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One of the biggest advantages of Adobe's Lightroom is the use of Presets. For those that may not have yet experienced the joy of using presets, presets are a quick and easy way of applying 'preset' processing commands to your photos. This means that at a click of a button you can make your photo appear as though it's been Cross Processed, Split Toned, shot using various Film Stocks, have a boost in saturation or convert it to Black & White.
There are numerous presets on the Internet to download some of which are free whilst others you have to pay for. Some of these are excellent whilst others are a little too 'whacky' for general use and the vast majority don't actually create a true Black & White image but a desaturated colour one, i.e. the photo is still a colour one but one that is absent of any visible colour. Whilst this is fine for on screen viewing it can cause numerous problems when you print the photo because your printer will try to interpret the colour information that isn't there which can result in colour casts in your prints. One thing became very clear to me when searching for presets is that there are very few 'good' Black & White presets out there. I love Black & White photography and in particular High Contrast Black & White with really punchy blacks however high contrast doesn't suit all photos or subjects so Black & White 'digital processing' is very much about the enhancing specific tones to give the result you want to achieve. As Lightroom gives you 25 - 30 different controls that will directly affect how your photo will look in Black & White, converting your photos to Black & White in Lightroom can be very complicated and a real art form in itself, this is where Presets come into their own as you can achieve instant results at just the touch of a button.
I have developed 20 Black & White presets (2 variations of each preset one with a vignette and the other without making 20 in total) for Lightroom that produce true Black & White images which range from subtle tones to punchy high contrast all of which can be bought for just £5 from my new Store or click on the link in the main menu.
So what can you achieve with these presets? You can view what can be achieved with my presets by clicking the image on the left. All I have done for each image is to apply the preset using the default settings no other alterations or adjustments to the settings have been performed.
Just because I haven't used any adjustments doesn't mean that you can't. Obviously you don't want to have to make too many adjustments to the settings as otherwise what is the point in having a preset, so typically the only adjustments you may want to make, if any, would be to the White Balance, Tint, Exposure & Contrast.
What The Preset Doesn't Do
Rather than list what the preset does it's more important to understand what the preset doesn't do. None of my presets will alter your white balance as a preset can't have any knowledge of what white balance is correct for your photo. As a basic guide I would suggest setting the white balance before applying the preset but don't be afraid to change this after the preset has been applied.
None of my presets apply any sharpening to your photos as it's impossible for a preset to know what level of sharpening is required for all photos, cameras and lenses. Therefore, once you are happy with how your photo looks it is advisable to apply the required level of sharpening before you print or export your photo.
Here are a few more examples of what can be acheived with these presets.
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Installing The Presets
Installing my presets couldn't be simpler. When you complete the checkout process you will receive the presets via e-mail shortly afterwards. Simply unzip the file that I send you to a temporary location somewhere and start up Lightroom.
In the Develop Module look to the Navigator panel on the left of the window. Scroll down this panel until you see a section called User Presets.
Right Click either on the User Preset Folder or on any existing User Preset you may have and select Import... as per the screen grab here.
Now simply browse to the location where you unzipped my presets, select all the presets and click on Import.
That's it!
Lightroom will now copy all of these presets to the correct location so you can safely delete the unzipped ones if you wish but make sure that you keep the zip file somewhere safe in case you ever have to reinstall them.
How To Buy
For just £5 you will receive 10 Black & White presets including 2 variations of each preset making a total of 20 presets. That works out at just 25p each! To buy these presets visit my new Store (or click on the link in the main menu) where you will find them and, in the future, other presets and downloads. Payments are securely processed by PayPal and you can pay either via your own PayPal account or by credit or debit card. Once you have completed your payment you will be able to download the presets.
System Requirements
These presets will run on a PC or a Mac running Lightroom v1.5 or higher.
The presets were created in Lightroom 2.0 but have been tested in version 1.5.4
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