Pixiq

These look great. I’m going to buy them tonight when I get home. Can’t wait to try them out, as they look quite useful for the type of photography I do.

Wow, LR2 has only just been released and already we have some presets available! Thanks for these, I have bought them and will enjoy using them.Kind regards,MCV

Hi Sean,Just thought I’d mention a small problem I encountered with the downloaded ZIP file, namely Windows XP wouldn’t let me extract the files as it had ‘helpfully’ blocked the file since it came from another computer and ‘could contain malicious code’. Yeah, thanks Windows. It wouldn’t even let me look inside the ZIP so I couldn’t drag and drop out of it. Even unblocking the file (as suggested by the help file) didn’t work.

Eventually downloaded and used another ZIP program (7-Zip) which extracted the files without a problem.

Good old XP..

I’ll look into other ways of compressing, I just used the standard Mac OS compressor for it.

Let me know how you find them. If I add to the set, I’ll mail you updates.

I use BetterZip. The problem might be due to the hidden files the Mac leaves around. In a zip it will have the file and a ._version of the file.

BetterZip allows you to clean these up and has a Compatibility Mode.

Hi, I purchased your presets yesterday and am very impressed with the colors and transitions. You’ve helped improve my images. Thank you.

I am experiencing a very unusual problem and wonder if you can tell me how to correct. The names of each preset applies the inverse of what’s in the description. I am selecting portrait grads when I need landscapes, top third applies to bottom third, .3=.6.

Like I said, it’s unusual.

.3, .6 and .9 refer to the number of stops of exposure on the grad. The thirds are referred to with Top and Bottom Thirds.

Landscape and portrait refer to the orientation. Landscape being Horizontal, Portrait being Vertical.

Adam,I was curious as to the nature of your problem and I did find one filter out of whack and have since updated the download.

Are these for Lightroom 2.0 only? When I try to apply them, nothing seems to happen and there is no change in the preview window either?

For the release version of Lightroom 2 Darren. The Graduated Filter is a new tool in the tool strip.

Win zip doesn’t like the file names so won’t work. Extracting from windows directly also produces error messages but does the job.Great work and going to save me loads of time!

That’s a good clue Pete. I’ll change the names.

I probably should have checked that before I bought them!! Perhaps you should mention that on the post somewhere.

I thought I had. I’ll make it up to you with the next set of presets. That said, you should really consider version 2. It is really a big improvement over V1. Just like me there’s a few teething issues. (Never seen a perfect dot zero release on anything!)

Sean,

I think my initial comments were either user error or a bug in my computer that went away after a system re-boot. Either way, the presets match the descriptions.

Thanks again,

Adam L

Hi Adam,There was one incorrect preset, and I found out after that you need 2 different portrait settings, depending on which way you turned the camera to shoot portrait orientation. I created a further set to allow for this, which is in the current download. Thanks for getting back to me.

Sean.

Yeah, I might check out the trial, see if it’s worth upgrading.

Hi,I’d like to buy these presets, but my electronic visa is not accepted. How could we manage ?

ysengrain@wanadoo.fr

Thanks Sean. I am happy to pay for the level of effort you put in and the quality of these presets. Thanks for making them available!

Franklin,I’ve had a few similar emails about paypal today, it may just be a glitch their end. Perhaps try again later?Sean.

Hi, again,

The system keeps me from paying, sorry.

Thanks for posting these Sean: really useful & well worth €5 or anyone's money for the time saved.

Hi SeanI have been using Beta 2 since it came out and ordered LR2 as soon as it was released but as yet no show. I was advised by Adobe to download the trial until I received the full version.I have bought the Grads and also downloaded the latest scrolling gallery BUT in Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom/ there are no development pre sets only a module folder which is empty, any suggestions.Great stuff by the way

Regards

David

Try reinstalling David. Otherwise try creating the folder Develop Presets yourself.

I’ve heard someone mention this happened to them, but that a reinstall solved it.

You’ll most likely need to do this for Web Galleries anyhow, unless you’ve previously installed a third party gallery.

Thanks Sean worked a treat. Probably been said many time but great site and thanks for the efforts you are putting in.

David

Sean,I purchase and downloaded your grad filter presets,but none of them seem to work. I’ve loaded them into the LR Presets folder, but their effect doesn’t show in the Preview window and they don’t work when I select them. I’m running LR 1.4.1.

Presets can only work with existing tools, and there’s no Grad Filter in Version 1 of Lightroom. You can reply to me using the download email to discuss this further.

thanks

OK – I downloaded and installed as directed. Problem is, all the landscape presets appear on the left side of the image!?

Any thoughts?

Hey Mike,That’s an interesting one. I can make a guess though, but first some questions:What camera?Is Auto rotate on, or do you manually rotate?Do some of the portrait ones work instead?

Unfortunatley, Lightroom doesn’t apply the filter to the current upright state, it seems to be based on the auto rotate of the camera. That’s why there’s 2 portrait settings, one for camera turned up and one for camera turned down..

Come back to me with the info and I’ll be happy to customise the set.

Actually if you wish, send me one of the original files, by attaching it to a reply from the download link!

Sean

Hi Sean – I seem to be having a problem with the zip file (Windows Vista Ultimate). When I download it I get the message that the file is already there. When I look at the folders after extracting them there is nothing in them. I am sure it is just some stupid little thing I am missing but would appreciate some help….we are sure lucky to have someone like you out there making our lives easier – thanks!! Susan

Sue, Try right click the link and Save target as.. or Download Lined file as and put it in it’s own folder. Extract it from there.. I suspect it is extracting okay, but getting lost somewhere (er… I do that all the time)

There’s 6 folders in the zip. LRB Grads is the prefix name on each folder.

Great info – thank you!

Question – is there a way to brush out the grad filter like on a mask. For example, if you pull blue down and there is something in the foreground it will tint it.

There’s no way to mask the grads, but it might make a good feature request.

Hi Sean, your Grad Filter Presets are simply fab! Thanks for creating them. I find taht I use them by first choosing Top or Bottom , then Colour, then Strength. Would it be easy for me, or you, to re-arrange them so that all the Bottom Thirds are together in Colour then Strength order, and all the Top Thirds are together in Colour then Strength order. This would make it easier for me to compare the effect of each Grad filter to it’s “nearest neighbour” in the Navigator. I simply want to choose say Bottom Third / Blue / then compare 0.3 / 0.6 / 0.9 then maybe try Bottom Third / ND / 0.3 / 0.6 /0.9 and so on.Many thanks, John (JBtheLD on the lightroomforums.net)

You could just rename them!

Just insert a number at the start of the name to create an order… 01, 02 etc.. It needs a leading zero to work

Hi Sean, sorry to be a nuisance. Following on from my earlier post could you clarify the naming convention you have used for your Grad Presets. I’m confused!For example in: LRB/Grads-Hard-Landscape/Blue 0.3 Bottom Third-HL adds a Blue Gradient to the top two-thirds of my landscape image;Blue 0.3 Top Third-HL adds a Blue Gradient to the top third of the image. And so on.thanks,John

Colour-Strength-Horizon position in thirds-soft/hard reference.Unfortunately Lightroom won’t allow the same names so the endings have to differ. The internal choices are:Colour: Blue, ND, Tobacco.Strength:0.3, 0.6, 0.9Horizon position: Top, BottomLine: Soft or hard, also set in the folder name, but we need to have different names per folder.

Hi Sean, I've got it now.I right clicked each of the Grad Presets and renamed them using a hefty amount of Ctrl-X and Ctrl-V (ie. copy & paste). They work a treat for me now.I had thought that the "Third" referred to which third of the image was "masked", and so couldn't understand the Top and Bottom bit. Now that I know that "Top Third" & Bottom Third" refer to the position of the Horizon Line everything makes sense!many thanks,Johnp.s. Would you like me to email the re-named presets back to you, in case anyone else might want them that way round, to save you the bother?John

Sure. Why not..

Use your download email to reply, that way I have a record of your address in an easy to find way!

Sean, I hope my email got to you ok.

John

I saw the mail between getting in from a daytrip and going to work, didn’t get a proper look yet John.

Just used these. They are fantastic…but you need another couple of sets: full screen filters for blue, tobacco and ND at the .3, .6 and .9 levels.

I would have used them last night on an image shot for a local chamber of commerce.

I imported trial into light room and the Grad#1 filter is showing correctly at top of my photo but when I try #2 & 3 the grad filter is on the right side going up and down virtically. Did I do something wrong?

No, they’re just for different photo orientations.

Lightroom doesn’t have a one size fits all preset, so you need at least 3 types: landscape, portrait up and portrait down. (technically you need one for upside landscapes too, but that’s pretty rare).

Hi Sean,

I boought your set of presets. According your instructions put them in LR. I face the following problem: I can see the presets work in preview,on the image,and the histogram only the sliders don’t move and I cannot adjust them.Other presets installed the sliders move in basic. I have windows vista ultimate and downloaded the update to LR 2.1. Please advice Regards Jan

I dont know if you received my previous comments. Jan

Jan, 4 comments weren’t necessary, so I’m only publishing one. You obviously missed the message that comments are moderated each time you posted.

Basic has nothing to do with the grad filter which appears in the Tool Strip below the histogram. Presets don’t open it. To open it click on the icon or use the shortcut M. Click the pin to activate.

Well, this is great stuff. Have been looking for the ways to use a ‘digital’ ND filter, this is the answer.