Totally Rad Actions: Lightroom Presets Released

I've documented many times my love affair with Totally Rad Actions.  Their first set is a main component in my editing still and I have a formula for the way I shoot and the actions I use to create my signature style.  They have earned their keep over and over and the money spent on them was well worth it!

I'm not much of a Lightroom Presets girl.  The few times I've tried to use presets in Lightroom, I feel like the images get way overdone.  I like the control of using masks in photoshop when I edit.  But, I would consider purchasing the new Lightroom Presets from the folks at Totally Rad because, well, I trust them to do an awesome job.  

 
They are only $99 which seems like a bargain for the over 100 tweakable presets.  I really really like some of the black and white conversions I saw.   And with fun names like "Smack my Pix Up" and "Xanadu" who wouldn't want to try them out?

So tell me, are Lightroom Presets all they are cracked up to be?  Should I give them another shot?  Will they save me time in the editing room? 

Comments

[erika]

Since I'm just getting started, I really haven't even played with lightroom a whole lot yet but if you use a certain action all the time, the lightroom presets will save you some time. you can batch them and in certain strengths. a lot of them correspond to the actions from photoshop it seems. Did you play with them on the site? Smack My Pix Up is my fave!

[jacie lee almira]

i used to love using other people's presets but now feel that they impose too much of someone else's style onto my images. now i create my own presets according to different shooting conditions. now I find that I only use my own presets since they are attuned to my personal shooting style, and that has saved me tons of time editing. the brush in lightroom has been very helpful too. i am curious to see what Totally Rad has to offer though. thanks for posting. i enjoy reading your blog!

[Jamie]

I was very excited about them until I read that they really only work on RAW images. I don't shoot in RAW and don't plan to start just so I can use these presets. But, I am sad because I am a huge TRA fan!!!

[Jessica G]

Hi Jamie, I'm a JPEG shooter too. I went back to JPEG after a year of shooting in RAW and am thrilled. SO MUCH FASTER and I don't have those gigantic files taking up space.

I looked up in the documentation and it looks like they MIGHT work on JPEGS..they were just tested on RAW. Here's what it said:

"Our presets work best with RAW files… though Lightroom will edit jpegs, it just ain’t the same. The presets were designed and tested with raw files, and if you’re a jpeg shooter, you might get different and/or inconsistent results compared to what they were designed for."

[lynda]

i bought these but i wish i could return them. i feel like my images are starting to look like everyone else's and i haven't found much use for them and end up using my own presets for my shoots.