Develop Presets

Develop presets can be a double-edged sword. On one side, they offer a way to automate your workflow by performing repetitive processing steps for you…but this automation can circumvent the creative process and steal a lot of joy out of the darkroom. If you’ve taken up landscape photography as a hobby to enjoy, then you’ll want to process each image individually…letting your creative compass guide your workflow organically and create an image you can be proud of. If your workflow relies solely on develop presets, then you’re processing based on someone else’s creative vision – not yours.

However, that doesn’t mean that presets shouldn’t be part of your workflow – in fact, quite the opposite. I use presets all the time to help streamline my processing workflow. The key to using develop presets successfully is knowing exactly what it is doing “under the hood”, and how to amend it to compliment the unique content of your image.

Here’s what we’ll discuss in the following course:

• What exactly presets are (and are not) and how they function behind the scenes to change your image.
• The limitations of develop presets for creative techniques and how to learn from them to improve your own processing workflow.
• How to manage and organize presets using the preset panel.
• The difference between profiles and presets, and how to use them together.
• How to create your own presets that compliment your unique workflow – not someone else’s.

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