Playing With Paparazzi Presets

We often get asked for examples of our presets in action so CMmentor, Lisa Tichané, has put together this little tribute to her love of the CM Paparazzi Presets.  If she hooks you in with her gorgeous images then make sure you read to the end for a special offer just for you!

Playing With Paparazzi Presets

When it comes to post-processing, I used to pride myself on NOT using actions or presets.

I love to control my editing process and you can’t control what you don’t understand, so I learnt how to achieve the looks I want all by myself. And I am glad I did.

But one day I volunteered to be a tester for the CM Paparazzi Presets, the second edition with 15 presets and I was hooked!!!

Don’t get me wrong, I still believe that a photographer should master his/her editing tools. But when a preset can speed up your workflow, especially when you know how to tweak it if it does not perfectly achieve your vision, why not embrace the fun and save your precious time?!

Seriously, I am amazed by how versatile this set is. I had already been fascinated by the CM Film Art presets as they are so different from everything I have seen before, and add such a unique creative touch to the images.

But the Paparazzi Presets? They simply fit my style! I just can’t believe I found a set that allows me to reach my own creative vision in one click of a button. Truly awesome.

I still have to find an image that I cannot enhance with at least one of those presets.

They can fit so many different images from newborn (yes, newborn!!) to family shoots. They can give me the clean, colorful images that I love, but also let me achieve deep and dramatic black and whites when it fits the mood.

Sounds too good to be true? Let me show you!

Note: all the “before” images were previously tweaked in the basic panel if needed. The Paparazzi Presets are creative – not corrective – tools, so they work best on images that have already been adjusted to achieve proper global exposure.

Let’s start with a newborn picture. I simply love how Early Edition can soften an image:

Want a bold punch of color? Tabloid is there for you:

For a nice clean edit with just the right touch of contrast and color pop? Try Daily Edition:

Lifestyle is another resource for clean edits. It gives a bright, colorful touch to the image:

For romantic, warm soft tones you can try Rosy Good News:

In a creative, fun mood? Time for some cross-processing!

I love how they can fit urban images, such as the following example using Editorialize Me:

However, they can be used on countryside images as well as in the example below using Sunday Paper:

Don’t you love what a touch of cross-processing can do to green and blue tones?

Ready for some B&W? For a simple soft conversion, I use Classifieds:

For a deep and dramatic conversion, Newsprint can do wonders:

One last tip – if the effect of a preset is too strong for your image, try lower the opacity of a preset.  I describe the method I use to do so in this tutorial here.

Now it’s your turn! What is your favorite Paparazzi preset? Share it with us in the comments section.

Here’s your chance to own the presets too!  From now through the end of the weekend all of our presets are 25% off in the CMstore. In honor of today being Friday the 13th (insert scary horror movie music here), use the code THIRTEEN to get your 25% off discount.

Presets come in versions for ACR and Lightroom so please take care to select the appropriate version for your software.  Discount only applicable to presets.

Lisa Tichané
CM Mentor
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Maybe it’s because she’s “a bit silly” or maybe it has to do with her being “a child at heart” but Lisa has an incredible talent for photographing babies and children in her fun, clean and playful style with her Canon 5d mark ii, 50 f/1.4, 24-70L and 135L. Marseille, France is the place she calls home along with her two boys where they love to play in the countryside treasure hunting and inventing goofy games. She does enjoy some quiet once in a while where she can browse the web with her coffee and chocolate. Laughter is a must have, though, as she states, “a day without a good laugh is definitely a lost one for me.”