I've been a photographer since 2008 and I've always done a pretty good mixture of hand editing and using other artist's actions and presets! I go through phases where I love my edits and then there have been spells where I've really struggled to find the balance of my style and still staying on trend with where the photography industry is leaning.
I tried really hard to get on board with the muted, film style edits.
But in September of 2024 I decided to go back to my roots and do most of my editing on the RAW files -- enhancing the exposure and tones that I worked so hard to get by choosing locations with dreamy natural light.
That same month, I taught a live editing class in the Collective, and casually mentioned that I could probably figure out how to save the RAW adjustments as presets, reiterating that I am not an action/preset creator, I have no idea what I'm doing, I won't be able to help troubleshoot because half of the time I can't figure out how to install actions on my own computer -- and most importantly:
These are not presets that offer a crazy amount of different looks. ALL of these presets were made from the same session, with the sole purpose of creating a unified gallery. Instead of presets that look vastly different, these are meant to help your images all have the same look and each one was made for different light, some are for beginning of the shoot lighting, some are for when the lighting is hazy, and others are for that last few moments of golden sunset!
How the presets came to be...
don't laugh at the names!
I literally named these based off of the location that I was editing them, never for one second thinking that I would be able to save and share them successfully, let alone anyone would like them or get them to work on their images...but here we are! They've been downloaded by over a hundred Collective members and the majority of them seem to not only get them to work, but they love them!
I literally named these based off of the location that I was editing them, never for one second thinking that I would be able to save and share them successfully, let alone anyone would like them or get them to work on their images...but here we are! They've been downloaded by over a hundred Collective members and the majority of them seem to not only get them to work, but they love them!
"OMGaahhhh I am in love!"
Finally got around to uploading Rachel's ACR presets and slapped them on some photos from a senior a couple years ago and OMGaahhhh I am in love. I cannot wait to edit some of my recent sessions with them after I get back from tonight's session!
-Chelsea Wagner | Collective Member
I decided not to "sell" these to the photography community like normal presets for a few reasons.
1. I'm lazy and that sounds like a lot of work!
2. These presets work best with the kind of lighting that I love -- the kind of lighting that I teach inside the Collective and Bootcamps. So they're not going to help badly lit images.
3. And mostly because I just like helping other photographers. If these presets can help you fall in love with editing again, get your work done faster and enhance your images, then I'm a happy Rachel.
So for right now, the only way you can get your hands on these presets is to join the Collective -- even if you only stay around for one month, you can download the presets and check out the videos, join the private FB group and see what the hype is all about!
click here to join today!
So, how do you download these?
the presets are for collective members only!
before/after images from: Bethany Blair Photography, Heather Ann Photography, Breakfree Photography,+,Regina Graves Photography
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