I’ve been tinkering around with the idea of learning how to create ACR presets. (ACR is Adobe Camera Raw, the program I use to tweak my Raw files before pulling them into Photoshop.) I’ve never really used them before and have always manually tweaked my photos in the program. Lately, if I do a tweak that seems to apply an effect, I’ve been saving it as a preset to test on other photos I want to have that effect. So far, it’s rather trial and error as to whether or not something’s going to work on another photograph.
I think I may have lucked out with a set of Sky presets, called that because it seems to work best on photographs of clouds in the sky. I’m offering them for download because I’d love others’ feedback on whether or not it works.
Download the Sky ACR Preset Pack.
To install the presets, all you have to do is copy the .xmp file into your CameraRaw\Settings folder
There are three presets included in this set. They’re all basically designed to up the exposure and pump up the blacks, to help enrich the color of the sky and create contrast in the clouds.
1. Sky
This is the subtlest of the effects. Here’s an example shot straight out of the camera:
With the Sky preset applied, no other edits in Photoshop:
2. Dramatic Skies
This example is one of my favorites for this preset. It took what appeared to be a completely blurry night cloud shot and made the clouds look like they were moving instead of just being blurry. Straight out of the camera:
With only the preset applied:
3. Extra Dramatic Skies
As the name implies, this is the most dramatic of the presets. I will usually try out all three to see which, if any, look good on my sky shots. Here’s an example SOOC:
And again, with just the preset applied:
If you’re interested in using these presets for ACR, please feel free to download it! I would love to see the results, too! If you have a Flickr account and you use one of my presets, please tag your shot: dwc-acr-sky and it will appear in the thumbnail gallery below! I’d also love it if you left a comment letting me know how the results turned out, even if they weren’t very good.
More Sky Set Examples
This post was submitted to the bloghop, Touch Up Tuesday @ The Bonnie 5. Click on the icon to the left to view all the great entries this week!
WOW, these are cool! That 2nd one blew me away – the one where it looks like the clouds are moving. OK, I’m not at all familiar with ACR, and Ashley uses it too. Maybe something to look into, because I’m loving these! Thanks so much for taking the time to write all this out. Very helpful and interesting!! THANKS!
Twitter: @PhotoLynda
Thanks Karli! ACR is really easy to use. Though you can open JPEGs in it, I use it to tweak my Raw files before opening them in Photoshop.
Wow, that starry sky is AWESOME!
Twitter: @PhotoLynda
Thank you!
I really REALLY love the night sky one!
Twitter: @PhotoLynda
Thank you! I was shocked that just a click of a button transformed the photograph so dramatically!
@lynda OMG you made #ACR presets! OMG I AM SO EXCITED
@starrymom wee! they might be crap, but if they work out I’d love to know!
@lynda now I need to take some sky shots so I can try them out!
Twitter: @BLOGitse
ooops, I don’t photoshop but I use PhotoScape and have fun with Paint.net and other free editors.
+ I followup your comments.
Thanks for your reply.
I’ll join the gang when I have a little bit more time. Right now too busy (I moved to WP)…
But I subscribed your feed – I read you even if not commenting every post
You’re really good blogger. You know how to interact with people!
Twitter: @PhotoLynda
Congrats on your move to WordPress!! I’m about to do an article on WordPress Plugins for Photographers that I hope you’ll enjoy!
No worries about commenting on every post, I’m just so glad you’re subscribed! Thanks for your kind words.
Twitter: @BLOGitse
You seem to know ‘everything’
– do you know how do I get my readers to change their feed?
Most of them have not change it…snif!
Twitter: @PhotoLynda
Getting readers to DO anything is near high to impossible.
The best way would be to have your old feed URL point to your new feed URL. Is your old feed URL on your own server, or was it a blogger account? Send me an email with the specifics and I can see what I can do to help out.
My favorite is the second one. I love how the stars are so much visible. I was always a little intimidated by sky shots. I never really tried my hand at shooting the sky. Looking at your edits I think I should try it out soon.
Twitter: @PhotoLynda
Thanks!
Sky shots are pretty fun! I use spot metering and measure off a cloud or a medium portion of the sky before taking the shot. I find sky shots are perfect when there’s nothing else to shoot. Plus, it’s an ever changing subject!
@lynda I downloaded them! I will try it out next time I take sky photos
@softasylum yay! I hope they work okay for someone besides me!
Twitter: @patty_reiser
I will have to try these out. Just returned from a family vacation at Bryce Canyon National Park and I have hundreds of photos with clouds in them. I will let you know my results.
Twitter: @PhotoLynda
Neat! I don’t know how they’d look if anything but sky is in the shot.
How awesome that you did the worldwide photo walk! I was too chicken to do it.
Twitter: @tatterscoops
WOW Lynda those are amazing! Now one question, so I should download the ACR first right? I just recently upgraded to Photoshop CS4 and when I google ACR I’ve seen so many different versions. Which one do you think will work? Thanks Lynda!
Twitter: @PhotoLynda
To be honest, I’m not really sure. I’m pretty sure ACR came with my copy of Photoshop (CS3). Are you sure you don’t already have it? (Do you work with Raw files? What happens if you try to open them in Photoshop?)
Twitter: @tatterscoops
Duh…I didn’t even think to check first LOL thanks Lynda! I’ll check it first and get back at you