It all started with Photoshop actions, which I still use daily in my workflow. Yet, my biggest gripe has always been the ability (or lack thereof) to preview the result of an action before applying it to my image. When working with 300DPI images, experimenting with actions includes a lot of back-and-forth - and waiting. I know a lot of photographers - especially wedding photographers - who swear by Photoshop action frameworks like Kevin Kubota’s Photoshop Actions to deliver varied looks to their images. Despite the well built action scripts of many systems, including Kevin’s, I still must wait for the action to complete to see the effect.

Actions were my first love, and we still keep in touch on a daily basis, yet there is a new love in my life … one that gives me immediate attention, and always tells the truth: Lightroom Presets.

The beauty of Lightroom presets lies in the ability to immediately see the effect a selected preset will have on my selected image. My one wish is that in a future release of Lightroom the ability to increase the size of the preset Navigator panel. On my high resolution flat screen LCD (2560X1600) the navigator is tiny. Still, the ability to roll my mouse down the presets and immediately see the effects at my disposal is inspring.

So where do I troll for those fancy presets to bring home with me?

PhotoPresets for Photoshop Lightroom by Jack Davis
These are a staple in any Lightroom arsenal: super-subtle white balance shifting, skin tone adjustments, auto toning, dramatic black and whites, and dramatic creative vignettes.

Matt Kloskowski’s Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips
I don’t know where Matt finds the time to knock out these killer presets … seriously … where! You get a new preset EVERY WEEK!

Currently my favorite new preset: The “300″ Look
Courtesy of Mattk Kloskowski

A general search on Google for ‘free lightroom presets‘ will yield a plethora of free presets

Lastly, and perhaps slightly off topic, I leave you with a great new resource in the making from Adobe: The Lightroom Community Help System This Wiki style system is an extension of Adobe LiveDocs with the added inclusion of outside user input. I have permanently bookmarked this site and plan to make good use of this destination.

Best Wishes,

|Brandon Oelling

p.s. Please share your links to your favorite presets in the comments section!