Free Leica Presets for Lightroom!
Occasionally I develop new Lightroom Presets for Leica images I capture. I develop presets for myself to apply to any Leica camera photo whether Leica M240, Leica CL, Leica SL, Leica Q or Leica M8. Here I offer *Free Leica presets for Lightroom. (*Free with any MrLeica Lightroom Preset Bundle purchase).
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Editing in Lightroom using Lightroom Presets – My workflow
Adobe Lightroom is my preferred editing software to batch edit images (usually digital photos rather than film). I tend to follow a similar process each time so here is an overview of my steps –
- Upload image folder to Lightroom for a particular photoshoot or trip
- Try applying Leica camera specific LR presets first (For example applying Leica CL LR presets for Leica CL camera images etc) and see how the photos look
- Consider the mood I remember from the trip and does the selected presets give me that feeling/ look?
- If yes, apply the preset to all images, export photos and send to the model(s)
- If no, try apply different Leica camera preset (ie. Leica M8 B&W preset applied to Leica M240 images)
- If photos looks good, go to step 4
- When none of my existing presets give the look I want I have to get developing/ creative and make a generic Lightroom preset that will work on all images in that series
- If the photos look good, go to step 4 + save new Lightroom preset
- When I use this same preset multiple times for different photoshoots I list it in my personal “MrLeica Presets” list
- If multiple people start contacting me directly asking for the preset then that is the signal that there might be enough interest to take the time to write a blog post with example images and make it available to download
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Free Leica presets for Lightroom (Non-camera specific)
All of the following Leica Lightroom presets are non-camera model specific compared to the camera specific presets I have available for the Leica M240, Leica CL and Leica M8.
*As with all my Leica Lightroom presets any preset can be used for any camera whether Leica brand or not but for me they help create the Leica look I want.
I will add more Lightroom presets below as I develop them over time. For each LR preset I will include example images so you can see the before and after look
1. Leica Lightroom Preset: MrLeica-WarmTone
MrLeica-WarmTone: About
On my photo shoot trip in Hungary and Ukraine this summer (blog write up to follow!) I shot a lot of images with available light. Hot (and humid!) weather meant lots of direct sunlight and nice golden colours. Often I have a preference for black and white images but in these conditions the sun gave a lovely warm look to the skin and overall picture. When I came to edit these photos back in the UK none of my existing Lightroom presets gave the right feel or mood I wanted so I had to get creating.
The MrLeica WarmTone Lightroom preset fills this gap and I ended up being able to use it for many of the mentioned images. After being in Budapest and Ukraine I was then in Poland. Getting back from Poland I found this warm tone preset perfect for some of those images too. The WarmTone preset is now one of my most used LR presets (unexpectedly!)
MrLeica-WarmTone: Example images
Below are screenshots from Adobe Lightoom showing the before and after. Unedited photos are shown on the left side (as marked) and the same image with the MrLeica WarmTone preset applied on the right.
You may recognise some of the “after” images from my MrLeicaCom Instagram feed or Flickr.
Leica M10 presets / Leica Q presets
The photos taken on these overseas shoots were taken with a modern digital Leica CL camera. The MrLeica-WarmTone preset was designed specifically around a modern Leica camera sensor so should work especially well as a Leica M10 preset or a Lightroom preset for a Leica Q / Leica Q2 (in addition to the more obvious Leica CL and Leica M240). The Leica M8 and Leica M9 have the older Kodak CCD sensor so the effect may be different. Once I have tried this preset with my Leica M8 images I will add some examples here.
Free Leica presets? Explained
Any Leica preset for Lightroom featured on this page is available for Free when you purchase a MrLeica Lightroom Preset Bundle. Ends December 2021*
MrLeica Lightroom Preset Bundles include the following + more
- Leica M8 LR Presets (x3) (with example images)
- Leica CL LR Presets (x3) (with example images)
- Leica M240 LR Presets (x3) (example images to follow)
- Leica M10 LR Presets (x3) (example images to follow)
- Leica M9 LR Presets (x3) (coming soon!)
- Leica SL LR Presets (x4) (with example images)
- Leica Q LR Presets (x4) (with example images)
**Visit the SHOP to view presets for all cameras – Leica, Lumix, Nikon, Hasselblad..
If you want to download the MrLeica WarmTone preset on it’s own it is available as a one off purchase (£5.99). Ends December 2021*
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Hi Matthew, congratulations with your great work. I have a question with regards to lightroom presets that can be used with nikon bodys. I have a Nikon D600 and a analog Nikon FA and have tried about 30 different lenses so far and kept my favourite 3, the 50mm 1.4D, 35mm f2 and the 80-200mm 2.8 AFD. Most of the time I use 50mm and 35mm. I have tried some other presets from other people but they just dont work, mainly getting ugly colors from them.
Now, how do your lightroom presets, more specific the leica presets, work on Nikon raw files?
Do you use a lightmeter?
Thanks
Alex
Hi Alex, Thanks for getting in touch. I use Nikon lenses too on my FM, FE, FE2, F4, F5 cameras. I use modern glass and vintage glass on all my cameras so presets cannot control the colours. You would need a preset for each lens for this to work. Depending on the lens some render cooler tones and some warmer, usually from the lens coating used. The presets will not change the exposure either. It is assumed it is metered in camera correctly or with a handheld light meter. The preset will give a ‘look’ to you image and then you can change exposure and colour balance as needed for individual photos. If all your lenses give the same look just use one preset (mine or otherwise), adjust the colour so correct to your taste then save as a new renamed preset to then apply yo all your future images. That is how I would do it personally. Thanks Matt
Hi Matt, I’m sorry if you think this is an obvious question but I have a leica Q and was wondering what pack you thought best matched so I know which one to purchase?
Many thanks
Ryan
Hi Ryan, no problem. I will drop you an email. Thanks Matt
Hi Matt, do you have experience with other RAW processing apps, other than Lightroom? I don’t make money with photography and recently am acquiring an M240 which I want to shoot DNG with. I have Affinity Photo, but alas, it doesn’t process batches for the presets. So for a 100-200 photo holiday or stroll through a town visit I would have to do one by one. Not really trying to pay for Lightroom.
Hi Lubo, you could try to get a free trial to process you holiday photos. Sadly I only use LR so I have to pay the money each month. Capture One is also good I hear but not free.
Hi Matt,
I would like to buy LR-Presets. I need them as irtemplate for lightromm 6. Is it possible?
Thank you
Karl
Hi Karl thanks. I’ve sold quite a few overs the years and i’ve not had any feedback of issues from anyone. Yes they are .lrtemplate files so you should be fine. Thanks Matt
Hello Matt – do you do any presets for the Q ?
Hi Ron, yes B&W one