter the name of your new preset and save.
Presets are a great way of editing photos as they enable you to customize your images and apply consistent styles, simplifying your image editing process. Regardless of the adjustments the presets make, you can use them using the following tips:
Connect your camera to your computer or insert a memory card in a card reader and connect to the computer if the photos are not on your hard drive. Open Lightroom, navigate to File, and then choose Import photos and Videos to launch the import dialog box. Choose your import source, which can be your camera, hard drive, or memory card.
Use the Lightroom Copy option to copy the photos from the external storage to your hard drive, or use the Add option if importing from the hard drive.
Select the photo you want to import or click on the first image, and then Shift-click on the last image to select a group of photos. Choose the destination and click on Import.
Navigate to the Develop Module by pressing the D key. Under the presets column, you will see the different presets you can apply to your photos. Hover your mouse over the different presets to see how the photo will look after applying the preset.
After identifying the preset to use, click on it to apply the changes to your image. If you apply a preset by mistake, you can remove a preset by clicking on the Reset button in the bottom right corner of the Develop module or the Undo preset command in the edit menu.
Even if every image in your collection will look different as long as they are not duplicates, presets can help save time and get more consistent results as follows:
Since presets apply the same adjustments to all the photos, the resulting adjustments will be consistent across your collection. For instance, you can fix your real estate images with lightroom presets. If you shoot your real estate interior photos in poor lighting and you want to improve the exposure, the resulting exposure will be consistent in all photos.
Presets help simplify your workflow and save time as you can apply edits in batches rather than applying the same configurations on each photo simultaneously.
Filters are used when applying basic configurations such as color tone and exposure. They are mostly integrated into specific devices and programs, such as smartphones or Instagram, and you cannot modify them. Presets, on the other hand, offer more advanced editing adjustments such as shadows, hues, grain, colors, and contrast.
You cannot use Lightroom presets to fine-tune minor flaws as they are more of global adjustments. That means even if they save you time when batch editing, you might still need to make specific adjustments on some images.
Regardless of your editing skills, understanding what presets are and how to use them can help you speed up your workflow and get more consistent results by applying identical adjustments to a large collection of photos. Typically, you can download the presets or create custom ones.