Photography is a lovely hobby that brings millions of people around the globe together. It is an artistic direction that not only gives you a chance to capture valuable memories, but also express yourself in a unique way.
There are those who like photography as a hobby, but after some time, a high percentage of people decide to make a living out of it. This decision is quite logical, as there are numerous ways of earning money as a photographer (Photo Editing services by SmartPhotoEditors). Once you have covered all the basics of the manual mode, people head up to take as many shots as possible, but there is another element that plays an important role in the whole process, and that is post processing.
If you are going to make money from photography, post processing is something that you should gradually master. In the beginning, it might be a better idea to rely on an agency that offers photo editing services; however, over a longer period, you will want to do all that by yourself. Additionally, understanding post processing opens new career options, as you might become a part of a team that offers photo editing services.
Creating Lightroom presets is one of the things you should definitely learn on the way, so let’s take a look at how you could do it and why.
Editing raw photos
One of the first things that you probably already know is that you should always shoot RAW images. The only reason for this is the image quality you are getting, as no processing is performed on the image. The RAW format has all the image information about the captured image, and it can be properly changed without any loss of the image quality.
Whereas, shooting in JPEG is not as good, because any editing greatly affects the image quality, as the information collected is set in stone and cannot be edited without damaging the image. No matter how good of an image you capture, some changes in post processing are almost always necessary, as the software tool such as Lightroom enables you to perform both subtle and major changes.
Every photo is unique, but most of them, especially if you are a professional, are shot in the same surroundings. For example, a single photoshoot is performed in a studio, resulting in hundreds of images in the similar surroundings, from different angles. The editing process can be difficult if you are not utilizing all of the software features.
In this case, creating presets is a great solution, as they can be applied to whole sets of photos, getting a lot of the job done in a shorter time frame. Let’s take a look at how you could create functional Lightroom presets.
Making the preset
The whole process is quite easy. You should simply make the changes to a photo and then export those settings as your own preset. For example, you start by changing the image exposure, saturation clarity, vibrancy, highlights, shadows and the rest of the settings. The next step is to hit the cmd (Mac)/ctrl (Windows) button + Shift + N. This is going to open a window in which you can choose where you want to save your preset and how you want to name it.
Naming is very important – it will make the preset much easier to use in the future, as it is specifically created for certain types of photos. For example, you can make presets for Outdoor Portrait, Studio Portrait or Low Light Portrait; you get the idea. The more presets you manage to create, the better your future workflow is going to be.
If you thought that creating a single preset is going to be enough for you, you are mistaken. The more presets you have, the higher the number of photos that you could apply it to. More versatility means saving more time in the future.
The next time you are out and doing portrait photography, all you have to do is use the previously created preset to edit hundreds of photos. Afterward, you can make some smaller adjustments, and you are ready to use the images.
Why does it all matter
As mentioned previously, the more presets you have in your library, the higher the number of different photos that you will be able to edit easily. This saves a lot of time in the photo editing process, enabling you to finish your work on time and meet your deadlines more easily.
On the other hand, knowing how to use your presets, you can perform photo editing services for other people easily, creating an additional side income.
After some time, once you get enough experience with making professional presets, you can start selling them to other people who do not want to dedicate their time to making their own. This is yet another way of turning post processing into a career.
Therefore, if you truly want to advance as a photographer, it is necessary to create your own Lightroom presets. It will allow you to edit RAW photos more easily, without losing too much time. You will have to dedicate some time for creating all the presets you might need in the future, but once you have over 50 of them, your photo editing process is going to speed up greatly.