Ida Molenaar

Ida Molenaar works with colour like a statement. Cobalt against terracotta. Blue against orange. Not as a stylistic accident, but as a deliberate tension that gives every image its own weight. This preset draws on the visual language of Aida Muluneh, the Ethiopian photographer who merges tradition with painted imagery and primary colours that refuse to compromise. You reach for Ida Molenaar when you want a photograph to say something, not just show something.

Technically, the preset pushes primary colours toward their most expressive form. Reds grow warmer and deeper. Blues gain saturation without turning muddy. Midtones shift toward a warmer base that brings terracotta, ochre and skin tones to life. Shadows are dark but not empty, held together by a subtle colour cast that keeps the image coherent. Highlights stay controlled, preserving structure in light skin tones and fabrics. The contrast is firm, almost graphic, but detail is never sacrificed to make a point.

Ida Molenaar works best on photographs with clear fields of colour and strong shapes. Think portraits against painted or solid-coloured backgrounds. Think street scenes with bold murals, brightly coloured facades or market stalls stacked with vivid goods. Fashion and editorial photography respond well too, especially when the colours in the frame have already been placed with intention. Minimal, graphically composed images draw the most from this preset.

You choose Ida Molenaar when subtlety is not the goal. When you want a photograph that lands immediately, without asking the viewer to meet it halfway. That makes this preset less suited to soft documentary work or landscapes with muted, naturalistic tones. But for images where colour already plays a structural role in the composition, Ida Molenaar sharpens that role without turning the photo into something it is not.

A practical tip: apply the preset on a virtual copy in Lightroom and reduce the overall amount to around 80 or 85 percent if the result feels slightly too dense. That keeps the colour intensity intact while giving the image a little more room to breathe. From there, look at the orange and blue hue sliders individually. Those two channels carry most of the character in this preset, and small adjustments there will decide whether the photo commands attention or simply demands it.