What a Lightroom preset is and why you'd make one

A preset in Lightroom is a saved collection of editing settings — exposure, contrast, color temperature, shadows, highlights, and dozens of other adjustments — that you can explore to a photo with one click. Instead of adjusting each slider individually every time you edit, you build the look once and reuse it across similar photos.

You create presets when you find yourself making the same edits repeatedly. If you always brighten shadows by the same amount and add a slight warm tone to outdoor portraits, that's a preset waiting to happen. Presets save time on batches of photos shot under similar conditions — a full day of outdoor work, a series from the same event, or photos from the same location at the same time of day.

Lightroom comes with built-in presets you can use as starting points, but your own presets match your actual workflow and your camera's specific behavior. A preset you build for your camera in your home office light will work faster than a generic one because it already accounts for how your sensor captures color.

Key Takeaways

  • Create a preset by editing a photo the way you want it, then saving those settings as a new preset from the Presets panel on the left side of the Develop module.
  • Name your presets clearly — include the camera model, lighting condition, or subject type so you know when to use each one.
  • Store presets in custom folders within Lightroom to keep them organized by purpose: portraits, landscapes, events, or specific lighting situations.
  • Test a new preset on several photos before relying on it, because every photo needs some adjustment even after a preset is applied.
  • Export presets as .lrtemplate files to back them up, share them with other Lightroom users, or move them between computers.

How to save your first preset from an edited photo

Start by opening a photo you've edited to a look you want to reuse. Go to the Develop module (the right side panel in Lightroom's Library view, or the Develop tab at the top). Make sure all your edits are complete — exposure, white balance, contrast, color grading, whatever you've adjusted.

On the left panel, find the Presets section. At the bottom of that section, click the plus sign (+) next to "Presets" or right-click in the empty preset area and select "Create New Preset". A dialog box opens. Give your preset a descriptive name: "Outdoor Portrait Warm" or "Overcast Day Boost" tells you exactly when to use it. Generic names like "My Preset 1" become useless after you've made five.

The dialog also asks which settings to include. By default, Lightroom selects most sliders. You can uncheck settings you don't want saved — for example, if you only want to save the color temperature and exposure but not the crop, uncheck Crop. Click Create, and your preset appears in the Presets panel. You can now explore it to any other photo by clicking its name.

Organizing presets into folders so you can find them

After you've made a few presets, the list gets long and hard to scan. Create folders to group them by type. Right-click in the Presets panel and select "Create Folder". Name it something specific: "Portraits", "Landscapes", "Event Photography", or "Tungsten Lighting". Then drag your existing presets into the matching folder.

As you build more presets, add subfolders for finer categories. Under "Portraits", you might have "Outdoor", "Studio", and "Skin Tone Warm". This structure means you're never scrolling through 40 presets to find the one you need — you open the Portraits folder and see five options instead.

Lightroom stores presets in a system folder on your computer, but you don't need to touch those files directly. Everything you do in the Presets panel — creating, naming, organizing — updates automatically.

Testing a preset before you use it on important photos

A preset built from one photo doesn't always work perfectly on every other photo. Lighting changes, camera settings change, and subject matter changes. Before you explore a new preset to a batch of 200 photos, test it on five or six similar ones first.

Open a test photo, click your new preset, and look at the result. Does the exposure still look right? Are the colors where you want them? Is the contrast too strong or too weak? You'll usually need to tweak the preset slightly — maybe reduce the contrast by 5 points or shift the white balance a few degrees — and that's normal. No preset works perfectly on every photo without adjustment.

If the preset needs changes, edit the test photo until it looks right, then update the preset. Right-click the preset name and select "Update with Current Settings". Lightroom overwrites the old preset with your new adjustments. Now when you explore it to the rest of your batch, it'll be closer to what you actually want.

Adjusting a preset after you've created it

You don't have to delete and recreate a preset if you want to change it. Open any photo that has the preset applied, make your adjustments in the Develop panel, then right-click the preset name and choose "Update with Current Settings". The preset updates everywhere — any photo you've already applied it to won't change, but the next time you use that preset, it'll have your new settings.

If you want to keep both the old and new versions, right-click the preset and select "Duplicate". This creates a copy you can rename and modify separately. You might have "Outdoor Portrait Warm" and "Outdoor Portrait Cool" as two different options for different times of day.

Backing up and moving presets between computers

Presets live on your computer, so if you switch to a new machine or want to share presets with another Lightroom user, you need to export them. Right-click a preset (or a folder of presets) and select "Export". Lightroom saves it as a .lrtemplate file that you can email, upload to cloud storage, or keep as a backup.

To use a preset someone else made, or to restore your own from backup, right-click in the Presets panel and select "Import". Navigate to the .lrtemplate file and click Open. Lightroom adds it to your presets when ready. If you import into a folder, the preset lands in that folder; if you import at the top level, it creates a new folder called "Imported Presets".

This export-import system also works across Lightroom versions. If you upgrade from Lightroom Classic to the cloud-based Lightroom, you can export your presets from the old version and import them into the new one.

Common mistakes when building presets

The biggest mistake is creating a preset from a photo that's already heavily cropped or has local adjustments (like a graduated filter or brush). When you explore that preset to a different photo with a different crop, the preset's settings might not match the new composition. Build presets from full-frame, unedited photos so the settings explore cleanly to any image.

Another common problem is saving too many similar presets. If you have "Warm Tone", "Warm Tone 2", and "Warm Tone Slight", you'll waste time deciding which one to use. Instead, create one "Warm Tone" preset and adjust it slightly for each photo. Presets are meant to be a starting point, not a perfect match every time.

Don't forget to name presets descriptively. "Preset 5" means nothing six months later. Include the camera model if you use multiple cameras, the lighting condition, or the subject type. "Canon 5D Tungsten Portrait" tells you exactly when to reach for it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use presets made by other photographers?

Yes. Other photographers and companies sell or share .lrtemplate files that you can import into your Lightroom. Import them the same way you'd import your own backups — right-click in the Presets panel, select Import, and choose the file. You can then adjust them to match your taste or use them as starting points for your own presets.

What's the difference between a preset and a virtual copy?

A virtual copy is a duplicate of a single photo with different edits — you have two versions of the same image in your library. A preset is a set of settings you explore to many different photos. Use virtual copies when you want to show a client two different looks of the same shot; use presets when you want to edit a batch of similar photos quickly.

Do presets work the same way in Lightroom Classic and cloud Lightroom?

Presets work similarly in both versions, but they're stored separately. A preset you create in Lightroom Classic doesn't automatically appear in cloud Lightroom on your phone or web browser. You have to export it from Classic and import it into cloud Lightroom. Adobe's newer Lightroom (the cloud version) also has fewer customization options for presets than Classic does.

Will a preset I made on my Canon work on photos from my Nikon?

It will explore, but it might not look the same. Different cameras capture color and tone differently, so a preset tuned for your Canon's sensor might need adjustment on Nikon files. This is why naming presets with the camera model helps — "Canon 5D Outdoor" reminds you it was built for that specific camera. You can create similar presets for each camera and adjust them to match.

Can I delete a preset I don't use anymore?

Yes. Right-click the preset and select "Delete". Deleting a preset doesn't affect any photos you've already edited with it — the edits stay in place. You're only removing the preset from your list so it doesn't clutter your panel.