I have Adobe Lightroom, but I still want to use my precious
presets from Bridge or another raw workflow tool!!
By Gavin Seim ~ Digg This Article

Lightroom, the new image workflow management tool from Adobe is a really great application for someone who wants to manage the workflow, and correction of lots of images. Though not at all a replacement to Photoshop, it is designed speed process time for color correction, many other adjustments. So far as I have found theres no direct way to convert your Adobe Bridge presets to Lightroom. However there is a back door method that will work well. You’ll need to make sure you have the latest version Camera Raw installed for this to work.

1. Go the Adobe Bridge and make a folder that has Raw images. I found it works best to use a duplicate of all the same image. It’s a good idea to start with a raw image that has been reverted to it’s original state. One way to make sure of this is to simply delete the .XMP metadata file that goes with that image before duplicating it, and adding presets.

2. In Bridge apply each preset you want, to a copy of the raw image, and as you do so rename the image to match the name of the preset applied to it. Once you have the images named, and have the presets applied go into Lightroom and import the folder that has the raw images that you applied the bridge presets to (file/import photos)

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3. Once the photo’s are imported they will retain the settings that have been stored in the .XMP sidecar files when you applied the presets in Bridge, and appear correctly in Lightroom. If the images look natural, and don’t reflect the settings applied in Bridge that you may need to update Camera Raw. Now go to the develop module and select the first image you want to save a preset from.

4. Click on one of the raw images in the develop module, and then click “Create New Preset” (the plus sign at the top of the presets panel) The preset you are creating will use the current settings (the ones that were applied in Bridge) and save them as a preset. Once this is done your ready to go, and can apply presets all day long.

Things to keep in mind
Be careful to watch what the preset saves. You will see when you go to save a preset that check boxes allow you to control what settings will be retained in that preset. Often you can leave nearly everything checked, but with some presets this may not be the case.

For example on a preset that does not define any changes to the white balance you won’t want to have “White Balance” checked. However on a preset that changes the white balance such as a warming preset you will need to retain the custom setting when you save it in Lightroom.

You see this by looking at the develop settings before you save the preset. If for example you see that the where balance is set to “As Shot” you’ll know that nothing has changed and you don’t need the white balance checked when you save the preset. If however you see that the setting is “Custom” or “Auto” then you probably need to maintain that setting in your new preset. Though white balance seems to be the main one to watch, you’ll also want to keep your eyes open just in case theres a preset that needs some settings unchecked to work correctly.

Note that though you will need a raw file to follow this process, and get your presets into Lightroom, you will be able to use the presets on jpeg file once you have the presets saved. You’ll find that once you have your presets moved over into lightroom you’ll be right at home, and really start loving it… Have fun.

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~Gavin Seim Photography~ www.seimphotography.com
Washington wedding & senior portrait photography. Ephrata, Moses Lake, Wenatchee, Spokane, Seattle, Kent, Leavenworth, Sequim, Bellevue Winthrop