Lightroom preset question

VayCayMom · February 4, 2010

Is there a way to fade a preset? I have some that are so severe I would like to try them at a much reduced strength, as you can do after an action in CS4.

pathfinder · February 4, 2010

Trudy, I am not aware of a way to do that either - since these are metadata instructions, not changes written to a layer.

I would love that ability - I like the direct positive (transparency) filter, but it is too strong frequently and fries that shadows.

It would be nice if it could be adjusted by an opacity slider, but I think we will not find joy.

I think you would need to create a set of presets, each with various strengths, and then choose the preset with the desired strength. If you are using someone else's presets, this is going to be hard to do.

VayCayMom · February 5, 2010

pathfinder wrote:

Trudy, I am not aware of a way to do that either - since these are metadata instructions, not changes written to a layer.

I would love that ability - I like the direct positive (transparency) filter, but it is too strong frequently and fries that shadows.

It would be nice if it could be adjusted by an opacity slider, but I think we will not find joy.

I think you would need to create a set of presets, each with various strengths, and then choose the preset with the desired strength. If you are using someone else's presets, this is going to be hard to do.

Thanks pathfinder, I was expecting that answer, sure would be nice, eh?

TGAllen · February 5, 2010

I haven't tried this, but couldn't you create a virtual copy in lightroom, apply the preset to only one of the photos, then send them both to PS and put on separate layers? Then you could adjust the opacity of the one with the preset adjustements. Just a thought.

pathfinder · February 5, 2010

You can certainly use Photoshop to adjust the opacity of an preset as you described, but Trudy's question ( as I interpreted it ) was whether a preset can be adjust within Lightroom itself.

Create a copy of your file in LIGHTROOM, run the effect on one file, then edit both files in Photoshop, moving the file with the effect on top of the original file, and using the opacity slider to blend them to taste.

I have not tried this with the Direct Positive preset, but I may now reconsider it.

But if you are going to go to Photoshop, why use presets from Lightroom. Use an Action in PS instead, perhaps?

Richard · February 5, 2010

pathfinder wrote:

But if you are going to go to Photoshop, why use presets from Lightroom. Use an Action in PS instead, perhaps?

Well, you could, but you would have to figure out how to achieve the same effects that you got in LR. I don't know of a way to use PS actions to control ACR. I think the virtual copy/two PS layer solution is pretty easy to understand and control.

pathfinder · February 5, 2010

I agree, Richard, that devising an action to duplicate a preset in Lightroom is not intuitive. But many presets in Lightroom are obtained the same way many actions are obtained for Photoshop - They are downloaded from a source on the web....

Lightroom preset question

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