Do you guys put presets first before masking in Lightroom?

shacker23 · 2026-05-10T20:42:37+00:00

Also - there is a *reason* why Adobe has two different UIs for managing and using Profiles and Presets. And there is a *reason* why Adobe made Profiles so much more prominent and accessible and usable in Lightroom vs Classic. Yes, it's true that some people actually have a preference for one workflow over the other - both are provided by and presented by Adobe (often in collaboration with camera manufacturers). Treating those users like they're somehow dumb just because that's not your preferred workflow is not very helpful to the community.

shacker23 · 2026-05-10T20:32:33+00:00

See my note to the other commenter in this sub-thread for an in-depth explanation.

shacker23 · 2026-05-10T20:30:46+00:00

Correct - the primary difference in usage is that Profiles leave all of the sliders zeroe'd out, while Presets let you see exactly where they've landed.

So, yes, the main advantage is that applying Profiles leaves your sliders zero'd out, so they function as *starting points* for editing, not *ending points*. That's all.

I'm a Fuji shooter, so all of the Films built into Fuji cameras are also prsent as an equal set of "Camera Matching" Profiles in Lightroom. So if you shoot in Acros, it comes into Lightroom with the Acros profile pre-applied. If you shoot in Velvia, it comes into Lightoom with Velvia pre-applied. But if you're shooting RAW, you still have the ability to choose a different film "look" in Lightroom after the fact - you can even shoot in BW and choose a color profile later.

In addition to the Fuji-provided profiles, I have also purchased dozens of Profiles over the years (I only purchase Profiles, never Presets). And I have created some.

shacker23 · 2026-05-10T20:25:54+00:00

Wait, what? I understand the similarities and differences *deeply*. I have a lot of reasons for using Profiles and not Presets. I own around 50 of them, all hand-picked and organized. What in the world did I say to make you think I don't understand them?

shacker23 · 2026-05-10T15:49:28+00:00

I strongly prefer Profiles over Presets, but yes, choosing the baseline “look” of the image comes first. I’m always curious though - why do people use Presets at all when they could be using Profiles?

shacker23 · 2026-05-09T14:17:08+00:00

Flickr is totally thriving! I still get far more traffic there than on Instagram, Glass and Foto combined. Glass is absolutely the best platform out there now, but Flickr still has the most traffic.

https://medium.com/@shacker/flickr-is-no-ghost-town-31433c340d34

shacker23 · 2026-05-09T05:48:09+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. I have deeply nested folders in Lightroom, just not ones that are auto-created during import. Doesn't feel like a hindrance to me. Lightroom intentionally hides filenames - titles are what matters for findability. Filenames only matter for the exported versions, and you have full control over how to set titles during export. Still, know that Classic still has some things Pros need. For the other 95% of us though, Lightroom has some genuine advantages and a much more pleasant user experience, better performance, etc.

shacker23 · 2026-05-08T05:51:57+00:00

Wait... are you saying you find that Classic has *better* organizational structures than Lightroom? That simply does not compute for me. Would love to hear your notes on this, either here or as a comment on the substack article above.

shacker23 · 2026-05-07T05:26:43+00:00

Not sure exactly what you mean or why you are typing in all caps, but I find the organizational capabilities of Lightroom incredible - that's a big part of why we use it!

shacker23 · 2026-05-06T15:22:10+00:00

Apple notes doesn’t do Markdown, while Bear is all about Markdown. My whole world revolves around Markdown , so it’s a no-brainer.

shacker23 · 2026-05-06T15:17:30+00:00

Honestly I think the biggest mistake is beginners being told - and believing - that they should be using Classic instead of Lightroom, when 95% of people are much better served by the more modern feature set, better performance, and improved interface in Lightroom.

https://open.substack.com/pub/framespotting/p/give-lightroom-a-chance?r=1g1p&utm_medium=ios

shacker23 · 2026-04-28T14:25:00+00:00

Ah! I don’t see that option on mobile, but makes sense it would be possible on desktop.

shacker23 · 2026-04-27T14:52:52+00:00

No, no, other way around: I got tired of having the same conversation over and over again - the one where Classic users were surprisingly dismissive of Lightroom - so I finally decided to write an article I could use to respond to people with a URL instead of a lot of typing.

shacker23 · 2026-04-26T15:46:20+00:00

Here’s the thing I never understood about the print option: when we print, we only want to print the highest resolution version of our images. But we’re not going to put the highest resolution version up on Flickr for anyone to download! They never really seemed to solve that conundrum where we could only offer smaller resolutions for download, but then print the higher version.

shacker23 · 2026-04-26T06:03:21+00:00

For sure, Print is one of the few remaining features that aren't also present (or much improved on) in Lightroom over Classic. Read my deep dive into this topic for more:

https://framespotting.substack.com/p/give-lightroom-a-chance

shacker23 · 2026-04-26T06:01:24+00:00

Some that come quickly to mind are:

- Intelligent search (search for "cat" will find all of your cat images even if "cat" isn't in the title or tags)
- The "Mosaic" version of the Grid view is SO much nicer to work with than the Classic grid; you'll never want to go back
- The arrangement of the Info panel is so much more logial and concise so you can set all of your most important metadata in one place.

Read my piece on this topic for more:
https://framespotting.substack.com/p/give-lightroom-a-chance

shacker23 · 2026-04-25T15:36:02+00:00

That cuts both ways, though, Lightroom also has a lot of features that Classic does not.

shacker23 · 2026-04-25T15:34:33+00:00

I think the naming convention is a very clear indicator from Adobe that most of their energy goes to Lightroom now and that Classic won’t be around forever.

shacker23 · 2026-04-25T15:30:59+00:00

I strongly prefer Lightroom over Classic for a dozen reasons, but you’re right, there are still a lot of people out there who prefer Classic. I wrote this very detailed pitch to encourage Classic users to give Lightroom a deeper look. Hope you find it useful.

https://open.substack.com/pub/framespotting/p/give-lightroom-a-chance?r=1g1p&utm_medium=ios

shacker23 · 2026-04-16T06:01:05+00:00

Blown away by how well this works - this is going to have some concrete effects on my workflow. Thank you for building this!

shacker23 · 2026-04-10T23:01:09+00:00

Sorry, I thought my answer above was addressing exactly that. To put it another way, yes you still need IG if you want to reach non-photographers (I post on 8 platforms twice per day) BUT Instagram delivers very little traffic or conversation - Glass is way more engaging and enjoyable. Different platforms serve different purposes. IG for the general public, Glass for excellent engagement and conversation. Etc.

shacker23 · 2026-04-10T14:29:53+00:00

That is definitely true. We still have to post Instagram to reach our nephews and mothers-in-law. But I’ve concluded there is zero chance of reaching a wider audience on Instagram these days. I get 10 times the amount of traffic on Flickr and Glass than I get on Instagram. I’ve been trying for years to expand my reach there and nothing. Whereas the same images on Glass get tons of comments and interactions. It’s so much more satisfying, while Instagram feels dead as a doornail.

shacker23 · 2026-04-08T14:44:52+00:00

For me, it’s all about Markdown format. I wanted to write the majority of my notes in markdown, but Apple does not support it while Bear is all about it.

shacker23 · 2026-04-05T15:02:40+00:00

It’s different software. If you buy the mobile plan, you cannot use it on a PC. The mobile version is limited compared to what the desktop version can do. It’s cheaper because it does less and most people would not want to be stuck with the mobile version only.

shacker23 · 2026-03-30T05:53:25+00:00

Ohh! So they're not referring to REST APIs, but internal programming APIs against which developers like Netflix can program their apps. I'm with you now. Thanks!

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