Every preset in my packs ships in two formats: a .dng for the free Lightroom app on iPhone and Android, and an .xmp for Lightroom on desktop and Lightroom Classic. You only need the one that matches where you edit, but both are in the download.
Lightroom Mobile (free app)
- Unzip the download on your phone (Files on iPhone, your file manager on Android) and find the Mobile folder.
- Open Lightroom, tap the + (add photos) button and import the .dng files. They look like plain photos. That is normal: the preset settings are stored inside each one.
- Open one of the imported .dng photos, tap the ⋯ menu in the top right and choose Create Preset.
- Give it the name written on the file (for example Summit Gold), put it in a new preset group called whatever you like, and save.
- Repeat for each .dng. From now on the presets live in the Presets panel at the bottom of the edit screen, under your group.
You do not need a Lightroom subscription for this. The free app has everything the presets use.
Lightroom (desktop)
- Open Lightroom and click any photo to enter the editor.
- Open the Presets panel on the right, click the ⋯ at the top of it and choose Import Presets.
- Select the .xmp files from the Desktop folder of the download (or the whole zip).
Because Lightroom desktop syncs with the mobile app through Creative Cloud, presets imported here also appear on your phone after a sync.
Lightroom Classic
- Go to File → Import Develop Profiles and Presets.
- Select the .xmp files from the Desktop folder.
- They appear in the Presets panel in the Develop module, under a group named after the pack.
Making them look right on your photos
A preset is a starting point, not a finish line. After you apply one, do two things: fix exposure so the photo is as bright as you want it, then fix white balance so skin and snow look neutral. Those two sliders change from photo to photo, which is why no preset can set them for you. Everything else, colour, contrast, tone curve and grain, is the look, and that stays.
If a photo was shot at a very different time of day from the look you picked, try a sibling: Lake Dusk and Lake Dusk Light are the same colour idea at two brightness levels, and Summit Gold and Warm Ridge both lean warm but one is softer.
See the presets or try them on your own photo first.
