No matter what photo editing software you use, presets are the number one choice that gives you a jumpstart to your editing workflow. Here we break down 10 of the best free Luminar presets you can download today.
Based on the image that you’re working with and the specific look & feel that you’re aiming for, you can use a certain preset that automatically does most of the job for you.
Like other photo editing software out there, Luminar works very well with presets to quicken your workflow and to help you get consistent looking results. A quick terminology note before we start: today’s Luminar Neo simply calls them Presets, but this wasn’t always so. Luminar 4 called them Looks and Luminar AI called them Templates, and you’ll still see those older names all over the internet (including in the classic pack names below). So if a tutorial mentions Looks or Templates, it’s talking about the same thing: Presets.
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We have done a full assessment of this software in our Luminar NEO Review here.
Working With Presets in Luminar Neo
Working with Presets in Luminar Neo is pretty straightforward. Simply follow these steps:
- Open any image in Luminar Neo and click the Presets tab at the top of the window.
- Neo’s AI immediately suggests a For This Photo collection: presets it thinks suit the image you’ve loaded. It’s often a surprisingly good starting point.
- Below that you’ll find the built-in collections (portrait, landscape, street, black and white and more), plus any packs you’ve added from the Skylum marketplace.
- Hover over any preset thumbnail to preview it on your photo, and click to apply it.
- Once applied, use the strength slider on the preset to dial the effect up or down, then fine-tune any individual tool in the Edit tab; presets in Neo are just saved starting points, and every adjustment stays fully editable.
One honest compatibility note, because it catches a lot of people out: old Luminar 4 Look files (.ltc) do not install in Luminar Neo. The classic free packs below come from that earlier era, so treat them as the ten styles worth recreating or hunting down modern equivalents for, rather than files to sideload. The good news is that Neo ships with a far bigger built-in preset library than Luminar 4 ever had, Skylum regularly gives away free preset packs for Neo through the app and their marketplace, and every style below has a close Neo equivalent in the built-in collections.
Ten Free Best Looks (Presets) for Luminar
By default, Luminar has quite a good number of Looks pre-installed. In case they don’t work for you, or if you want to try something else, we have put together this carefully selected list of Looks and Looks Collection for Luminar. Feel free to browse through the collection of free Looks for Luminar and see how they can take your photographs to the next level.
BLK Film Look
If you like black and white film photography, you must try the BLK Film look for Luminar. It is a black and white film emulation preset that you can use with almost any type of photos. If you are a street photographer, you’ll especially love this look.
You can see that this look does not exaggerate things much. The blacks are not crushed and the details in the highlights are also well preserved. This gives a much natural look to the image. The simplicity of this look is what I love the most. But, if you want some extra punch, you can obviously do so by taking over the adjustment controls.
Retro Vibe Look
Who doesn’t love the retro look that’s a reminder of the olden days right? The retro look invokes nostalgia to many and is also widely loved by many social media followers. The Retro Vibe look for Luminar is a one-click solution if you’d like your images to have a classic look to it. This look too works with almost any kind of image but it’s best if you have a subject that’s reminiscent of the past.
The look adds a bit of warmth to the highlights and a greenish tint to the shadows to achieve the retro look. You’ll also notice deeper blacks and brighter whites which is what makes them look so authentic.
Portrait Look
Retouching portraits are all about the