Presets - Retouching Brushes
Today I’ve got another round of Adjustment Brush presets for you in Lightroom 2. These presets focus on some of the basic retouching effects you can achieve with the Adjustment Brush. Now, before you download them, keep one thing in mind. These aren’t for high-end fashion retouching. Photoshop is still the best place for that. They’re geared for some quick enhancements that you can do right in Lightroom when you just don’t have the time to move the photos into Photoshop. In this set, I’ve included:
• Brightening/Whitening Teeth
• Whiten Eyes
• Red Lips
• Iris Enhance
I tried to stay fairly conservative on the settings but one of the challenges I came across was the settings worked differently on different photos. But I’ve found they’re a great start and really have sped up my editing. Plus, you can always quickly adjust the sliders after you apply them.
Anyway, these are a little different to install from the regular Develop presets so here’s the instructions.
1) Navigate to your Lightroom presets folder. The easiest way to do this is to go to Lightroom’s preferences by clicking the Lightroom menu and choosing Preferences (PC: Edit > Preferences). Then choose the Presets tab and click the “Show Lightroom Presets Folder” button to open the Lightroom Folder.
2) Now go into the Lightroom Folder. Then go into the Local Adjustment Presets folder. You’ll know you’re in the right folder because you should see the file “Soften Skin.lrtemplate” there too.
NOTE: A number of Mac readers commented that their presets were not stored here. Here is the location that a few readers gave, though mine are not located here: Pictures/Lightroom Settings/Local Adjustment Presets
3) Unzip the file you downloaded from the bottom of this post.
4) Copy and paste the “.lrtemplate” files into the Local Adjustment Presets folder.
5) Restart Lightroom
Enjoy and let me know what you think. Thanks!
Get your weekly dose of the coolest Adobe® Lightroom tutorials, tips, time-saving shortcuts, photographic inspiration, and undocumented tricks with Matt Kloskowski from 
on October 1st, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Hey Matt
Just downloaded the retouching presets but can’t find where they show up.They are not in the develop presets “user presets” or any where else?Thanks.
on October 1st, 2008 at 12:34 pm
J.P,
After re-opening lightroom, go to the develop module and with a picture selected, click on the adjustment brush. You then have a dropdown called effect, and they should be available there.
Matt,
Thanks!
on October 1st, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Matt,
Thanks Matt, these are cool, who needs Photoshop now! You are right about needing to adjust the settings for different photos. I found this is particularly the case with whiten teeth.
Mike
on October 1st, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Matt,
I’m glad you put my comment into practice. Those presets looks really good, and updated some details into mine.
on October 1st, 2008 at 1:31 pm
matt,
These are awesome. Thanks! Could not have been easier.
on October 1st, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Matt,
Thanks so much! It seems you are always a step ahead of my preset needs. Just when I think, “It would be really great if I had a preset for…”, you release another great preset.
Ben
on October 1st, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Matt you rock!
You’re making it way to easy for me! Thanx a lot, these brushes are timesavers!
on October 1st, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Thanks for the presets once again Matt, I’ve got some really handy great from this blog, as well as plenty of inspiration for my own stuff. Cheers!
on October 1st, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Hi Matt,
Thanks for these, they’re very useful. Methinks those who have their presets folder in pictures have checked the “keep the presets with the catalogue” checkbox in Preferences.
Thanks again,
Phill
on October 1st, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Holy Crow!! Wow I never thought making something like this was even possible.. Now add how easy they are to use!? I’m blown away, now imagine if I actually knew how to use lightroom! (back to reading Scott’s book)
on October 1st, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Thanks, Matt! Those work well even with my balky adjustment tool. I should say that it wasn’t until I unchecked “store presets with catalog” as per Phill’s suggestion above that the Local Adjustment Presets folder appeared where you indicated. (Windows, not Mac)
on October 1st, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Hey everybody…
I have a questions, but I think this question is here out of place. I hope that is not too bad:
I convert my files to the “DNG” format at the import. The reason for this step is, that I haven’t xml containerfiles.
Is it possible to show the edit dng image correct (that means with all adjustments, brushes inclueded) in a different programm.
Is there such a programm anywhere?
Background: I have my pictures on an external harddrive and I want to show them to others, without exporting every single one.
Sry for my bad english, I’m a nonnative Speaker…
Hope you can help me…
Kind regards… Jens
on October 1st, 2008 at 6:43 pm
I don’t see these listed under effect. I see exposure, saturation, brightness clarity, etc. I followed the installation instruction. What did I do wrong?
on October 1st, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Never mind, I found it. I should have read “Presets for Dummies”.
on October 1st, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Great presets again Matt. You are the man.
on October 2nd, 2008 at 12:04 am
Hello Matt,
Thanks a lot for the presets.
They are really useful.
Cheers, Levi
on October 2nd, 2008 at 3:31 am
Hay Matt I just got your new DVD Lightroom 2 in depth. And the Layers Book. Great job, very easy to follow along. and BTW the preset are great as well.
Charlie
on October 2nd, 2008 at 5:45 am
…wow…these presets are GREAT…i especially love the fact that they create such subtle effects on eyes and teeth, nothing exaggerated or unnatural about them…if i may put in a shameless plug: i used all four of them on my latest b&w portrait (called “meltdown”) in the “portraits” gallery of my web site (www.udjat.net)…thanks Matt, really great job…
Patrick DS
(PS: even the 2.1RC brush adjustments work very slooooooowly on my Apple iMac 24inch…i guess the issue has to do with the video card driver…i hope they can sort it out soon)
on October 2nd, 2008 at 5:59 am
WOW
Thank you very much!
These are exactly what i need for a quick retouch!
Awsome!!!!
I am a real fan of your podcasts!
Regards . . . Jan
on October 2nd, 2008 at 8:59 am
Matt,
Thanks for the presets. I made one slight change by renaming them by putting “Face-” before each of the preset names. That way, they are grouped together when i look for them.
Thanks again,
Bill
on October 2nd, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Richard Capuozzo, could you explain to another dummy, how you made the presets appear? I don’t see them either, except for an additional separation line.
on October 2nd, 2008 at 1:07 pm
ok, found them as well. In Preferences, “Store presets with catalog” has to be unchecked.
on October 2nd, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Matt,
For me a great way of using the brushes is remove local clipping.
Put the clipping warning on, make a brush with some exposure -/+ and just paint the clipping away, instead of changing the whole photo.
Works also fine with too bright skies.
on October 2nd, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Matt,
Those presets are amazing ! Thanks
on October 2nd, 2008 at 6:41 pm
This is about presents, I didn’t know how to send you a comment directly after watching the video. Question about the present of including Jpegs as a separate photo. During the import off the cards both JPEG and Raw are saved correct? But LR2 only shows the RAW, I think mine says NEF& JPG but I see only one photo. When I work on the Raw do these changes also occur on the Jpegs behind the Raw photo? If so then I would want to save the Jpegs to Tiffs or PSD instead so they don’t degrade?
Thanks for the videos
Ron
on October 2nd, 2008 at 7:29 pm
For Matt and Scott -
RANT -
You guys do so much great stuff but I think you might have damaged your credibility a bit this time.
Color me a bit p$$d. When LR 2.0 was announced you guys told us it was so good we should to go get it right then. (I did.) Now CS4 is announced and with the purchase of a CS4 upgrade or total package a person can get a discount on LR2.
I am a bit gobsmacked that you both didn’t serve a bit more as advocates for the masses of people who follow you and your advice. Why didn’t you caution us to wait a bit until CS4 was out? Surely you’re plugged in enough with Adobe to know that. Perhaps you are contractually prohibited from making flat statements on such things but surely, surely you could have foreshadowed it a bit. Maybe you did and I missed it but I don’t think so.
And another frustrating thing about Adobe - A person can’t get Camera Raw 5 without upgrading to CS4. That is so much like what I went through with CS3 and D300 compatibility.
Adobe is to be commended for continuing to improve the capability and functionality of their software but they could better support the people who buy their products (and keep Adobe afloat) by extending the compatibility range a bit more to show that they understand that in today’s economy and shrinking disposable/discretionary income a $200 upgrade (for ONE software package) every year or so may not be easily come by. Combine that with the recent LR2 upgrade and those $$ and . .
. . . it just gets OLD, ya’ know?
Thanks for listening.
Bill
on October 3rd, 2008 at 2:19 am
Ron,
Yes, they are stored as one. There is not really a reason to change your .jpegs because it’s all just Meta data and won’t deteriorate them until they are exported. There really isn’t much of a reason for you to be using both .jeg and Raw (NEF) anymore. Just stick with the Raw.
on October 3rd, 2008 at 2:21 am
Oh yeah,
Matt,
Thanks for the brushes! Keep up the amazing work!
on October 3rd, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Bill,
Did you watch this video:
http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2008/archives/2033
“Now CS4 is announced and with the purchase of a CS4 upgrade or total package a person can get a discount on LR2. ”
- MK: Why didn’t we tell you this? Bill, I just found this out today after reading your post. I had no idea. You have to understand that Adobe doesn’t give us this kind of pricing information. We find out when you find out. Heck, I didn’t find out how much CS4 was going to cost until 2 days before they announced it.
“Surely you’re plugged in enough with Adobe to know that.”
- MK: Yes we know. But we can’t tell you and Adobe isn’t really in a position to tell you that far ahead of time either. It would be like Sony announcing a new Playstation game console 3 months before it was due out. That would be suicide on Sony’s part because that would be 3 months of no sales. Stop and think about why Adobe ships Photoshop (and other products) so quickly after the new version announcement (if not on the day of). It’s because the day they announce it, people stop buying the old version and will wait for the new one.
“And another frustrating thing about Adobe - A person can’t get Camera Raw 5 without upgrading to CS4.”
- MK: You’re preaching to the choir here. Please tell Adobe on their website. They don’t ask me for my opinion on these types of things.
“to show that they understand that in today’s economy and shrinking disposable/discretionary income a $200 upgrade?”
- MK: I hear ya and I don’t blame you. Everyone is feeling the pinch these days. Honestly, though. $200 for an upgrade of software that basically helps people do their job is pretty fair if you ask me. If there is 1 (just one!) feature in it that saves you 5 minutes of billable work a day, then you rack up nearly a half hour per week (2 hours per month / 24 hours per year). At a rate $50 per hour that comes to $1200. Not too shabby for your $200 contribution to Adobe. I think you’ve made your money back. If you’re a hobbyist on the other hand, then you’ve got to weigh how much you’re willing to spend on your hobby and consider skipping this upgrade.
In the end, we knew CS4 was coming, but did you really expect us to violate our Nondisclosure agreement with Adobe by telling you this? Imagine what that would do this company as we’d never get invited to Beta test again and now our training would be months behind our competitors. I sung LR2’s praises and told everyone to get it, knowing that CS4 was coming out because I believe wholeheartedly that LR2 is a wonderful upgrade for LR users. CS4 coming along doesn’t change that one bit for me - I’m still a LR user for my photography. CS4 coming out with some of the same features in ACR doesn’t change that. I’d still tell a friend to get LR instead of using ACR and Bridge any day of the week (even though ACR 5 is on par with Camera Raw in LR)
Finally, please tell me where I told everyone to go out and upgrade to CS4 right away. I haven’t. I did that with LR2 and I still would. I’ve demo’d the CS4 features, some of which I think are cool. When they are cool, I’m going to tell people that. Remember, not every Photoshop user is a Lightroom user in your situation. There are literally hundreds of thousands of Photoshop users out there that don’t (and never will) use LR. So when CS4 comes out, I’m going to do my job and teach them about the new features and show them what’s hot and what’s not. You have to remember that Photoshop’s scope goes well beyond the scope of this tiny Lightroom podcast/blog site we’re on. Most of the folks I come across over the year have no idea what LR is so when new version of Photoshop comes out its VERY big news for them.
In “damaged credibility”,
Matt K
on October 3rd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Matt,
Thank you for this response and for the email you sent. Such a personal approach is above and beyond the call of duty.
Matt, you guys are still my heroes. That won’t change. I couldn’t do the little I can muddle through in LR/CS without your help and Scott’s help. I appreciate it. I am a very vocal proponent of all that you offer and the help you give us.
Somehow you misunderstood my comment about telling everyone to go out and buy CS4 right away. I made that comment regarding LR2 - “When LR 2.0 was announced you guys told us it was so good we should to go get it right then.”
As I mentioned in my RANT, I thought you guys might be under contractual/non-disclosure restrictions but I still hoped for a bit more guidance. I don’t expect you to violate any agreements. I understand that.
I also understand not overhanging the market with a premature product announcement and the deleterious effect that can have on product sales. I’ve had to manage the same issue with my customers in my former life (before photography). I was just so totally bummed over the confluence of the 2 things:
1 - Looking for Camera Raw 5 and finding I HAD to upgrade to CS4 to get it.
2 - While looking at the CS4 upgrade order page, finding a CS4/LR2 package deal not long after paying full $ for LR2 upgrade.
I will take your advice and add my voice at the Adobe Forum to what I expect will become a chorus of others regarding the CR5 situation.
Thank you for listening to my RANT, addressing my concerns/comments and for your personal note about it all.
Bill
on October 4th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Thanks so much Matt, these are great. You rule.
Bay
on October 5th, 2008 at 6:55 am
thanks for the preset filters but i simply cannot see them in lr 2; when i go to the presets folder it seems there are a lot of them but the only ones that appear in lr are matt’s vividity numbers 1 thru 3; even the skin softening filter which is in the folder does not snow in lr; when i try to import these filters i get the message that this cnnot be done because these filters are the wrong type! any help would be great because i really like the filters of matt!
on October 5th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
I didn’t find ‘iris enhancement’ in the lightroom presetes. All other are there. Where is it supposed to be found?
on October 6th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Wonderful service Matt your presets are great. Thanks.
on October 7th, 2008 at 1:34 am
Hi, what a great idea and service, just one snag, copied them over to th efile suggested, i saw the mentioned file in there so i was in correct area as you pointed out, however, they dont seem to appear when i restart, doubt you could make it more simpler my friend, any ideas?? im using trial download, would this matter??
regards
on October 7th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Cool.
What a great idea, and thanks for making this available. Since upgrading to LR2 I have a raft of fans of my portraits!
It did entail a quick double take to find out where the effects are when you re-open LR - which is, I guess, where some people are having problems. But then LR2 has grown up so quickly from its younger, simpler days.
Thanks Matt - and keep up the good work!
on October 11th, 2008 at 7:07 am
Hi,Matt
Is it me or the LR which has made a mistake? I did exactly how you said to install the presets.Still I do not see them in effect .I had some problem with soften skin as well ,because it did not show in adjustment brush.I had to install the LR once again.
on October 11th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Hi everybody,with this brushes i just can’t make it work if you have some suggestions have message that preset is incorrect
on October 14th, 2008 at 5:17 am
I love the adjustment brush and have been using it for touch ups all the time but how did I not know about the presets??? Thank you so much for your presets… they work wonderfully. Subtle but they make a world of a difference.
on October 21st, 2008 at 10:20 am
Thanks for the Mac users tip. I tried every way I could think of to get the “darkening brushes” to work; they would show up in the proper folder that you mentioned but never appeared in the Local Adjustments Presets menu. I had given up. Going the Pictures route worked like a charm.
on October 31st, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Matt, I’ve just loaded the eyes, iris, lips teeth presets. Thanks a MILLION. They are GR8. I really like presets. Much better than clunky old PS Actions (well thats what PS had “wen ah were a lad”
On another subject…do you have any idea when the LR2 Ace is coming out?
Thanks again
(when R U coming to Bonnie Scotland? We’ll put you up…no problem Big Man!!!)
#:-)
Steve
on October 31st, 2008 at 11:59 pm
I downloaded the darkening brushes as instructed and they show up in the proper folder but they do not appear under effects when I select the local adjustment brush. The skin softening brush has also disappeared.
I also downloaded some other presets and they appear in only 1 of the 4 catalogs I have. I have ticked “keep the presets with the catalog”. Is this my problem?
Do I need re-install LR2?
Thanks, Patti
on November 11th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
I downloaded the gradient filters and imported them but they do not work and then I downloaded the adjustment brushes and the folder is not in the lightroom folder? Not sure how to find them. I read your added comment about mac users but it is not there either? Can you help me! Thanks, I would love to use both sets;)
on November 14th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Do you think you might post a video on how these work? I would love to see some examples of what hey do and how they work. I, too, cannot seem to get them to work at all, much less see them in the adjustment brush area. Just a confused LR kinda guy. Thanks for all you do.
on November 29th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
MAC users: Try looking in Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom. You should see the Local Adjustments Presets folder there.
That’s where I found it.
Matt, once again I thank you!!!
on January 3rd, 2009 at 8:27 am
Using a mac
I placed the brushes and pasted them at different times into local adjustments folder and develop folder… After restarting LR they are not showing up as other added presets did…
the message I am getting is
Error importing “Whiten-Bright Teeth.lrtemplate”.
The preset file was the wrong type of preset.
where do I find your response?
thank you