Cloud Dream

Cloud Dream gives your photos a quiet, slightly otherworldly quality. The soft purple and grey tones shift clouds away from the ordinary and into something that feels calmer, more suspended. Not heavily stylised, but distinct enough that the mood carries.

Technically, the preset pulls down highlights and lifts shadows slightly, creating a gentler, more even contrast curve. The white balance shifts cool, which adds depth to the grey tones already present in overcast skies and cloud formations. Purple and blue hues are selectively boosted in the midtones, while orange and yellow are dialled back. The result is a cohesive palette that holds together without requiring extra adjustments on your end.

The preset performs best with overcast or partly cloudy skies. Cumulus clouds building before a storm, thin cirrus layers in backlit conditions, or a flat grey sky with soft, diffused light. Subtle sunrises and sunsets, the ones without strong colour, respond particularly well. Landscape images where the sky takes up a significant portion of the frame benefit most, but urban scenes and architectural shots with prominent cloud formations in the background can work well too.

You reach for Cloud Dream when you want a series of images to share a calm, consistent atmosphere. It suits portfolio presentations, photo books, and social media sequences where visual coherence matters. It also works as a starting point for a single image you want to give a more introspective or melancholic feel, without spending a lot of time in post.

A practical tip: after applying the preset, adjust exposure first to match your specific shot. The preset is calibrated for an average exposure value. Slightly underexposed images sometimes respond even better, as darker cloud structures gain volume while the soft purple cast in the highlights stays intact. If you want to shift the tone further toward blue or nudge it closer to pink, the Hue slider for Purple is the first place to look.