Presets: RAW Vs Jpeg

[ShootaBike]

Lightroom user log - day 03...

I am currently playing around with presets and watching instructional videos when I find some time.

I did use the forum's links and got myself some presets which having followed the related guides are now included in the "user presets".

The question is whether all presets may be applied to RAW and/or Jpeg files.

There is usually no information whether a preset applies to a RAW or a Jpeg file, at least as far as free presets go.

So, how do we understand which is which? does Lr automatically do so or not?

:crazy::crazy::crazy:

 

[clee01l]

IF you D/L for free or fee presets from the web, you are at the mercy of the preset developer to advise how to use said preset. Some store the preset package into separate folders under User so that RAWs are grouped separately from the JPEGs. Others are not so informative. The nice thing about presets is that you can try them on the image and remove them from develop history in one step.
Iam of the opinion that "effect" type presets should not be applied in batch by closing your eyes and clicking. You should also be warned that some LR presets available on the web were developed before LR3 and look horribly when applied to images that have been imported using the newer 2010 camera process and/or apply LR2 sharpening and NR adjustments. Usually when I apply a preset, I look at the image and tweak the adjustment sliders to fix effects that might be under or over corrected by the preset. This includes presets that I have created for my own use.

Basically, when it comes to presets, one size does not fit all. You need to use your own judgement and not rely on some unknown third party from the web that may or may not know what they are doing (This also applies to free advice that you might get when asking such questions )

 

[sizzlingbadger]

I tend to avoid any presets that muck with camera calibration profiles and sliders, not good practice in my opinion but others may not mind

 

[Victoria Bampton]

A couple of things that might give you clues. There are certain things that have different defaults for raw vs JPEG, and if those sliders have been used, the presets will behave quite differently.

Brightness - 0 for JPEG, 50 for raw
Contrast - 0 for JPEG, 25 for raw
Tone Curve - linear for JPEG, medium contrast for raw
and there are a few other things like sharpening, noise reduction etc.

 

[b_gossweiler]

Of course I cannot speak for all the preset providers out there, but I think that most of the presets you'll find for download are made for Raw images, and exceptions to that are usually mentioned.

Beat

 

[MarkNicholas]

At the end of the day a preset is just a particular combination of slider settings. There is nothing magical about them. Any one can create them and claim that it will make your photo look wonderful. Certain presets look good on some photos and lousy on others.

When I find a photo that i struggle to get a satisfying look I run through all my presets to see if anything tickles my fancy. Quite often a certain preset with a little tweaking does the trick.

As a LR feature I would like to see a preset generator that creates incremental combinations of slider settings. You would be able to choose which sliders and the size of the increments. You could then just scroll down the page of thumbnails to find a setting you like.

 

[b_gossweiler]

At the end of the day a preset is just a particular combination of slider settings.

The point is (as Victoria mentioned in her post), if a preset includes slider values which per default are different from Raw to JPEG (like Brightness +50, Contrast +25, .... for Raw), they will mostlikely not look the same (or similar) on a Raw and on a JPEG and is probably no good for a JPEG.

Beat

 

[ShootaBike]

Thank you all!!!