Case study — 19
Honor Amongst Ronins
Lightroom preset pack
My own Lightroom preset pack, eight years in the making, with before-and-after comparisons.
- Role
- Photographer & designer
- Tools
- Lightroom, Photoshop
- Services
- Content & social
The brief
These are the colors and tones I've refined for eight years, finally packaged as a Lightroom preset pack. I held off releasing them until they were exactly right. The pack also includes my popular "Mood" Instagram filter and a free printable Honor Amongst Ronins poster.
Get the pack
What's in the pack
Each preset has a job. My main ones are BLVCKOUT (muted yellows and oranges, contrasty, makes reds pop), BLVCKWHITE (contrasty black and white), FADED and FADED LITE (washed blacks), FILMPOP (a cinematic film look with green in the shadows), GETFADED (super black washed), MOOD (same as my IG filter) and OG, the main preset I used on my Instagram. The special presets, TEAL ORANGE and COTTONCANDY SKY, are more stylized and great for sunsets and sunrises.
- 10 Lightroom presets for desktop and mobile
- 4 desktop-only tool sets for quickly adding vignette and grain
- A free printable Honor Amongst Ronins poster
- A step-by-step install guide for desktop and mobile
How I use them
Every picture is different, so a preset is a starting point, not a finish. I apply one, then adjust white balance, exposure, highlights and shadows. Then I go into the HSL panel for hue and saturation. If a preset pulls too much color from my subject but I want the background muted, I use a masking brush and bring the saturation back just on the subject.
That's what they're tuned for: sitting in the middle of that workflow, not faking a finished photo.
Design decisions
I packaged it like a real product: a box mockup, a dark red and black cover, and a flaming skull mark. Every preset got its own art card with its name, so you know what you're picking. The install guide and the "How I Use Them" page are in the same style, so the pack feels like one piece.
What it shows
Color grading I actually use, turned into a product with packaging, docs and a store page. If you want to build your own, read how to make Lightroom presets, or see my photography work.
Install guide
Preset art
Before & after
Drag each slider to compare.
Related reading
Philadelphia / Worldwide
Have a project in mind?
Tell me what you are making. I reply to every inquiry myself.