How to Install Lightroom Desktop and Mobile Presets and How To Use Them
HOW TO INSTALL AND USE LIGHTROOM PRESETS
Presets compatibility: Lightroom CC 2019 and Lightroom Classic 2019 (Lightroom 7.3 and above), for Lightroom desktop and mobile app.
The presets were designed to not change your exposure, white balance and tint, as they vary with each photo, make adjustments to those settings accordingly after applying the presets. If the skin tone seems too dramatic after applying the preset, try adjusting the highlights and the hue of the orange in the colour section or the colour mix section (mobile) until you get the desired skin tone. The presets work best with raw files. You can use the preset as it is for your photos, as a starting point for your edits or as an inspiration to start developing your own unique style :)
Feel free to tag me at @jcheng_photography on Instagram, if you have used my presets for your photos, I would love to see it!
If you have any questions or issues with installing the preset, you can contact me through my Instagram account or email :)
INSTALLING YOUR DESKTOP PRESETS:
Lightroom Classic
Download and unzip the preset file on your desktop.
Open Lightroom Classic and go to the “Develop” module.
In the left panel in the Presets section click on the (+) plus icon.
Select “Import Presets” in the dropdown menu.
It will open a window, locate the presets folder.
Select XMP preset files and import the files to Lightroom.
Once the import is complete, they should appear in the Presets section under “User Presets”.
Lightroom CC
Download and unzip the preset file on your desktop.
Open Lightroom CC and go to the “My Photos” icon at the left sidebar.
Click on the “Edit” icon at the top right sidebar.
The Edit panel will slide out. Click on “Presets” at the bottom of the panel.
The Presets panel will appear. Click on the (…) “More” icon at top of the Presets panel.
Select “Import Presets…”
It will open a window, locate the XMP preset files on your computer and import the files to Lightroom.
Once the import is complete, they should appear in the presets section under “User Presets”.
Note: If you don’t see the presets. Click on the (…) “More” icon at top of the Presets panel and select “Show Partially Compatible Presets” from the dropdown menu. This should show the “User Presets” in the Presets panel where your newly imported presets would appear under.
INSTALLING YOUR MOBILE PRESETS:
Step 01: Download the DNG Files to Your Phone
The Lightroom mobile presets will come as DNG files inside a zip file that you will need to unzip and download to your phone. Below are 2 options to do that.
Option A: If you have access to a computer
Download the preset pack zip file to your computer.
Double click the zip file to unzip it, that should create a folder with the same name with the DNG image files inside.
Transfer the DNG from your computer to your phone, either by airdrop, dropbox, google drive, or via any other cloud storage services so you can access them on your mobile phone.
If you would like to use cloud storage services, uploaded the DNG files to the cloud storage service from your computer.
Export or save the DNG files from the storage service app to your mobile phone.
Option B: Unzipping the file in your mobile phone
To unzip the file directly on your mobile phone, you can use the native app on your device, ”Files” app (iOS), or “File Manager” app (Android) to unzip the files to your mobile phone.
iOS
Tap on the download link from the email to bring up the download screen on your browser app and tap on the “Download Now” button.
A pop up will show up asking if you want to download the zip file, tap “Download”.
Tap on the “Download” icon on the top right corner of the screen to see the zip file downloading. Tap on the file after it has finished downloading.
This will take you to the “File” app, where you will be the preset zip file. Tap on the zip file.
Tapping on the zip file will unzip the file in the “File” app. The preset files are now on your mobile device.
Android
Tap on the download link from the email to bring up the download screen on your browser app and tap on the “Download Now” button.
A bottom sheet or pop up will show up, showing you where the preset zip file will be downloaded to, pick the folder you want the file to download to (I just leave it on default, directing it to the “Download” folder) and tap “Ok”.
You will be directed to the download screen where you will see the zip file downloading.
Tap on the file after it has finished downloading. This will bring up an “Open with” bottom sheet or pop up, tap on “Exact the files to…”
Select “Exact files to…” on the next bottom sheet or pop up.
This will take you to a screen to select which folder you want to unzip the file in. Select the “Download” folder or the folder you have select before for the preset zip file download.
After you have select the folder you want, tap “Exact”, that will exact the preset files in the folder.
The preset files are now in your mobile device.
Note: The method may vary with different mobile phones, the goals is to exact the preset files into your device.
Step 02: Add the DNG Files to the Lightroom Mobile App
Open your free Lightroom mobile app
Tap on the (+) icon in the “Albums” section to create a new album for your presets.
Select “Album”.
Enter your preset album title and tap “Ok”.
Once you are done you will enter the album screen, if not tap on the album you have just created.
In the album screen, tap on the “Add Photos” icons on the bottom right corner of the screen.
A bottom sheet will come up. If you have saved the DNG files to your Camera Roll (iOS) or Gallery (Android), tap “Camera Roll” or “All Photos” to import the DNG preset files to Lightroom (Make sure all the DNG preset files are imported to Lightroom and go to Step 03). If you have unzipped and exacted the DNG files directly in the “Files” app or “File Manager” app, tap “From Files” or “Files”.
On iOS select “On My iPhone”, On Android select “Downloads” to located the DNG preset files in your device.
Navigate your way through the screens.
Locate the preset folder.
Select the mobile preset folder.
In the folder, you will see the DNG preset files.
Select all the DNG preset files and tap “Open” to import the files to Lightroom. The selection process may vary in different mobile phones but most phones will offer a way to select multiple files or images to important in one go.
The DNG preset files should now be in your preset album in Lightroom.
Note: The DNG files thumbnail may not show properly in your mobile phone or app. This is normal.
Step 03: Create Lightroom Presets from the DNG Files.
Select one of the newly imported DNG preset files from the album to open the image. Tap on the (...) settings icon in the top-right corner of the screen.
Select “Create Preset” from the dropdown menu.
Enter the name of the preset you are creating in the “New Preset” screen. And tap on the “Preset Group” options after.
Select “Create New Preset Group” to create a group to store your presets in one place. (Highly recommended)
Enter your preset group name and tap on the “Tick” icon on the top right corner of the screen when you are done.
You will be navigated back to the “New Preset” screen.
Tap on the “Light” option and uncheck the “Exposure” (Highly recommended - If you decide to select another preset after adjusting the exposure of your photo, it won’t change the exposure)
Tap on the “colour” option and uncheck the “White Balance” (Highly recommended - If you decide to select another preset after adjusting the white balance of your photo, it won’t change the white balance)
When you are done, tap on the “Tick” icon at the top-right corner of the screen to save your preset.
Repeat these steps for each DNG preset file as you will need to save each preset separately. Don’t worry you only need to do this once!
Using Your New Presets
Now that your presets are saved in Lightroom, it’s time to play!
Select an image in the Lightroom mobile app that you would like to edit.
Swipe left on the bottom options until you see "Presets" and tap on that option. It will open your most recently used preset collection.
Tap on the collection name, and select the Preset Group collection you have just installed.
Select the preset you would like to apply to the photo.
Tap on the “Tick” icon at the top right corner when you are finished selecting and applying your preset.
You can always come back and change the preset later!
