Photography, at its core, is as much about capturing moments as it is about evoking emotions. Among the myriad of emotions that images can elicit, nostalgia holds a special place. It’s a sentiment that links us to eras gone by, taking us on a visual journey through time. In recent years, there has been a rising trend among photographers to recreate this old-world charm, an endeavor made immensely simpler with vintage presets for Lightroom.

Presets are an excellent way to quickly apply a series of edits with just a simple click to your photos. Luckily, Lightroom makes it easy to both install and use Lightroom presets. Before we start talking about how to add presets to Lightroom, you’ll need to have some Lightroom presets downloaded on your computer. If you haven’t yet found the perfect Lightroom presets, check out our guide on the very best free Lightroom presets.

If you’ve ever searched for Lightroom presets on the web, you’ve certainly seen hundreds of different options in all price ranges. Presets can range anywhere from free all the way to a couple hundred dollars. And if you’ve purchased those presets, you probably know that some work well and others don’t. Unfortunately, it can be hard to tell which presets will work well for you and which ones won’t, and spending your hard-earned cash on Lightroom presets is less than ideal, considering you’re rolling the dice and hoping that they’ll work well for your photography.

Some photographers consider it a point of pride to avoid using any kind of shortcuts in their work. We understand it – but it can be helpful to learn to let go of that idea the more you shoot. Even if it feels like “cheating,” the reality of Lightroom presets is that they are tools designed to supplement your efforts. Rather than making you lazy or doing the work for you, tools like Lightroom presets can make your editing process faster and help you get a better-finished photo while doing the same amount of work.