Free versus paid Lightroom presets: what is the difference

You have probably downloaded a free preset before. A set of ready-made settings you found online, usually bundled with dozens of others. Sometimes it works surprisingly well. More often you notice straight away that little time went into it: the exposure clips, skin tones turn orange, or the effect is so extreme it only suits one photo in ten.

Where the difference comes from

Making a preset is more than adjusting a few sliders once. A good preset is tested on dozens of different photos: different light, different cameras, different skin tones. That is where the real work happens. In a free bundle of a hundred presets in one download, there simply was not time for that on every single one. With a preset you pay for, there was.

What you get with a paid preset

On fotografie-presets.nl a single preset costs €3.99. For that you do not get one file, but four: the same look at 25, 50, 75 and 100 percent strength, so you can match the effect to the photo instead of the other way around. Besides the XMP file for Lightroom, the download also includes a .costyle file for Capture One and a .cube LUT for when you want the same look in video.

When free is enough

For trying out a style, free is fine. That is how The Observer, the free pack on this site, works too: a first introduction without commitment. Once you want a look you can actually rely on for your own work, without smoothing everything over yourself afterwards, that is the point where a paid preset earns itself back in time.

Single preset, pack or subscription

If you only use a certain style occasionally, a single preset or a pack makes sense. If you keep coming back to it, a subscription is often better value: unlimited downloads for a fixed yearly price, instead of paying each time again.