Have you checked out Luminar yet?  It’s a cool new app from the folks at Macphun and it makes it very easy to create your own preset recipes.  With more than 30 filters to choose from (plus blending modes) a preset can go a long way.

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Customizing Presets

Remember, a preset in Luminar is merely a starting point. Different photographers will desire different looks. Plus a preset may work great on some photos, but need a little tweaking for others. Once you select a preset, you have the ability in Luminar’s Side Panel to use Filters controls to modify that preset to fit your specific image needs.

Saving Custom Presets

As you adjust presets or build your own recipes from scratch, you may find a particular combination that you like. Custom presets can function as the jumping off point for your own look and style. A preset can store a lot of control in an easy, one-click effect.

  1. Adjust an existing preset or add your own effects to an image.
  2. Click the “Create Preset” button at the upper-right of the Filters controls.
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  3. A dialog will pop-up at the top of the window asking you to name your preset. Give it a descriptive name to help you remember which situations to use the preset.
  4. Click the Create New Preset button to store the preset. Once you’ve added the preset, it will appear in the User Presets group.

Modifying Custom Presets

There are additional features for user presets that are not available for the built-in presets. To access this menu for a user preset, click the small triangle next to a presets name while hovering over the preset’s thumbnail image.
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  • Show in Finder. Opens a Finder window for the currently selected preset file. This allows you to copy the preset and pass it on to someone else.
  • Delete. Deletes the current user preset.
  • Rename. Renames the current preset.
  • Export. Saves the current preset file to a location of your choice.
  • Update with Current Settings. To overwrite or re-save the preset with the current state of the sliders in the Filters controls.

Sharing a Custom Preset

Any presets you make can be shared with other users, manually backed up to a new location, or copied to a new computer. You can freely export your own presets and import another person’s presets into your application.

  1. To view any Custom presets simply chose File > Show Presets Folder…. Luminar presets have the file extension .lmp.
  2. Select the presets you want to share, then send them to fellow Luminar users.
  3. To copy presets on another machine, just choose File > Show Presets Folder… on the other computer.
  4. Simply drag the new presets into your Presets Folder. All presets in this folder appear in the Custom category and the All Presets category.
  5. For best results, restart Luminar to load all the new presets.

Note

  • You can take precise control over your Custom presets with the Show Presets Folder… command.
  • To export, you can simply copy files from this folder.
  • To import, just copy the files into the new presets folder.
  • To delete a preset, you can simply delete the preset file in the folder.

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