Oct
19

Lightroom Presets – Fall Foliage

By Matt Kloskowski  //  Presets  //  24 Comments
   

Well, it’s that time of year where the trees start changing color. When I grew up, my dad was absolutely meticulous about our backyard, so the fall season only reminds me of many days of raking leaves after school :)

As an adult though, I can enjoy the season much more (since I live in Florida and don’t have to worry about leaves anymore). Last week I co-taught a landscape photography workshop in the Northeast. We had the chance to photograph places in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine and saw some absolutely beautiful scenery and gorgeous fall color. I realized, as I was going through my photos, that I was making some of the same tweaks to many of “fall color” photos so I made a preset for it. Here’s a quick example of the kind of photo I found it works best on.

Before (click for larger image)

After (click for larger image)

For me, it tends to work great on photos without much sky but lots of trees and color. Also, I found it worked best on photos that were taken on semi-overcast or cloudy days. Believe it or not, overcast or cloudy skies are one of the best times to photograph fall foliage. Sunrise and sunset are great times as well if you have nice soft light. For me personally, I always find that overcast skies help make those colors and details in fall foliage stand out. And that’s where this preset really came in handy. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

• Click here to download the Fall Foliage Presets
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24 Comments to “Lightroom Presets – Fall Foliage”

  • Jeff October 19, 2011 at 12:31 am

    Thanks for another great set man! Colors are right around the corner here and these will come in handy!

    Reply
  • RON October 19, 2011 at 1:04 am

    Just in time!

    I am about to make a trip to shoot fall color.

    Thanks Matt

    Reply
  • jerka October 19, 2011 at 2:52 am

    Nice colours. I often use the vivid camera preset in lightroom when I want to enhance the colours of the photo.

    Reply
  • Ivan Boden October 19, 2011 at 12:29 pm

    Terrific! Ya gotta luv New England’s fall colors!
    Great places there to visit to, loaded with charm.

    Reply
  • Kristin October 19, 2011 at 1:28 pm

    Well, I have to love you for making this preset because I live in NH and take a lot of foliage shots, so these were tailor-made for me! I can’t wait to try — thanks! (Bummer you came this year, though — one of the worst for color due to a hurricane and constant other storms. I hope you get to visit again another year.) :)

    Reply
  • Ray October 19, 2011 at 1:41 pm

    Thank you…. NE is the best come fall colors

    Reply
  • zenracer October 19, 2011 at 3:46 pm

    Your preset has a “404 — File not found” error message

    Reply
  • Richard October 19, 2011 at 3:55 pm

    File not found error here too.

    Reply
  • Keri October 19, 2011 at 3:56 pm

    I get a 404 too :-(

    Reply
    • Matt Kloskowski October 19, 2011 at 9:28 pm

      Sorry. I fixed the link now :)

      Reply
      • Keri October 20, 2011 at 5:50 pm

        Thanks a lot :)

  • Cathy October 19, 2011 at 4:16 pm

    404 error here too! Is the link down?

    Reply
  • Andrew Keane October 19, 2011 at 4:30 pm

    Yup, 404 here too.

    Reply
  • zenracer October 19, 2011 at 9:52 pm

    Thanks for the 404 fix!

    Reply
  • Jo October 20, 2011 at 12:00 am

    I’m new to Lightroom. What do I do after I download the preset?

    Reply
  • Dave October 20, 2011 at 9:29 am

    Hey Matt, why the 2010 date on the preset? Isn’t this 2011?

    Reply
  • Vrtule October 20, 2011 at 11:52 am

    Wonderful! Thank you!

    Reply
  • Chris K October 20, 2011 at 12:15 pm

    Thanks Matt, just finished a wedding this past week and this preset could really make the fall colors shine!

    Reply
  • Elenora October 20, 2011 at 11:24 pm

    Thanks. Greatly appreciated!

    Reply
  • Amanda Brookhaus October 20, 2011 at 11:46 pm

    These are great! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  • Helen October 23, 2011 at 5:22 pm

    Thank you for sharing these.

    Reply
  • business daily October 24, 2011 at 1:59 am

    Understanding digital white balance can help you avoid these color casts thereby improving your photos under a wider range of lighting conditions.. Custom white balance allows you to take a picture of a known gray reference under the same lighting and then set that as the white balance for future photos.

    Reply
  • David K. Johnson October 24, 2011 at 2:43 pm

    Presets would not open, in CS5. Do you have them for CS5?
    Thanks,
    David

    Reply
  • Keld Bendtsen October 25, 2011 at 6:09 am

    Thanks a lot Matt. Just used the Strong preset on a picture from the other morning. Check it out on my blog.

    Reply

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