Lightroom Mobile Custom Presets
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This image was taken on an iPhone but has been edited using a custom preset based on one of the VSCO presets. Stan Horaczek

Lightroom Mobile has come a long way since its start, and it now includes the vast majority of the features you expect to find in the desktop version. One feature that’s not officially supported however, is the use of custom and pre-made presets, like those from VSCO or Mastin Labs. Recently, however, a rep from Adobe shared a clever trick to get all of those presets working on the mobile version, and it’s really simple.

Create a collection of images with presets applied in the desktop version of Lightroom. Stan Horaczek

In order for this to work, you obviously need a Creative Cloud account so you can sync images and collections between the desktop and mobile versions of the software. Once you’re syncing, create a collection called “presets.” I named mine “!presets” so it would show up first an in alphabetical list.

The collection I created on the desktop now shows up on the mobile app after syncing. Stan Horaczek

Now, find an image in your library and apply the chosen preset or adjustments. Once that image is added to the “Presets” collection, it will sync up to Lightroom mobile. It makes sense to use visually distinctive photos for each preset or set of edits you want to keep on hand so it’s easy to tell which is which. You could even make a graphic with the preset name to use as the base image if you plan on keeping a ton of presets on-hand.

Copying the edits from the source image. Stan Horaczek

Once you open Lightroom Mobile, the Presets collection will have your image as well as all the edits made to it. A long press will bring up the menu, which includes a “copy settings” option. Selecting it will let you pick and choose the specific edits you want to copy over.

You can select which edits will be copied over to the new image. Stan Horaczek

Now, you simply select the image to which you want to apply the preset and long press to bring up the menu again. This time you should have the option to paste the settings.

Once the settings are copied, it’s just a simple paste to apply the preset. Stan Horaczek

The presets may need a bit of tweaking to look right with the images that come from your smartphone camera because they can be very different from raw files you’re used to working with in desktop Lightroom, but it’s certainly a start.