Sleeklens Forever Thine Wedding Workflow (Lightroom Presets)
Wedding photographers will know that the sheer number of photos taken on wedding day can make the post processing ..process.. a nightmare. I usually shoot smaller wedding events that aren’t quite the whole kit-and-caboodle of typical western style weddings. However, as a relative newcomer in a field of already well-established (yet often overpriced for the work they do) wedding photographers here in a country that’s not even my own, I need to do something to make my photos stand out as something different from everyone else. With over 1,000 photos for each wedding though, that becomes a really labor intensive process.
Canon 5D Mark IV, 85mm f1.4L IS. RAW Edit in Lightroom with an “Instagram” type preset from the Forever Thine Wedding Workflow, “Instamatic Island.”
A couple of years ago I switched over to Capture One from Lightroom for RAW processing. I still use Photoshop when I need to retouch or add a little something extra, but I feel that Capture One has given me a little more of the full potential of my RAW photos. I could go much more into that, but I won’t here.
When Sleeklens reached out to me about trying their “Forever Thine Wedding Workflow,” I was definitely interested but not excited about working in Lightroom again. They very quickly changed my mind though.
Canon 5D Mark IV, 85mm f1.4L IS. RAW edit in Lightroom for a look similar to what I go for in Capture One using a combination of presets from the Forever Thine Wedding Workflow.
Once again, with a more “Instagram” type look, applied with a one-click preset in the Forever Thine Wedding Workflow, “Instamatic Island.”
I took a handful of photos into Lightroom which I had already edited in Capture One to a more or less satisfying point, and wanted to see if Sleeklens’s workflow could get me anything more out of them. I didn’t expect anything because a lot of presets or filters that I’ve used in the past, including Capture One Styles, have left me disappointed. They tend to feel overdone or have such a small amount of pleasing choices that get lost in a sea of frustration. It ends up taking much more time to find something that works and fine tune it, so I never end up using them. That’s not to say going in from scratch isn’t time consuming as well, but I’ve found a flow that works for me and, let’s just say, I didn’t expect the “Forever Thine Wedding Workflow” to change my mind.
To put it simply, it’s actually a fantastically simple and helpful workflow. I really like that they called it that, “workflow,” opting to leave out the word “presets,” because it does feel more accurate.
Canon 5D Mark IV, 24-105mm f4L IS II. My original edit in Capture One (nothing special, just a basic look).
A subtle styling applied with just a click or two on top of the original edit using the Forever Thine Wedding Workflow. I actually found a ton of variations that I really liked, ranging from subtle like this to much more stylized.
There are a handful of full-on looks included but I think you can really get the most out of building up a look of your own, and it really doesn’t take much time at all. There are a few sections in the preset list for getting a base, adjusting exposure, color correction, tone/tint, polish (adding a little finishing touch like contrast or sharpening) and of course few vignettes. There are also some nice black and white presets among the fully formed looks.
All of these will make adjustments to the sliders on the right, allowing you to dial something back or fine tune things if you need to. There are also brushes that will give you similar effects in a more controlled way and it all works very smoothly. You can see previews in the navigator when scrolling through the presets as well, which I appreciate.
You can see part of the list of presets here on the left, with “All-In-One” looks as well as building block type presets to help you get a really fine tuned edit.
What I like the best is that, for the most part, the looks are not overdone. Of course you can dial back what you want, but particularly when building up your own look everything is pleasingly subtle and not cheesy (unless you want that effect, which can also be done). I was able to get a look that worked in a matter of seconds.
I even ended up trying some RAW edits and in a lot of cases could pretty easily get a look very close to my original edit with just a few clicks, or something new and “hip” with just a few more.
Canon 5D Mark IV, Tamron 70-200 f2.8 VC G2. RAW edit in Lightroom with the “Instamatic Island” All-In-One preset applied. Definitely more moody than the original, I like it quite a lot.
More of my traditional look.
While this may not be the most in depth overview of absolutely everything this workflow has to offer, I hope it can give you a peek at what you can expect.
I’m not sure that this will bring me back to Lightroom; I still love the results I get for a base edit in Capture One, but I think this has quite a lot of potential to get a really nice and artistic final look, or even something more subtle but with just a little more flair than a simply edited photo. Of course, the settings can all be copied and pasted to all the photos you’d like, so I imagine I might use this to apply a finished look to all my photos after Capture One and before delivering them to the client. What I’d really love is a set developed for Capture One!
All in all, at just $31 I think it’s absolutely worth it if you’re a Lightroom user. Of course, it doesn’t just have to be used for wedding photos either, the looks would match wonderfully with portraits of any kind and a whole lot more.
If you’re interested in checking it out, click here to see more:
https://sleeklens.com/product/wedding-lightroom-presets/
https://sleeklens.com/product/professional-photo-editing-service/
https://www.pinterest.com/sleeklens/lightroom-presets/
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