How to Install Brush Presets in Lightroom Classic

These instructions show how to install our brush presets in Lightroom Classic. Please note that Lightroom desktop (formerly known as “Lightroom CC”) currently does not support the installation of custom brush presets. If you want to use the presets in Photoshop, please see our instructions for installing brush presets in Photoshop Camera Raw.

(The text-based instructions continue below the video.)

Step 1: Download and Unzip the Presets

You’ll download the presets as a zip file and store the file somewhere on your computer. Unzip the file and you’ll see two folders. One of the folders holds the presets for Lightroom Classic and the other holds the presets for Photoshop Camera Raw. Open the Lightroom folder and you’ll see the preset files.

Please note, we highly recommend keeping a backup of the presets in cloud storage somewhere (like Google Drive or Dropbox). That way, if your hard drive fails or you ever need to reinstall the presets, you can easily access the backup file.

Step 2: Open the Preferences in Lightroom

Open Lightroom and go to Edit > Preferences (on a PC) or Lightroom > Preferences (on a Mac).

When the Preferences panel opens, click on the Presets tab. Then, click on the button that says either “Show All Other Lightroom Presets” or “Show Lightroom Presets Folder” (the wording varies slightly depending on the version of Lightroom Classic).

Step 3: Open the “Lightroom” Folder

Click to open the “Lightroom” folder.

Step 4: Open the “Local Adjustment Presets” Folder

Then click to open the “Local Adjustment Presets” folder.

Step 5: Copy and Paste the Brush Preset Files

Copy the .lrtemplate files for the brush presets you downloaded and paste them into the “Local Adjustment Presets” folder.

Step 6: Restart Lightroom

To complete the installation process, completely close Lightroom and re-open it (or click the “Restart Lightroom Classic” button in the preferences. When Lightroom re-opens, the brush presets will be ready to use.

Using the Brush Presets

In Lightroom’s Develop module, click the icon to open the Masking tool.

Then, select the Brush. (The presets were designed to be used with a brush, but many work well with the sky mask or by inverting the sky mask to select everything but the sky.)

From here, you can adjust settings like the size of the brush, feather, flow, and density.

To select a preset, click the arrow next to “Custom” and a dropdown will open.

Select the brush you want to use.

Now, click on the image where you want to apply the brush.

If you have trouble or concerns, please contact us.