If you've ever scrolled through a photographer's feed and noticed that every photo has the same warm tones, that same moody shadow treatment, that same unmistakable look — you've seen presets at work.
A Lightroom preset is a saved set of editing adjustments: exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, color grading, sharpening, and more. Instead of making all these adjustments manually on every photo, you apply a preset and get 80% of the way to your final edit in one click.
How to Install Presets
Installing presets is straightforward on both desktop and mobile.
- Desktop (Lightroom Classic): Go to the Develop module → right-click in the Presets panel → Import Presets → select your .lrtemplate or .xmp files
- Desktop (Lightroom CC): Click the Presets panel → the three-dot menu → Import Presets
- Mobile (Lightroom app): Open any photo → tap the Presets icon → tap the three-dot menu → Import Presets → select your .dng files
- After import, your presets appear in the named folder you imported them into
How to Adjust Presets for Different Lighting
Here's the thing about presets that nobody tells beginners: they're a starting point, not a finish line. A preset calibrated for golden hour light will look wrong on overcast midday photos. That's not a flaw — it's just how editing works.
The adjustment workflow is always the same: apply the preset, then correct the basics — exposure first, then white balance, then highlights and shadows. On average you're making 3–4 adjustments after applying a preset to land on a great final edit.
Over time, you'll learn which presets work best for which lighting conditions. Warm presets for golden hour and indoor light. Moody presets for overcast skies with deep shadows. Clean and airy presets for bright, diffused light.
50-Preset Packs vs. 200-Preset Bundles
More presets isn't always better. Here's how to think about it:
A 50-preset pack built around a coherent aesthetic — say, warm film tones or cool moody shadows — is more useful than a 200-preset bundle that tries to cover every possible style. The smaller pack teaches you a consistent editing language. The massive bundle gives you too many choices and no direction.
That said, 200-preset bundles do have a place: they're great for photographers who shoot across very different genres (portrait, landscape, street) and need presets optimized for each. FolioForge's Lightroom Preset Pack and preset collections are organized by aesthetic, not by volume — so you're always buying a cohesive editing system, not a pile of random edits.
Building Your Signature Editing Style
The goal of using presets isn't to look like everyone else who bought the same pack — it's to find your own version of a look and stick to it.
The path there: start with a preset pack that resonates with your existing aesthetic sensibility. Apply presets to 20–30 photos. Notice which adjustments you make every single time. Those consistent adjustments are your personal style. Save a custom preset that bakes them in.
Now you have a preset that's uniquely yours — derived from a professional foundation, but adjusted to your eye.
- Shoot in RAW — presets on JPEGs have limited headroom for adjustment
- Batch apply your base preset, then fine-tune individually
- Save custom presets for recurring shooting conditions (your office window light, your backyard at 5pm)
- Sync edits across a photo series for a consistent gallery look
Start Editing Consistently
You don't need years of editing experience to achieve a consistent look. You need a good preset as a starting point and the patience to make small adjustments until the edit feels right.
Browse FolioForge's Lightroom preset collections — built for photographers who want a signature look without the years of trial and error.