Images processed with Vintage Film Lightroom presets
How much are Lightroom presets worth?
It’s a question you may have asked yourself if you’ve considered paying to download some packs before; especially when some go for nearly three figures while others are available for free.
It’s a question I can’t definitively answer for you. Because, honestly, how much is anything worth? It all depends on how much value something has to the buyer.
A £1000 tin of caviar has no value to me because I won’t eat it. A £40,000 piano has no value to me because I can’t play it. But give me a £30 vintage camera lens and (I think) I’ll make some pretty nice photographs with it.
The same principles are present when considering how much a pack of Lightroom presets are worth, except to a higher degree.
Because, unlike the caviar or the piano, you can’t even sell them on to recoup your outlay.
So I can’t tell you how much Lightroom presets are worth, but I can help you figure it out for yourself, by getting you to consider two factors in particular.
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What benefits will these Lightroom presets bring me?
Salespeople are always told to focus on benefits and not features when trying to persuade someone to buy.
People don’t care about the type of motor in their desk fan. They just want to know it’ll keep their face cool. They don’t care what their shoelace is made of. They just want to know it’ll stay tied while they’re running.
Anyone selling Lightroom presets should be talking the same way to any potential buyers; i.e. you. But whether they are or not, you should be thinking that way as the person about to drop some cash on something.
Benefits, not features.
Forget about how long the creator claims to have spent making his presets. Forget about how many are in the pack. Forget about any adjectives you see like professional or premium.
Think instead about the benefits they’ll bring you.
Benefits such as:
- how much time they’ll save you in your post-processing
- how much better and consistent your images will look
- how much you can learn from them and eventually make your own
How much these benefits actually benefit you, I don’t know.
If you’re a professional, time is money. If you’re a hobbyist, perhaps not so much. If you post single images to Instagram, you might not value consistency. If you create picture sets, maybe you do.
If you never want to make your own presets, you’ll probably not care about learning how. Again though, maybe you do.
So, how much are Lightroom presets worth to you?
You tell me – after you’ve weighed up the benefits and not the features.
Can these Lightroom presets pay for themselves?
You might be hesitant to pay for Lightroom presets, but what if someone else could pick up the tab?
Even better, what if that someone could be the presets themselves?
If you’re a professional photographer, it is possible. Let’s take a wedding photographer as an example.
Post-processing your photographs is part of your service but it’s probably not at the top of the list of how you make your money.
Above it would be actually shooting a wedding, and shooting it well. But above that, right at the top, unless you’re in high demand, would most likely be getting your next job.
For clarity, I’ve never been a wedding photographer. I’ve done freelance writing though and I know that consistently getting new customers is everything.
So, how much do you earn from shooting a wedding? I’m going to guess it’s a lot more than you’d spend on a suitable pack of Lightroom presets to edit the shots with.
And the shots from many future weddings too.
The pack of Lightroom presets becomes something that will save you time. Time that, I’m sure you’ve guessed, can then be spent landing more work.
You don’t have to be a wedding photographer for this to be true. You don’t even have to be a professional photographer of any kind. If you profit from photography blogging, Lightroom presets can free up more of your time for writing.
But however you make money from your work, the more time you have to spend on it, the more money you can make.
Freeing you up to do this is how Lightroom presets can pay for themselves.
How much are my Lightroom presets worth?
I put together a pack of Lightroom presets, called Vintage Film.
The look it gives your photographs should be self-explanatory but, if you need some help, the images on this post were processed with one of the presets from the pack.
I really made them for me to use. This whole 365 project was processed with them. If you like them, you can get the pack for yourself, right here.
The question is, how much are they worth? And again, it’s a question I can’t answer for you.
I doubt anyone wants these presets for their wedding photography. I doubt anyone wants them for corporate head shots. I doubt anyone wants them for National Geographic landscapes.
They’re just there for if you do want to add a grainy, vintage film look to your photography.
So go check them out if you do.
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