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DxO PhotoLab
Presets

Lesson 05 of the DxO PhotoLab Zero to Hero course. Learn how presets can give you a fast starting point, help you understand different editing looks and make PhotoLab feel easier to use.

Welcome to Lesson 05 of DxO PhotoLab Zero to Hero. In this lesson we are looking at presets. After learning how to navigate DxO PhotoLab, import images, rate your photographs and understand the difference between RAW and JPEG, presets are a useful next step because they give you a quick visual starting point.

For complete beginners, presets can make photo editing feel much less intimidating. Instead of looking at a blank image and wondering which slider to move first, you can apply a preset and immediately see how the photograph changes. This helps you understand what different adjustments do, how contrast affects the image, how colour changes the mood, and how a finished edit might begin to take shape.

This DxO PhotoLab presets tutorial is designed for beginners who want to learn how presets work, why they are useful, when to use them and why they should be treated as a starting point rather than a final answer. Presets are not a replacement for learning exposure, white balance, contrast, colour and noise reduction, but they can help you get moving quickly.

What Are Presets In DxO PhotoLab?

A preset is a saved group of adjustments that can be applied to a photograph with one click. Instead of manually changing every setting from the beginning, a preset applies a particular starting look or correction style to your image. This might affect contrast, colour, tone, saturation, sharpness, black and white conversion, or general image character.

In DxO PhotoLab, presets can be especially useful when you are first learning because they allow you to see a result quickly. You can apply a preset, look at the image, and begin asking useful questions. Did the image become brighter? Did the colours become warmer? Did the contrast increase? Did the shadows become deeper? Did the image feel more natural or more stylised?

This makes presets a simple learning tool. They are not just shortcuts. They are also a way of understanding how different adjustments combine to create a finished look.

Why Presets Are Useful For Beginners

When you are new to photo editing, the number of tools can feel overwhelming. Exposure, white balance, contrast, colour, HSL, Smart Lighting, ClearView Plus, noise reduction and sharpening all have a purpose, but it takes time to understand how they work together. Presets help reduce that early pressure by giving you an immediate starting point.

A good preset can quickly show you a possible direction for your photograph. It might make the image cleaner, warmer, more contrasty, more cinematic, more neutral or more dramatic. Once you see that direction, you can decide whether it suits the image or whether you need to try something else.

This is why presets sit early in the course. Before we go deeper into exposure, white balance and contrast, presets give you a quick win. They allow you to see what is possible inside DxO PhotoLab and help build confidence before we start breaking down the individual editing tools.

Presets Are A Starting Point

One of the most important things to understand is that a preset will not work perfectly on every photograph. Different images have different exposure, colour, lighting, contrast and subject matter. A preset that looks great on one image may look too strong, too flat, too warm or too dark on another.

This is completely normal. The preset is not wrong. It simply needs adjusting for the specific photograph. This is where your own editing skills begin to matter. Once a preset is applied, you can fine-tune the image using the tools we will cover in the next lessons.

For example, you might apply a preset and then reduce the exposure slightly, warm up the white balance, lower the contrast, adjust the highlights or reduce saturation. As you become more confident, you will start to understand which parts of the preset are helping the image and which parts need refining.

Using Presets To Learn PhotoLab

Presets can also help you learn the software by giving you a visual reference. Instead of trying to understand every editing tool in isolation, you can apply a preset and then look at how the image has changed. This helps train your eye and makes the editing process feel more practical.

If you are learning DxO PhotoLab from scratch, try applying a few different presets to the same photograph. Notice how each one changes the mood of the image. Some may feel subtle and natural. Others may feel more stylised. Some might work better for landscapes, while others might suit portraits, street photography, travel images or black and white edits.

This process helps you understand that editing is not just about correcting mistakes. It is also about making choices. Presets give you a quick way to explore different directions before deciding where to take the final image.

When Should You Use Presets?

Presets are useful when you want a quick starting point, when you are learning the software, when you are exploring different looks, or when you need to edit a group of images with a consistent style. They can be especially helpful for beginners because they remove the feeling of staring at a completely blank edit.

They are also useful for workflow. If you have a set of images from the same shoot, a preset can help give them a consistent base before you refine each photograph individually. This can save time and create a more coherent visual style.

The key is to avoid becoming dependent on presets. As this course continues, you will learn what the main controls actually do. That way, presets become part of your workflow rather than the whole workflow.

Continue The Course

Once you understand how presets can help you begin an edit, continue to Lesson 06, where we look at exposure and why brightness, highlights and shadows form the foundation of almost every photo edit.

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