One of the easiest ways that you can improve, enhance or transform your photos in Lightroom on mobile is by taking advantage of the many possibilities offered by presets.
Hi, I'm Seán Duggan with the Adobe Learn team.
A preset is simply a saved combination of Edit settings that you can apply to your photo with a single click.
They can be useful for basic improvements, or as a way to explore different creative interpretations that take your image in a new direction.
I'll tap on a photo to bring it into the Edit view.
Browsing preset categories in Lightroom on mobile
In the lower row of Edit icons, I'll tap on the two overlapping circles to open the Presets.
Here I can choose from three categories: Recommended, Premium, and Yours.
Let's start with the Premium presets.
These are a collection of high-quality curated presets, many of them created by professional photographers.
Using adaptive presets to enhance specific areas
Some of the most useful are the Adaptive presets, and you can find those at the top of the list.
These are called Adaptive because they will intelligently adapt to the content of your photo and will apply a change to a specific area of the scene.
For instance, with this photo, the Adaptive Portrait presets offer several ways to enhance the image.
I think I'll try the Texture Hair preset to accentuate the details in the hair.
When you apply a preset, you'll see a slider on the preset thumbnail.
Tap that and you can adjust the strength of the effect by increasing or decreasing the Amount.
To see a Before and After display, press and hold on the image to see the original version, and then release to see the image with the current edits.
Now let's switch to a different image
Applying adaptive subject and background blur presets
and try out a couple of other Adaptive presets.
I'll start with Adaptive Subject and apply the Pop preset to brighten up the metal hitching post.
And that looks pretty good.
I'll tap the back arrow above the thumbnails to return to the list of Premium presets.
Next, I'll choose Adaptive Blur Background.
This may take a bit longer for Lightroom to analyze the image and generate the preset thumbnails, because creating the mask for the background blur is a more involved process.
Once the thumbnails appear, you can try out the different blur presets.
I'll choose Strong to see how that works, and that does a really good job at minimizing the background detail and making the subject more prominent.
Let's move on and check out the Recommended presets.
Exploring recommended presets based on similar photos
With these presets, Lightroom will analyze the exposure, colors, and content of your image and suggest Edit settings that have been used on similar photos that have been shared in the Community section of Lightroom.
You can choose from several style groupings such as Subtle, Strong, B&W, Cinematic, and so on.
If you find a look that you like and you want to easily be able to find it again, tap the three dots on the preset thumbnail and choose Save to your presets.
As I mentioned earlier, a preset is just a way to quickly apply a combination of saved Edit settings.
Creating and managing your own custom presets
You can create your own presets from any photo that you've edited.
With this image, I've already processed it to create a high-contrast black-and-white look, and I want to save that as a preset, so that I can apply the same treatment to other photos.
I'll tap the Presets, and I'll open up the Yours section.
Then I'll tap the three dots icon in the upper right corner and choose Create preset.
Here I can give the preset a name, and I can decide which of the Edit settings will be saved with the preset.
In this case, I'll include all of the current settings, and I'll tap the Checkmark in the upper right to create the preset.
If I open the User Presets section, I can find the new preset that I just saved.
And if I go into the Saved from Community section, here's the Recommended preset that I saved earlier in this tutorial.
Presets are a great way to quickly apply common image enhancements, as well as explore different looks for a photo.
Give some of the presets a try with your own images and see how they can help streamline your image processing.
Note: Stock assets provided are for practice purposes only. See terms.
What you'll learn
Start with a preset
A preset is a group of saved Edit settings that can be quickly applied to other photos. Presets can be used as a starting point or to explore different looks and styles. You can customize the look of a preset by modifying the sliders in the Edit panel. Lightroom on mobile offers a wide variety of presets, including adaptive presets that target specific areas in a photo.
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