What Photoshop Actions & Lightroom Presets do you suggest?

For Photographers

August 10, 2012

Editing…the ‘other’ side of being a creative. Some love it; some dread it. Either way it has to be done! To this day I still love the editing process. I don’t like how much time it takes, but once you find your style it is much quicker. I think its important to define your “look” and “feel” as quickly as possible so that your photos reflect your brand. Trying all different kinds of presets and actions every time you shoot is probably going to cheapen your image. You want to show consistency and deliver a comparable product. No– I don’t use the same actions / presets on everything. I have a select few I love and I stick with them. I edit newborns completely differently then I would edit a wedding. I edit a wedding slightly different than a portrait session.

I have found these actions and presets to be pretty awesome. I know there are a ton out there, but this could be a great starting place for you. Which ones do I use the most and when? Typically I use Florabella for my portrait and newborns. For weddings I customized some of the MCP Quick Clicks to my liking and saved them as a new name. For personal things and special projects I love VSCO. I would like to incorporate these more into my work. Totally Rad is something I started off with but no longer use.

Keep in mind that just because you buy the action or preset–you can still customize. Go inside the preset/action and customize the look of your images. Lighting, composition and your style will also affect the final outcome of your image. All of the images I’m sharing with you are close to my editing style. There are more extreme actions/presets in these collections. Feel free to check them out at the links below.

Florabella Actions (Photoshop)

MCP Actions (Photoshop)

VSCO film (Lightroom)

Totally Rad Actions (Photoshop)

How do I get flawless skin? I use Portraiture by Imagenomic. (Photoshop Plugin)

Here are a few examples:

(LEFT)- Florabella Classic Workflow, (RIGHT) VSCO Film Fugi

You’ll notice a considerable difference in the skin tone & greens