I like to think that a lot of my photography is inspired by the incredible places I have been to, and all the delicious food I have been fortunate enough to try. I have been using Lightroom to edit all my photos for over 4 years now, and over that time I have developed so many of my own presets. Each has drawn inspiration from my own travels at that time, from lying on a beach in Honolulu nursing a pina colada, to cruising down the canals of Amsterdam in a tiny ferry. I have included 10 of my very favourite presets in this preset pack, with 2 different versions of each. I use each and every one of these presets for the different photos you see here, on this blog, as well as those on my Instagram.

All of these presets, except for one, are specifically designed for food photography. However, they can also be used for travel photos, portraits etc. with just a few adjustments. I have put a lot of time and effort into developing these for you and to share them with you, so thank you so much if you chose to purchase them! Please do not resell or share them!

THE PRESETS

All the presets are inspired by different countries I have been to and all the amazing food I have tried. For this reason, no two of them are quite the same and each will give your image a different vibe. Different presets will work best for different images, so have a play around with them to see which ones you like best for each picture. There are two versions of each city preset—a matte and normal. In the matte version, the dark shadows are lifted to give them a lighter, more muted effect. Here is a short description of each so you know what to expect, and which pictures to use each in.

Amsterdam

The preset inspired by this buzzing metropolis is crisp, clean and bright. It reminds of watching the vibrant city whiz past as our ferry cruised down the canals, and of the lively Albert Cuyp market, with its colourful assortment of fresh produce basking under the afternoon sun.

Athens

One thing that struck me about Athens was the sky–an endless azure blanket stretching over the ancient city. This preset is like the greek sky, so clear and brilliantly blue.

Berlin

Our trip to Berlin was gloomy and rainy, and although this may not be reflective of the weather in Berlin as a whole, it is what stuck with me. I remember dining out in fancy restaurants, my shoes filled with water, and eating vegan currywurst under overcast skies. This preset has cool, dark tones, and a deep vignette.

Honolulu

Ah, Hawaii. This preset has lilac tones and rich shadows, reminding me of cool Hawaiian nights at a luau, of tucking into frozen acai bowls, and of the pale purple of leis woven with blushing orchids.

Istanbul

I visited Istanbul in the peak of summer, so this preset has deep and strong shadows. Shadows like the ones we cast under the Turkish sun, standing in front of bright-red food stands, bitingcrisp crsip, sesame-crusted simit.

LA

This is the one preset not designed for food photography, instead, it is better suited to portraits, and more lifestyle-style shoots. LA has bright, summery vibes with ultra vibrant colours, especially greens.

London

I spend a lot of time in London and I must admit that while it can sometimes be glorious and sunny, most of the time it is anything but. More common are dreary, grey skies and a frosty, biting chill. The London preset, too, is dark, moody and has cool, cool tones.

Paris

Paris oozes elegance, from their patisserie windows lined up with glorious treats, to their grand palaces and courtyards. The Paris preset has subtle pink tones, like the assembly of French macarons on a counter in Ladurée, and the colour of the blooming trees seen from the Eiffel tower in the midst of spring.

Seoul

This preset has muted green tones that reminds me of the lush canopy of trees in the secret gardens. Reds and browns pop, just like the majestic roofs that sit atop their traditional palaces.

Singapore

This preset is inspired by home. It is bright and has pastel-tones that remind me of the colourful Peranakan shophouses, and of lounging on the scorching beach, slurping up my rapidly-melting paddle pop.

INSTALLING YOUR PRESETS

1. Open Adobe Lightroom
2. WINDOWS – In the top bar, click Edit > Preferences > Presets
   MAC – In the top bar, click Lightroom > Preferences > Presets
3.  Click on the box titled Show Lightrooms Presets Folder…
4. Double click on Lightroom > Develop Presets
5. Copy and paste the folder you have downloaded called TSDfoodcitypresets into the Develop Presets folder
6. In order for your new presets to show up in Lightroom, restart the program. I do this by right-clicking the Lightroom icon in the doc and choosing Quit, then relaunching it.

USING YOUR PRESETS

1. Once Lightroom has restarted, you can use your presets on your images. You will have to go to the ‘Develop’ module which you can navigate to using the labels in the top right-hand corner of the program
2. Select the image you want to apply the preset to in the Develop module. All your TSDfoodcity presets can be found in the presets panel to the left of the image. Just click on the folder TSDfoodcity presets, and all 20 presets included should be listed. Just click on the name of a preset and it will be applied to your selected photo
3. Note – you can click on all the different presets, and whichever one you click will simply overwrite the preset you have previously applied. Different presets work best for different images, so try them all out before deciding on which one to stick with! Also keep in mind that while the preset may work as is for some images, it may need a little tweaking for others (e.g. adjusting the brightness and colours). Think of the preset as a good foundation on which you can start to build your final, edited picture. Please refer to the FAQ section to learn a little more about how to make your images look the best with their new presets.

FAQ

Should I shoot in RAW?

In order to make the most of these Lightroom presets, please try to shoot your images in the RAW format. All DSLR cameras should be able to do this, as well as certain point-and-shoot cameras. RAW images not only offer you a higher-quality image, but they are much easier to edit post-shooting, especially when it comes to correcting the exposure or white balance. If the camera you use does not shoot in RAW, these presets will still work. Shooting in RAW just gives you a little more flexibility in how you can fix the final image

The light in a photo is always different, and this depends on where you are in the world, what time you are shooting, whether you are indoors or outdoors, using natural or artificial light, and on the colour of the food and props you are shooting. So sometimes, when you apply one of my presets, your photo may end up looking a little off. But this is always easy to fix, and if you are not familiar with the settings in Lightroom here is a handy dandy guide to get your picture looking it’s very best!

What program do I need to use these presets?

You will need Adobe Lightroom to use these presets. They will be compatible with version 5 and up. Please note that the presets will only work for the desktop version of the program and not with the mobile app!

Why are my images appearing overly blue/yellow?

I have designed these presets to make use of lightroom’s automatic white balance feature. For those of you who don’t know what white balance is, it’s when the colours in your picture are adjusted so things that appear white in real life also appear white in the picture. Your camera does this to some degree, and Lightroom also has a function to automatically adjust the picture’s white balance. For the most part, lightroom’s auto white balance is pretty good at judging the lighting conditions of your image. However, sometimes this goes wrong.

If your image is appearing too blue or too yellow, some aspect of your image has confused lightroom’s auto white balance function. You can easily fix this by dragging the temperature slider in the white balance panel of the develop mode. If your image is too blue, slowly drag the slider to the right. If the image is too yellow, drag the slider to the left. How much you change the temperature is up to you. Some people prefer their pictures to be warmer, while others like to leave their pictures with a cooler temperature (more blue).

Why are my images appearing too bright/dark?

I tend to shoot with my images slightly underexposed. This isn’t a problem for me since I shoot in RAW, and I know I can fix it later in Lightroom. Other photographers like to shoot their images on the brighter side.

When I created these presets, I used them on my images which were already slightly underexposed. If your picture appears too bright when you apply a preset, it is because you overexposed your image compared to mine. If yours appears too dark, then you underexposed your image compared to mine.

There is a simple fix! And if you have shot in RAW your image’s quality will not suffer. Just drag the exposure slider to the right to brighten an image that is too dark, and vice versa. I like to leave my photos on the darker side, but I know some bloggers prefer brighter images. So how much you fiddle with this is up to you.

How else can I make little adjustments?

I know that everyone will have a very personal editing style, and you may want to tweak the pictures here and there even after applying the preset. Of course, I have tried my best to make presets that work even without that extra bit of editing. But photo editing is very rarely a one-size-fits-all situation. Here are a couple of settings you can tweak after applying the preset, to really make the image your own

• Vibrance and Saturation – Most of my presets have these set quite low, but I tend to fiddle a lot with this setting. Both will make the colours in your image appear more vibrant, but the ‘vibrance’ setting works specifically on the colours in your image that are more muted, leaving the ones that are already more intense alone. The ‘saturation’ works on all colours. For this reason, I tend to use ‘vibrance’a lot more, as it gives a more natural-looking boost to the colours in your image
• Vignette – This setting changes the lighting in the corners of your image. I like a darker vignette, and this usually works when you have shot on a darker background. If you prefer to leave the corners of your photos brighter, just bright the setting up towards 0.
• Adjustment brush – This is, in my opinion, one of the most important tools in Lightroom as it allows you to fix particular areas in your photo that you want to brighten/darken/boost colours/make more dull etc. Just select the tool, and paint over the area you want to fix. You can then change the settings for the brush in the panel and it will apply to the area in the photo you have painted.
• HSL panel – In this panel, you can adjust the individual colours in the picture without affecting others. It’s perfect if your image just needs one specific colour toggled with a little bit!