Explanation of Color Grading/Presets/LUTS

Question

Hi,

Proficient Illustrator user so far and would like to branch out to Lightroom as I am interested in adding photography as a new hobby.

There are a few cool photographers on Instagram that I am following and they all use certain, stand-out colors on their photos. I see that they are called presets. Are presets the same as color grading and/or LUTS? What's the difference if there are any in lamen terms?

Also, do they have standard presets that I can choose from on the program or do I have to create them or buy myself?

Also, I read that there are some "bad" presets and not quality. What does this mean?

Thanks in advance!

Conrad_C · Answer

Lightroom and Camera Raw support presets and raw profiles, which are different.

Presets record the settings in the panel stack on the right, and apply after the initial rendering.

Raw profiles affect the initial rendering before panel stack adjustments, and these can use LUTs. Some color graders build their “look” in Photoshop or a video editing app, export that look as a LUT, and bring that LUT into a raw profile they are building in Lightroom Classic/Camera Raw.

Here is a link explaining how that works (scroll down to see the video and info, no need to buy anything).

https://mattk.com/profiles/

For color grading, you can use the Color Grading panel on the right (which can be incorporated into a preset), or apply a profile with a color grading LUT created somewhere else.

Presets are on the left, raw profiles on the right. To open the profile browser, click the Browse icon to the right of the Profile menu.

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded