Presets promise a shortcut of one click to a beautiful photo. The reality is usually one click to a generic photo that looks exactly like everyone else's.
It doesn't have to be this way, though.
Presets are genuinely useful tools when used correctly as starting points rather than destinations. The photographers whose work you admire probably use presets (you can find well-crafted ones at The Daily Preset) but they don't stop there.
These techniques will help you use presets without your photos looking like preset advertisements.
Why Presets Often Look Fake
Understanding the problem helps you avoid it.
Presets Are Made for Hypothetical Photos
A preset creator doesn't know your image. They design presets for some imaginary "average" photo with medium exposure, standard white balance, and typical contrast. Your photo is rarely that photo.
When you apply a preset to an image it wasn't designed for, the adjustments don't fit. A preset that creates moody shadows in a properly exposed portrait might crush all detail in an already dark indoor shot. A preset that adds warmth to golden hour images might make overcast photos look sickly orange.
One Size Doesn't Fit All
Presets apply identical adjustments regardless of:
- Your camera and how it renders color
- The lighting conditions when you shot
- The subjects in your frame (skin tones, natural colors)
- Your exposure and white balance starting point
These variables matter enormously, and a preset that looks perfect on one photo can look terrible on another from the same shoot.
The "Look" Becomes the Focus
Heavy preset styling makes the editing visible. Viewers end up seeing an obvious aesthetic treatment instead of your subject or moment, and the photo becomes about the look rather than the content.
The Right Mindset: Presets as Starting Points
Think of presets like cooking with premade sauces. A good cook uses the sauce as a base, then adjusts seasonings to match their specific dish. They don't dump it on unchanged and call it done.
Your workflow with presets should be:
- Apply the preset
- Assess what it did well and what it did poorly on this specific image
- Adjust to fit your photo
- Fine-tune until the preset disappears into a cohesive edit
The goal is an image that looks intentionally edited but not obviously preset-processed.
Step-by-Step: Using Presets Effectively
Step 1: Handle Basics First
Before applying any preset, do your foundation work:
- Fix white balance to roughly correct
- Make basic exposure adjustments if the image is significantly over/underexposed
- Straighten and crop if needed
Presets work better when starting from a reasonable baseline. An extremely dark image pushed bright by a preset will look different than an image that was bright to begin with.
Step 2: Apply the Preset
Click the preset and observe without reacting yet.
Ask yourself:
- What do I like about what it did?
- What looks wrong?
- Is the overall direction right, even if details are off?
If the overall direction is wrong (warm preset on a photo that should feel cool, dramatic preset on a light and airy subject), try a different preset. Don't try to force-fit something that fundamentally doesn't match.
Step 3: Adjust Exposure and Tone
Presets often include exposure and tone adjustments that don't suit your image. This is the most common problem.
Check and adjust:
- Exposure: Does the overall brightness feel right for your image?
- Highlights/Shadows: Has the preset crushed shadows or blown highlights that you wanted to preserve?
- Contrast: Is it more or less punchy than works for this subject?
These adjustments might differ significantly from what the preset applied. That's fine. You're tailoring the fit.
Step 4: Check White Balance
Some presets include white balance shifts as part of their look. Sometimes this works; often it doesn't.
Look at something in your image that should be neutral (white, gray) or has a known color (skin, blue sky). Does it look right?
If the preset pushed your image warm but it was shot in warm light and now looks orange, pull Temperature back. If the preset added cool tones but your subject looks sickly, add warmth.
Preserve the feeling of the preset's color direction while making it work for your actual lighting conditions.
Step 5: Protect Skin Tones
Presets are notorious for wrecking skin. Many popular looks push orange and yellow channels in ways that make faces look unnatural.
Check any faces in your image. Do they look like healthy humans?
If not, you have options:
- Reduce the preset's intensity on color adjustments (Vibrance, Saturation, HSL)
- Use the Adjustment Brush to mask skin and reset or reduce adjustments in that area
- Adjust HSL sliders to shift Orange back toward natural skin tones
Step 6: Evaluate at Final Size
Preset adjustments that look good while you're zoomed in working might look different when you see the whole image. Zoom out. Better yet, step back from your monitor.
Does the photo look coherent? Does any adjustment stand out as obviously "edited"? If Clarity or Texture feel too strong, reduce them. If split toning feels too obvious, reduce it.
Step 7: Save Your Own Version
Once you've customized the preset for your photo, save your adjustments as a new user preset. Over time, you'll build a library of presets tailored to your cameras, your subjects, and your style.
This is how preset dependency evolves into genuine skill. The presets that work for you become your presets, refined through use.
Reducing Preset Intensity
Many presets benefit from being dialed back. In Lightroom:
Method 1: Selective adjustment Instead of reducing everything, identify which adjustments are too strong and reduce just those. Often it's Clarity, Saturation, or split toning that needs taming.
Method 2: Copy and adjust Apply the preset, then copy settings to clipboard. Reset the image, paste the settings with reduced values where needed.
Method 3: Edit after applying Simply adjust sliders after applying. If the preset pushed Clarity to +40 and it's too much, pull it to +15.
There's no shame in using a preset at 50% strength. That's often where they look best.
Signs Your Presets Aren't Working
Every photo looks the same. If someone can't tell your sunset from your portrait from your street photo (beyond subject matter), you're leaning too heavily on a preset look.
You apply and don't adjust. One-click editing is one-click mediocrity. Every image deserves individual attention.
Skin tones are consistently off. Your preset isn't designed for your camera/lighting/subjects. Adjust or find different presets.
People comment on your "filter." When the editing is what people notice, it's too prominent.
Building Your Own Presets
The ultimate evolution is creating your own.
When you edit a photo and love the result, save the settings as a preset. Save the ones that define the look (color, tone) and leave out the ones that need to vary (exposure, white balance).
Your presets will be:
- Designed for your camera and how it renders color
- Tuned to your shooting style and typical lighting
- Reflective of your actual taste, not someone else's
Start with presets others made. The Daily Preset is a good place to find quality starting points. Customize them to your work, and eventually you'll have a toolkit that's genuinely yours.
More in This Guide
- Why Your Edited Photos Look Overprocessed. When presets go wrong
- Lightroom Basics: A Simple Editing Workflow. Where presets fit in the process
- How to Get Natural Skin Tones. Protecting skin from preset damage
- Why Your Colors Look Wrong After Editing. Diagnosing preset color issues
- The Lightroom Sliders That Actually Matter. Understanding what presets change
- White Balance: Fixing Color Casts. Correcting preset white balance shifts
Next Step
Presets often amplify existing problems. Understanding common editing mistakes helps you recognize when a preset is making things worse, not better, and gives you the knowledge to fix issues manually.
Related Guides
Common Photography Mistakes. Presets can't fix fundamental problems. Know what they are.
Lighting Fundamentals. Better light means presets work better. Garbage in, garbage out.
Presets are tools, not crutches. Use them to accelerate your workflow and maintain consistency, but never skip the step of tailoring each image. The edit that looks like "no edit" is the one that started with a preset and ended with thoughtful adjustment.
New to photography? Start with our Complete Beginner's Guide to build your foundation from the ground up.