These free Lightroom presets can be used on a wide range of genres, from portraiture to landscape to still life. We've rounded up our favorite free presets here for you to explore.
There are plenty of photographers who love to spend hours poring over an image and editing it to perfection. However, there are many others who can't stand having to spend a minute more at the computer than they absolutely have to. If you fall into this camp, or you're simply looking for some fresh editing inspiration, why not download one of the free Lightroom presets we've rounded up here?
Free Lightroom presets are the perfect quick editing solution for those that want to save a little time, but don't want to spend mega bucks on the presets for sale on the internet. While some can go for as little as $10 / £10, others can easily be hundreds of dollars, but if you want professional quality, you do sometimes have to pay – see our guide to the best premium Lightroom presets for more.
However, free Lightroom presets are a great opportunity to test the waters before committing to a paid preset – or, are just a fun way to try a different way of editing in the best photo editing software.
• See also: Why I dumped Lightroom CC and went back to Lightroom Classic
What is a Lightroom preset?
Lightroom presets are a one-click solution for your editing, instantly applying pre-set effects and adjustments to your photos. This means that you don't have to spend your precious time fiddling around with all the different Lightroom options to get the look you want. You can try out different styles for your photography without having to spend hours trying to guess which combination of contrast, saturation and exposure will achieve what you want. The best thing about Lightroom presets is that they're all customizable as well. This means that if you like an effect, but it's making your image slightly too dark, you can simply use the Exposure slider to perfect the look.
So, if you're ready to severely cut down on your editing time, we recommend that you dive into these 59 free sets of Lightroom presets – which in total give you some 300 free Lightroom presets for you to explore. They've each been handpicked to help you take your photography to the next level – no matter whether you shoot portraits, landscapes or anything else.
If you want to expand your Lightroom knowledge, you might want to check out our free series of 32 Lightroom tutorials. Alternatively, if you like these presets and want to find out what looks you can get if you're willing to splash a little cash, we can also help you find premium Lightroom presets and plugins here.
Haven't got Lightroom yet? You can find out how you can subscribe to it here as part of Adobe's Creative Cloud Photography Plan.
How to download and install Lightroom presets
- DOWNLOAD THE PRESETS
Presets are just processing instructions, so the files are quite small, even if they are grouped together in sets. You may need to sign up to a newsletter first before you can get the download. This will typically be a small .zip file containing the preset files and often some instructions or upgrade information.
- OPEN THE LIGHTROOM PRESETS PANEL
You will need to be in Develop mode (Lightroom Classic) or editing an image (Lightroom CC) to see the Presets panel. This has a button for importing new presets. Click this and then navigate to where you've downloaded the presets. Here you can import a whole .zip archive (see above) to import the presets as a new group, or import them individually.
- IMPORT THE PRESETS
Lightroom can import presets direct from .zip files, unless there are other files in the .zip archive too. If Lightroom says it can't import the presets (next step), try unzipping the download first and importing the presets as individual files. If you do this they will appear amongst your regular user presets, but you can organise them once they are imported.
- ORGANIZE YOUR PRESETS
You can do this from the Presets panel too. If your presets have imported individually you can create and name a new presets 'group' and move them into that.
Free Lightroom presets for portraits
1. Altphotos presets
With presets that dull and darken, presets that brighten and warm, presets that increase contrast and blue tones, and presets that give warm, retro finishes to your images, you'll be sure to find something you like with Altphotos set of 10 free Lightroom presets.
2. Shutter Pulse presets
Shutter Pulse creates amazing presets of the highest quality – and, luckily for us, it has whole collections of them free on its site. There are presets for just about everything, too, so if you like what you see then you can purchase full packs.
Download Shutter Pulse presets
3. Deep Matte
Creating a nice, smooth matte effect in your portrait photographs needn't be too difficult with this useful plugin. It leaves you with solid definition and great toning to your shots, which can add extra dimension and texture.
4. Sepia presets
From soft HDR to clear skin and cold shadows, this pack of presets is useful for applying all kinds of options to your pictures. For a quick burst of nostalgia, any of these presets are really useful.
5. Color Pop
There can be a fine line between beautifully vibrant colors and a garish, unsightly mess. However, with Color Pop you never need overstep that mark. While so many presets will turn down the natural saturation in your photos, this effect will give a pleasant boost to photos that might be a little lackluster straight out of camera.
6. Grace preset
This Grace preset by Silky Presets is adept at lightening shadows without washing out your picture with a lack of contrast. It's refined, controlled and a good effect to use on a portrait.
7. Warm Retro
Warmth can be tricky to add to your pictures. Too much and you run the risk of an orange overdose, but too little can make your images look washed out. Luckily, this is a preset that fits just between the two.
8. Cole's Classroom presets
With added haze, crispness, summer and black-and-white presets included in this pack, Cole has covered all bases with a fun set of presets. Our personal pick? Big Bold Color. Check them out.
Download Cole’s Classroom presets
9. Skin Tone
All portraits need a little bit of editing and tweaking here and there, and getting the skin correct can be one of the hardest things to do. Luckily, this preset does all the hard work for you.
10. Silver Lining
If you're looking for a black-and-white preset but want to avoid high contrast, this glassy, silver lining preset might be just what you need. It takes the color out of your photos and leaves a classy monochrome finish.
11. Hollywood presets
If it's glamour you're seeking, these presets are the ones for you. With gorgeous toning in a range of styles, you'll feel like a Hollywood superstar in no time. The paid-for Pro version contains 70 presets in total, but you can grab two for free to start you off.
12. Blood Brothers
If you're looking for deep dramatic blacks, subtly purple-toned highlights and nice warm skin tones, you may want to give Blood Brothers a download. This preset gives you plenty of room to get creative with your colors without going overboard.
13. BeArt presets
Available on the Adobe website, the BeArt collection is great for beginners but it also contains some great effects that enthusiasts might want to call upon from time to time.
14. Insta Look
These presets give a lovely bright and airy effect by effectively erasing shadows, lighting highlights and brightening the image as whole. Blues are transformed into light cyans and greens are nicely desaturated in this staple Instagram look.
15. Urban Presets
If you're not really looking for HDR but you're still seeking a clarity boosting preset, this might just be the one for you. This set of 10 grungy urban presets do a great job of making the gritty pretty, and is ideal for edgy street portraiture.
16. Lightgram
This suite of 15 crisp, punchy presets is ideal for just about every kind of portraiture. From muted, matte-look tones to moody mono treatments and crunchy color boosts, it’s sure to add some pep to whatever portraits you throw at it.
17. The Ultimate Fighter Look
The agonized comic book look that was popularized by the movie 300 was quickly adopted by mixed martial arts organizations such as the UFC as the aesthetic for fighter portraits. If you want to give your images the Leonidas look or touch of TJ Dillashaw, this trio of presets is for you.
Download The Ultimate Fighter Look
18. Free Portrait Photography Lightroom Preset
This preset adds some serious bite to your portraits. With subtle desaturation, sharpening and contrast boosts in the midtones, your images gain a gritty vibe without succumbing to that overly HDRed look.
Download Free Portrait Photography Lightroom Preset
19. Photoshoot Preset
This soft, faded, dreamy look adds a hint of vintage elegance to any image. It is particularly suited to portrait photography, though, with its muted contrast and soft colors that recall the look of the old camera lenses that your parents used to shoot with.
Free Lightroom presets for landscapes
20. Skyfall
While it has nothing to do with James Bond, it has everything to do with pale pink skies and low contrast – so these Skyfall textures can give a soft subtlety to your images. They work well with a number of genres, but are particularly suited to landscape shots.
21. High Tide
These High Tide effects look gorgeous when applied to bright, summery photos. Combine the 12 free Lightroom presets with your seaside images, sunburst shots and sandy beach photographs for a warm, fresh finish.
22. Vintage Film
In the age of Instagram filters and Polaroid-style photos, there's never been a better time for a vintage film preset that replicates the same kind of effect. This one is a particularly strong effort and adds a wonderful tonality to your images.
23. Autumn Color boost
In many ways autumn is pretty, but in other ways, it can be kind of bleak. The skies become greyer and the temperature drops. Well, you needn't worry about that side of the season anymore; this preset is perfect for keeping the yellow, red and brown tones popping in your images, while negating the dreary grey.
24. Beautiful Sunrise
When captured well, a sunrise can prove to be the most beautiful shot in your portfolio. This preset can help to boost it just that little further with added saturation, brightness and clarity to boot.
25. Light Leak presets
If you don't fancy shooting Lomography style, or risking dirt getting into your camera by shooting while freelensing, these light leak presets create a lovely splash of color and brightness in your images, and look great in a bright, summery scene.
26. Blue Haze
Want some gorgeously moody blue-toned landscape shots? You might want to give the Blue Haze preset a whirl. This dramatic preset comes as part of a set of 11 free landscape presets – and each one is impressive in its own right!
Download Blue Haze & 10 more landscape presets
27. Winter Wonderland
The suite of 20 Winter Wonderland free Lightroom presets via ON1's website is perfect for bringing a chilly snap into sharp focus. It ups the clarity, fixes the contrast and gives a vivid feel to your final image.
28. Let's Get Lost
When it comes to toning your images with a sense of social media adventure, the Let's Get Lost preset is great for a once-over. It turns landscapes and lifestyle images into hipster-style shots and it's very versatile.
29. Dark Presets
Brightness is all well and good, but sometimes it needs toning down. That's where these 10 darker presets come in. Great for dramatic scenes, but also a necessary tool in tone control, making it a useful tool for moody landscapes.
30. Polar PX - Rough
This effect will create worn, vintage-brown casts to overlay on your pictures, without losing any color. They're great for achieving a grungy effect to exaggerate textures, and work with any photo – though it lends itself brilliantly to landscapes.
31. Helene In Between Lightroom Presets
This set of presets gives a beautiful balmy haze to your outdoor images. The blues become a little more cyan, while the yellows soften up nicely. It's great for your beach and city shots, especially with a little kiss of sun.
Download Helene In Between Lightroom Presets
32. Cinematic HDR
HDR presets are some of the most popular and readily available online, but these ones are particularly good for their clarity and contrast. Apply them to your landscape photographs to get them to their best.
Free Lightroom presets for weddings
33. Vintage Vixen
What’s old is new, and that’s certain the case with the vintage look. This portrait preset creates soft tones, a nice brown overlay and added warmth, which can help give you a classic movie star feel to your shots without any loss of quality.
34. Greater Than Gatsby
Perfect for beginners and professionals alike, this set of 12 effects is lifted from a range of Greater Than Gatsby's presets, with the slant towards soft-focus portraits, weddings and shots of kids.
35. Blood Sugar
Filled with bright, punchy oranges, intense blues and muted, cool-toned greens, this versatile preset can be used on landscapes, portraits, still life photos and more for a bold, unique and stylized look.
36. Mini Enlighten presets
The Mini Enlighten presets are great for controlling your exposure and offer great overlays for a professional finish. They make your colors pop without overcomplicating the effect and work really well with portraits in particular.
Download Mini Enlighten presets
27. Entity
This free Lightroom preset is perfect for making subtle improvements to your image while making the most out of its natural colors. It's designed to create a soft pastel look and make your subject pop – but it leaves you plenty of room to make your own adjustments too!
38. Grain and Film
For anyone looking to add that filmic effect to their pictures, look no further than Contrastly's Grain and Film pack, via the On1 website. These 10 presets are wonderfully easy options for adding noise and texture to your images without it being overbearing.
39. No Man Before Travel presets
If you're hoping to show your friends and families all the places you've been on holiday, you need these four free Lightroom presets. Perfectly designed for getting the best out of your travel shots, they add a pretty glow to your images.
Download No Man Before Travel presets
Free Lightroom presets for Instagram
40. AGF Ultra
This light and breezy preset is perfect for creating a high key film-inspired look for your photography. We recommend pairing it with images of beautiful, sunny days where the sun is high in the sky.
41. Orange & Teal
You probably don't even need to download these presets to guess what they do to your images. The teal-and-orange look is a popular cinematic look, with the opposite color wheel tones nicely perfectly complementing one another, and these are great effects to add to images with both cold and warm tones.
42. Vintage Lightroom presets
You can never have enough vintage presets, right? This pack contains everything from blue-toned, misty effects, to light leak-infused options, and you get the Classic ii and Misty Lightroom preset options for free.
Download Vintage Lightroom presets
43. Cross Processing
The problem with so many cross-process filters – we're looking at you, Instagram – is that the effect can reduce the blacks in your image to shocking purple. This is one of the classier presets out there, and capable of really subtle effects.
44. CosmicDancer
If you're looking for a little something to give you some added clarity, to tone up your images and keep them looking bold and impactful, this strong but subtle free Lightroom preset is the one for you.
45. HDR preset
HDR is one of those looks that divides people. Some find it slightly gimmicky, while others love the effect. This is a preset that can surely please both sides of the debate, though, with its subtle toning and simple color boosting.
46. Intense Warm
Intense Warm does exactly what you might expect it to, but the great thing about it is that it retains a sense of subtlety that can easily get lost in a vibrant, slightly orange image. This is a great start point for a thorough, summery edit.
47. Summer Breeze LR pack
This pack, which contains Beach Vintage, Light of Dawn, Pop Sunshine and Sun Glare options, provides idyllic summer effects. With added warmth and soft glow, these are ideal for your sunshine shots.
Download Summer Breeze LR pack
48. Instant Hipster
Vintage culture has brought back some pretty filters from the depths of instant cameras, and this pack of five free presets has some great options for turning your shots retro. These ones are based on actual Instagram filters, too.
49. Ciné Color
Who doesn't love a cinematic look? This preset lifts shadows for a more even exposure, injects magenta tones into your shadows and gives your cyans a dramatic turquoise treatment. Download Ciné Color to experiment with cinematic looks for your photos.
50. Free Lightroom presets for Fujifilm cameras
If you're a Fujifilm fanatic, then these presets are fantastic! These 12 presets are especially designed for Fujifilm X-Series cameras, but they're also more than happy being used on images from other cameras.
Download Free Lightroom presets for Fujifilm cameras
51. We Eat Together Food photography presets
These are not just any old presets: food always looks more appetizing with a little contrast, vibrance and clarity applied, and these five presets are good for making the scrumptious look truly mouthwatering.
Download We Eat Together Food photography presets
52. Moody
While bright and colorful presets will always have their place, sometimes we all crave something a bit moodier and more dramatic. The suitably titled Moody preset ticks both of those boxes. Lifted blacks perfectly complement the heavy shadows, while the desaturated colors give you a fantastic vintage-inspired effect.
53. Spring
If the summer presets are a little too warm for your tastes and the colder tones aren't quite cutting it, you'll appreciate the middle ground offered by this preset. It's soft and bright, with just a touch of extra color.
54. Shotkit bundle
This bundle of 25 presets includes a handful that aim to replicate some of the most popular and well loved film emulsions, such as Agfachrome RSX II 200 and Kodak Ektacolor Pro 160. Definitely one to check out if you love old film stock. You get this as one of several freebies when you sign up to the Shotkit mailing list.
55. PHLearn sample pack
This sample pack has some beautiful effects for you to try, including selections from PHLearn's Minimal Blogger Preset Pack. With 10 sampe presets, this sample selection is worth delving into to add some creative flair to your shots.
56. Car presets bundle
Every motor enthusiast likes their car to look clean, sharp and smooth when they're out and about, and these 10 presets will help make your car look even brighter, crisper and more toned than it does in reality.
57. Summer Breeze
Not to be confused with the earlier Summer Breeze LR collection at number 52, this is another pack of presets that are also warm, hazy and perfect for beach shots. If you're looking for a color boost, both are worth downloading.
58. Traveler
Sometimes less is more. With no significant adjustments to exposure, this preset doesn't dramatically change your image, it just subtly enhances the colors for a bigger impact on your viewer. Download and enjoy the colorful effect!
59. UltraPOP
Color-pumping presets can be a bit hit and miss, but this pack of 20 presets offers a nice balance. Used with consideration, UltraPOP can add a punch of color that really enhances your creative shots without making them too overpowering.
Read more:
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