Lightroom Presets - Are they worthwhile?

In the last few years I've noticed a number of other (usually) prominent photographers trying to sell their favourite Lightroom Presets, often as part of some "unbelievable special offer". How could you possibly pass these up?

Could these presets be worthwhile? Will they really save you the time and make your photographs stand out? Will they be beneficial to your style of photography? From my experience, the answer is usually no.

Lets take a step back for a minute. The presets being offered originated when a photographer was making changes in the various tuning parameters in Lightroom for a single photograph. When they got these settings to a point they liked, they then saved all these changes as a preset. They did this process for a number of different photographs and bundled these presets up for sale.

What is getting saved in these presets? Effectively all the settings that the photographer changed. Here's an example:

s = {
id = "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx",
internalName = "Fuji Velvia 100RVP",
title = "Fuji Velvia 100RVP Slidefilm",
type = "Develop",
value = {
settings = {
Blacks2012 = 100,
BlueHue = 0,
BlueSaturation = 0,
CameraProfile = "Adobe Standard",
Clarity2012 = 13,
ColorNoiseReduction = 25,
ColorNoiseReductionDetail = 50,
Contrast2012 = -14,
ConvertToGrayscale = false,
EnableCalibration = true,
EnableColorAdjustments = true,
EnableDetail = true,
EnableSplitToning = true,
Exposure2012 = -0.75,
GreenHue = 0,
GreenSaturation = 0,
Highlights2012 = -78,
HueAdjustmentAqua = 36,
HueAdjustmentBlue = 13,
HueAdjustmentGreen = 8,
HueAdjustmentMagenta = 9,
HueAdjustmentOrange = 9,
HueAdjustmentPurple = 0,
HueAdjustmentRed = -2,
HueAdjustmentYellow = -33,
LuminanceAdjustmentAqua = -13,
LuminanceAdjustmentBlue = -1,
LuminanceAdjustmentGreen = -25,
LuminanceAdjustmentMagenta = -2,
LuminanceAdjustmentOrange = 0,
LuminanceAdjustmentPurple = 0,
LuminanceAdjustmentRed = -8,
LuminanceAdjustmentYellow = -1,
LuminanceNoiseReductionContrast = 0,
LuminanceNoiseReductionDetail = 50,
LuminanceSmoothing = 20,
ParametricDarks = 0,
ParametricHighlightSplit = 75,
ParametricHighlights = 0,
ParametricLights = 0,
ParametricMidtoneSplit = 50,
ParametricShadowSplit = 25,
ParametricShadows = 0,
ProcessVersion = "6.7",
RedHue = 0,
RedSaturation = 0,
Saturation = 5,
SaturationAdjustmentAqua = -13,
SaturationAdjustmentBlue = 1,
SaturationAdjustmentGreen = 0,
SaturationAdjustmentMagenta = -3,
SaturationAdjustmentOrange = -3,
SaturationAdjustmentPurple = 0,
SaturationAdjustmentRed = 15,
SaturationAdjustmentYellow = -4,
ShadowTint = 0,
Shadows2012 = 79,
SplitToningBalance = 0,
SplitToningHighlightHue = 0,
SplitToningHighlightSaturation = 0,
SplitToningShadowHue = 0,
SplitToningShadowSaturation = 0,
ToneCurveName2012 = "Custom",
ToneCurvePV2012 = {
0,
0,
48,
31,
126,
121,
166,
171,
208,
219,
255,
255,
},
ToneCurvePV2012Blue = {
0,
0,
255,
255,
},
ToneCurvePV2012Green = {
0,
0,
255,
255,
},
ToneCurvePV2012Red = {
0,
0,
255,
255,
},
Vibrance = -13,
Whites2012 = 69,
},
uuid = "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx",
},
version = 0,
}

So you can see above, there's no magic here. In fact many of the settings are unchanged from defaults.

When you get these presets, you get the fun job of installing them - something that most Lightroom users won't do because they don't share presets. You do this simply because you presume these Lightroom presets will save you time making the same settings. Problem is, when used with your images, these presets are simply a starting point to get closer to a look you want. You're still going to have to make your own changes.

So what do I recommend? If you're determined to use other photographers presets, then there's already presets available at no cost. I would suggest trying them and see if they offer any benefit at all to your personal workflow. There's some interesting ones that emulate the look of different films - but once you've seen one, it's not rocket science to make your own changes to emulate another.

Regardless of whether you choose to buy presets or not, if you really want to fine tune your images, then you still need to learn how to use the develop module.

I've purchased a few of these as part of a larger package deal - effectively free in my case. I installed a bunch of them - they definitely make interesting changes to my images. But truthfully, I've not used any of them in my workflow or my final images. NONE.

I'm not impressed that there's individuals and companies out there that sell these (or offer a few as a lure to get your email address), thinking they're doing us a favour.

Personally I'd suggest you save your cash and spend more time really learning to use Lightroom's develop module, and understand how to make changes. Better yet, take a class on this - I'd highly recommend RMSP.