One big advantage Lightroom has over other photo editing software are the presets. The availability and ease of use is unmatched even by Lightroom’s big brother Photoshop. Below is my take on using Lightroom presets.

The Good
Presets make fast work of editing many photos quickly. If you have a large batch of photos and want to apply the same edits to them you can easy do so with presets. If you are familiar with the import process you can even apply presets to photos as you add them to your collections.

The Bad
With how easy it is to apply presets to photos the opportunity to abuse this feature is also easy. It is also easy to use a preset that you have downloaded. While initially this ease seems great it can also have an adverse effect on the your ability to share your unique vision. It is much to easy to use presets poorly.

My Usage
I love checking out presets and using them in my workflow. My actual usage is very simple, I tend to use and apply presets initially to see what I like. I then develop my own style of presets that accurately reflect my personal vision. After this building step I then typically apply a preset that I have created and then fine tune the adjustments depending on the image. This lets me apply my personal style and speed up my workflow.