Sick of presets?

Discussion in 'Lounge' started by Jupiter, 19 Feb 2023.

  1. Jupiter

    Jupiter Expert

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    Am I the only one sick of presets?
     
    glassklass, THEBOT and Snook like this.
  2. Snook

    Snook Master

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    Yes I am, specially when 95% of them are garbage
     
  3. FIDELI0

    FIDELI0 New Member

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    My preset library is bursting at the seams and like Snook said, most of them are garbage. It takes a lot of time to run an image through them all and choose the best ones. I also wonder if it is slowing down my software. I need to create a favorites list and dump the rest.
     
  4. Jupiter

    Jupiter Expert

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    Somebody ought to share a curated list of only the best of the best presets, the cream of the crop.
     
  5. Snook

    Snook Master

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    I think it is too broad of "taste", but I agree, I only use a few and actually prefer to tweak my own profile...
     
  6. Snook

    Snook Master

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    Mine too, but lately I have marking just favorites, copying all the others and saving them outside of photoshop. I do NOT use Lightroom and actually hate Lightroom. I use Capture One then tweak in photoshop. I have 1000's of presets and only really like a Dozen or so and only sometimes do I use them and then tweak them. I have a set for studio work and another for Outdoor stuff.
    But 90% are garbage and depends what camera you used and what white balance you used or wanted...
     
    Last edited: 19 Feb 2023
    THEBOT and Nikon4life like this.
  7. BuDWiZeR

    BuDWiZeR New Member

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    yep presets are shit . we nee more color grading videos so you can tune your photos\videos at will. people flog these left right and center and never tell people the light, exposure ect required for it to look the same
     
  8. aileron747

    aileron747 Veteran

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    I am also interested to hear the top of the top presets.
     
  9. Rolliebollie

    Rolliebollie Pro

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    Don't use presets!!!
     
  10. THEBOT

    THEBOT New Member

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    Had like 1000 presets on lightroom and C1, but then just deceided to say fuck it and deleted most of them all except for a few camera profiles (not presets).

    I noticed that most presets just seem the same, and also that i dont like the dark look of the archipelago style, that seem to be the trend for wedding photography which doesnt make sense to me since i think that weddings should be happy light/colorful memories.

    Deleting most of my presets made me create my own presets, which now lets me have a constant look since now i know what slider/curve i should move on different situations.
    In the rare case that i feel like a picture needs to be dark and moody i left RNI film simulations, and just edit to taste with portra or some of the vintage profiles.
    Also i recommend raztrend lab color profiles, but those are for working with layers from lightroom to photoshop, or if you have most of your exposure out of the camera.
    Some of "The classic presets" profiles are also good for my style, but just the color profiles i rarely touch the default presets.
     
  11. FIDELI0

    FIDELI0 New Member

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    Doing a color grade in photoshop instead of relying on presets has always produced superior results for me. What I do now is choose several presets that I like then I import the photos with the presets applied and use masking techniques to apply those presets to certain parts of the image or using a layer option like "color" or "luminosity". This way I keep the parts I like and get rid of the parts where I prefer another preset or whatever edits I do in PS. I have yet to edit the same image using that method versus purely using photoshop edits so I can't say which of those is better, but using this method is definitely superior to just applying a preset then tweaking it then editing the preset applied image in photoshop.
     
  12. Rolliebollie

    Rolliebollie Pro

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    Will not denie, that your method is for you the best solution. But i've edited thousends of pictures and never had any preset from other, because my style does fit for me.
     
  13. aileron747

    aileron747 Veteran

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    From the thousands of presets out there, I'm curious if you guys have a TOP 5 most used/favourite presets. Please post them below:)
     
  14. FIDELI0

    FIDELI0 New Member

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    Of course if you have developed a particular style it wouldn't make sense to use 3rd party presets. I am still experimenting, but I do notice a particular style even when I use the presets. I guess even with the presets it can't be suppressed. Sometimes I just like to see if something interesting happens by not completely relying on my own visual preferences.
     
  15. tab2020

    tab2020 Veteran

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    I had a bunch of presets, all of a sudden I deleted everything and now I'm trying to study photo edition to really learn how to get the edition that I want.

    And it's crazy because I had tons of presets and I wasn't using them... just taking up space in my HD
     
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