Question on the new Preset Amount Slider

[Garland1234]

Hi, 

I wonder what I am doing wrong: 
1. Importing my images to the catalog - 'None' selected for Apply Preset in the import dialog, so the images I've got in the Library are SOOC.

2. When I then apply one of my presets, and roll the Preset Amount slider back to zero, I was expecting the image to look the same as if I click 'Reset'. 

However, it does not. (Nothing like it in fact).  

Have I misunderstood the use case of the slider or am I doing something incorrectly?

I thought that pulling that slider back to zero would take the image back to how it looked before applying the preset, no?

Thanks in advance for any help. 

[dj_paige]

When I try this, SOOC and preset slider at 0 look identical.

What does the preset do?

Show us screen captures of both images. Make the screen capture wide enough so we can see the develop settings and the preset slider. Use the "Insert Photos" icon to include your screen captures in your reply. Do NOT attach files.

[Garland1234]

Hi thanks all for your replies. I'm attaching some screenshots here to hopefully better illustrate. 
When I imported these as mentioned I've imported with no preset applied (so 'None' was selected in that dropdown box). I had it set to generate Smart Previews and (I think) Minimal previews. (I ordinarily have it set to generate Smart Previews and 1-1 Previews - but in this instance I was trying to import them faster so I could test out this slider). 

Any advice based on these screen shots greatly appreciated. 

Screenshot 1 = Preset Applied

Screenshot 2 = Preset slider scrolled to zero
Screenshot 3 = after pressing 'Reset' bottom right.

[Garland1234]

Ok they uploaded in a different order...

[GoldingD]

Adjusting the Preset Amount slider, it effects those scalable settings, so it does not effect everything. Depends upon what preset.

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/whats-new-in-lightroom-classic-11-4/

[JohanElzenga]

What previews did you select on import? If you selected 'Embedded & sidecar', then this is as expected. In that case you are initially looking at the preview that the camera generated. If you apply a preset, then that preview gets replaced by a Lightroom-generated preview. Even moving the preset amount slider to zero still does this, so before is camera-generated and after is Lightroom-generated.

[Garland1234]

Hi Johan

Maybe you're on to something there - I imported these on Minimal, mainly in the interests of speed, but would usually import on 1-1. I wonder if Minimal previews also pull in the camera jpeg preview..

Just trying to fathom out what slider to zero is pulling the image back to. Obviously not the same as Reset (which I'd assumed was the original, RAW image..?). Maybe preset zero is taking it back to camera JPEG preset instead.. 

[JohanElzenga]

---

@Garland1234 wrote:

Hi Johan

Maybe you're on to something there - I imported these on Minimal, mainly in the interests of speed, but would usually import on 1-1. I wonder if Minimal previews also pull in the camera jpeg preview..

Just trying to fathom out what slider to zero is pulling the image back to. Obviously not the same as Reset (which I'd assumed was the original, RAW image..?). Maybe preset zero is taking it back to camera JPEG preset instead.. 

---

Yes, minimal previews are indeed camera generated too. https://fstoptraining.com/lightroom-previews/

[richardplondon]

Say a preset imposes +10 Contrast when it's used at 100% 'amount'. As you reduce 'amount' it will impose +9, +8... instead, right down to imposing a  new Contrast value of 0. Or increasing 'amount' past 100% will exaggerate it +11, +12 etc. A preset that applied -10 Contrast would work the same way, just in the opposite directions.

So say it's applying an absolute 0, due to the Amount slider being moved. If the image's previous value for Contrast was -4, then 0 will be an increase; and if its previous value was +2, then 0 will be a reduction. Either way, in reducing preset 'amount 'to 0% you have not chosen to apply a (relative) zero change to the image. LrC is still imposing particular (absolute) new parameter values; just, now, potentially differing values depending on the amount slider.

BTW it is not necessarily the case that an image when Reset will revert to all zero settings. That depends on what LrC's default processing settings are, that relate to this particular image. 'Reset' is just the imposition of those current defaults, as a new operation. If these default processing settings are updated, also if (as part of first import) some particular settings were imposed with a preset - then the appearance of the image when first imported, will not necessarily be matched by a new Reset.

For comparison, there is also a standard "zeroed settings" preset you can use.

Plus of course you can revert the image to its initial state when first imported, by clicking on that in the History panel.

[GregaBT]

Frankly, I find this Amount slider quite useless,  the way it works now ... I hope the devs change this. Make it as simple as changing layer opacity in Photoshop and everbody will be happy(er)! 🙂