The best Lightroom presets enable you to improve your photography with hassle-free, often one-click, worflows. The free Lightroom presets take the work of photographic post-processing and enable you to create a specific, professional look to your images. The paid-for and free presets in my list will work with Lightroom Mobile as well as the desktop edition.
Lightroom itself is also optimised to further streamline the process, providing users with a dedicated panel for organising presets, meaning you can put your favourites at your fingertips. Lightroom is all about streamlining workflow as much as editing, and as such, a suite of presets is the perfect complement for it. If you’ve not got Lightroom yet and would like help with the process of downloading it, head here for our complete guide on how to download Lightroom.
There’s no question that Lightroom is among the best photo editing software you can buy, and presets are a fantastic way to make it even better. Though if you're still trying to decide between Lightroom and Photoshop, our guide to Lightroom vs Photoshop will help you out.
For now, though, here are our favourite Lightroom presets. We'll start with the paid-for presets but you can jump to the best free Lightroom presets if you don’t have any budget.
(opens in new tab)The best Lightroom presets available now
Paid-for Lightroom presets
01. Dark Collection
- Price: £65
- Download here (opens in new tab)
Edit your photos on the go with this collection of 45 presets from Fix the Photo for Lightroom mobile. Perfect for portrait and commercial photography, these presets come in .dng format and can be used on JPGs and RAW files
02. Master Collection: Landscape Preset Pack
- Price: £99
- Download here (opens in new tab)
This Master Collection of eight Lightroom preset packs from fine art photographer Jan Erik Waider covers everything you need to get easy one-click present improvements to your photos. The collection includes Black & White, Cinematic and Forest Landscape presets amongst the eight packs. The Master Collection also offers any new additions and updates for free.
03. 10 Indie Film Lightroom Presets
- $9
- Download here (opens in new tab)
To get your photographs in touch with the indie filmmaker atmosphere, this collection of ten presets from Filtergrade is perfect. With subtle brightening and warming aspects, these presets are perfect for darker photographs. Available for use on Lightroom desktop and mobile, these will bring out the mysterious edge of any scene.
04. FilterGrade Lightroom Preset Starter Kit
- $37
- Download here (opens in new tab)
There are absolutely loads of preset options available on sites like FilterGrade, so if you’re a bit lost and looking for somewhere to start, consider this kit. While the initial asking price of $37 is higher than many other options, you do get 25 presets in one bundle. These include realistic tweaks to tones and colours, and also more stylised options like the eight pastel colour shades for giving images a distinctive hue.
05. 10 Analog Film Lightroom presets
- $9
- Download here (opens in new tab)
If you want your photographs to look like stills from a film made on an analogue camera, then this is the preset collection for you. These 10 presets can be used on mobile and desktop Lightroom, and add a classy, subtle touch to any photographs.
06. Digistock Kodachrome Collection
- $13
- Download here (opens in new tab)
Waiting for the day the vintage 20th century Kodachrome film comes back is the analog photography community’s own Waiting for Godot – at some point we’ll have to face the fact that it’s not happening. To soften the blow, try out this comprehensive preset pack by Digistock, which does a great job of simulating the iconic slide film in its various incarnations. Fantastic for portraits with a vintage feel.
07. 90s retro moody vintage film Lightroom presets
- $19
- Download here (opens in new tab)
Turn any modern photograph into a ‘90s dream with this collection of 10 presets from Filtergrade. While some vintage presets degrade quality with over-graining, these only add a slight grain so as not to undermine the quality of your photographs. The exceptionally precise colour grading is what creates the real ‘90s look. We could definitely see any photograph on the cover of GQ with these presets.
Free Lightroom presets
08. Free modern film Lightroom preset
- Free
- Download here (opens in new tab)
This single preset is perfect for anyone who wants to instil a film look into their photography, but still maintain the modern shine of their digital camera quality. We love this preset for bringing out the three dimensional qualities of photographs. With a slightly colder tinge and contrast that brings out depth, its light haze is in keeping with the film look we all sometimes crave.
09. Night Presets: Northern Lights
- Free
- Download here (opens in new tab)
The Night Preset: Northern Lights pack is just one of the excellent free packs offered by PresetLove.com for easily editing night photography. This particular pack was developed to eke out the vivid and Vibrant colours of the Aurora and the colours of the night sky in general. If you need to improve the hues of your night photography and create clear tones, this is an excellent free preset.
10. The Editorial Collection v2
- Free
- Download here (opens in new tab)
The Editorial Collection’s title speaks for itself. Perfect for magazine photography, these presets give your work the warmly saturated Pinterest look. This pack gives you 13 options to choose from, free to download from Envato Elements.
11. Free Lightroom preset dawning
- Price: Free
- Download here (opens in new tab)
This free preset speaks for itself. Brightening up your photographs without demeaning the quality, it adjusts the light settings in accordance to each other, to do your image more justice in Lightroom Classic. A versatile base to go from, it can be used with another preset if you still need to add your own colour edits.
12. Free Lightroom presets NY skyline
- Free
- Download here (opens in new tab)
Perfect for landscape photography, this preset promises to vamp up any city or light photography. This preset is arguably more advanced than some paid options, as it brings out the blues and charcoals in your photographs without creating a tint. The contrast is adjusted just so that any lights in the image work perfectly in accordance with the blues that the colour settings emphasise. This preset is a must for any city based photographers.
Read more:
- Download Photoshop: How to try Photoshop for free or with Creative Cloud
- 71 essential Photoshop shortcuts
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