A short while ago, I was approached to undertake a review for a Lightroom workflow from Sleeklens, however, due to commitments, I did not have the time to perform a valid in depth review, so rather than rush it, I declined the offer. A few weeks later, Sleeklens approached me again, this time I had the time so I decided to find out more about Sleeklens as I had not encountered them before. After checking their website, I found that Sleeklens was only founded in 2015, and after watching a couple of YouTube instructional videos, I decided to take up this offer as I was interested to see what could be achieved with these types of workflows and why they appeared to be so popular, after all, all these effects can be created manually with a bit of time within Lightroom.

I received a zipped file from Sleeklens, which when extracted contained two folders, a “Through the Woods Presets” folder, containing 51 presets and a “Through the Woods Brushes” folder, containing 30 brushes along with several PDF’s explaining how to install these presets and brushes, a terms of condition document, and what Sleeklens refers to as a recipe list, a basic user guide showing before and after pictures with brief descriptions of presets and brushes used.

Both the presets and brushes installed quickly without any issues.

Now Lightroom is a very powerful tool, the number of tutorials and videos available on the web showing what can be done, and how to achieve specific effects is an indicator of this. Just how many users benefit from all the options available within Lightroom is an unknown quantity, but I would suspect, the majority of users do not use it to its full advantage. Maybe this is why presets are so popular as one click will produce an option that could take several minutes to replicate manually, if you know how to achieve the effect. Obviously, anything that can save time, can potentially save money in a professional environment.

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  Presets Used                                                       Brushes Used

All in one – Calm Sunset                                     Golden Glow

All in one – Shine into the Sunset                     Cloud Sky Definition

All in one – Polish                                                Contrast

                                                                                Exposure

The presets and brushes can be stacked on each other, producing subtle changes to the initial effect applied. A preview of the preset can be seen in the Navigator panel by just running the cursor over the required preset. In this way, it is possible to judge how the image will look after the preset is applied.

After each preset or brush has been applied, the effect can be manually adjusted using the relevant sliders in the development modules resulting in very fine tuning of any changes.

Initial testing by myself has found that in some situations, several presets or brushes stacked on each other can produce excessive changes with some of the sliders in the development module, which in turn can produce artefacts in the final image. Checking after each effect has been applied, or manually adjusting the sliders can reduce or stop this happening. Up to now, I have only seen this happen once which was a composite panorama of 5 images.

So how did I get on with this workflow?

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Presets Used                                                       Brushes Used

All in one – Calm Sunset                                   Golden Glow

Exposure – Less Highlights                               Contrast

Vignette – Medium

Initially, I was quite surprised with the by the variety of results that could be obtained using the presets. Selecting and using the brushes was easy enough, but the results produced was an unknown until the brush was applied. Once applied, all the basic options within the development panel could be used, changes of exposure, highlights, shadows, clarity and saturation etc. What I did notice however after applying a brush, and as the brushes are attackable, a second new brush could then be selected and applied on top of the first brush, but if any manual corrections were required, the corrections would apply to both brushes that had been stacked together. For example, if a contrast brush was used followed by a warm up tint brush, any changes made in the development module would affect both the contrast and warm up brushes. It did not take me long to realise this and once I had finished adjusting a brush, clicking done would allow a second brush to be applied and if necessary corrected manually without any changes to the first brush. I don’t think I have ever used the History panel so much before allowing me to take a step back without having to start again. It is interesting to note, in the instructional videos on YouTube, the brushes are just stacked on top of the other. Maybe this is because the effect is known and there is no need for experimentation by the presenter.

Initially, I was trying all combinations possible to see what could be changed in the image, but it was not long before I realised that subtle changes had a more desirable effect. That is not to say that some images need more work than others because of the quality of the light at the time the picture was taken. Sometimes it is not always possible to achieve the required result in camera, and the shot is taken with an idea of what post production work is required to achieve the wanted image. This is no different to the zone system used by Ansel Adams, he knew exactly the final result required before taking the picture.

That said, these workflows and Lightroom can’t turn a bad picture into a good picture. A stunning picture starts with the photographer before the shutter is released. Simple advice, but often ignored.

Whilst finding out what this workflow could do, I noticed something that I had not realised before, but after consideration, it was just a matter of common sense. The graduated filter in the development module is just a “modified” brush, and as such, this filter can be loaded with any of the Sleeklens brushes. The thought of being able to apply a Cloudy Sky Definition, Water Definition or even Add Golden Sun to a graduated filter opens yet more possibilities. To get the full potential of these workflows could take some time.

Here are some more of my examples with adjustments made.

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Presets Used                                                                                   Brushes Used                                                     

All in one – Heavenly Warmth                                                   Contrast and Clarity

Base- Colours – Autumn Colour                                                Darken

Tone/Tint -Colour Pop

Manually reduce saturation and vibrance       

Manually added Vignette                                           

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Presets Used                                                                  Brushes Used             

Base Colour – Autumn                                                 Shadow

All in One – Warm it up                                               Highlight

Polish – Sharpen

Vignette – Medium Black       

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Sometimes, just a very subtle change is all that’s required

Presets Used                                                           Brushes Used     

Polish -Sharpen                                                      Add Golden Sun

Vignette – Medium Black                                     Golden          

                                                                                  Contrast and Clarity      

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Presets Used                                                          Brushes Used     

All in one – Shine into the Sun                           Golden Glow

Exposure – Less Highlights                                 Contrast

Manually added black graduated filter

Increased Green Hue

Manual Vignette

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Presets Used                                                              Brushes Used                                                     

All in one – Dawn Rising                                          Brighten

Base – Dance in the Rain                                        Clarity and Contrast

Vignette – Medium Black                                        Darken                  

                                                                                     Cooler                                  

So, in conclusion, is this workflow worth buying? Definitely as it allows often complex changes to be made with one or two mouse clicks. It can re-create desired effects quickly and efficiently. It can also create totally unexpected results, maybe something that was not envisioned at the time the picture was taken. However, there are a couple of things to be aware off.

As stated earlier, I have seen artefacts appearing after a several presets and brushes have been applied. I did manage to reduce this once I realised what was happening, just by manually making adjustments within the development module, or using a black graduated filter rather than a specific brush to achieve a similar effect.

When stacking any of the brushes, any changes manually made within the development panel will affect all stacked brushes, unless the option of “Done” was selected between applied brushes.

With all these options that are available, it is far too easy to push the image further that it should be creating a rather false and “over cooked” image. My own preference is to be subtle and make viewers question what if anything has been changed, however there are other people who prefer to have a more vibrant and saturated image. Just as well that we all have different opinions as this makes life more interesting.

For the way I work, I prefer to manually sharpen and vignette the image rather than use a preset, but this is purely my own personal way of working.

And maybe the most important thing I’ve left until the last. If you are serious about photography and take great care with post production, it is essential that you are using a correctly calibrated monitor, otherwise, all that hard work put into the final image, all those subtle colour corrections applied are wasted, they might appear to be fine on your own monitor, but once printed or displayed on the web, everything changes.

So, what is next, I rather fancy taking a look at the “Chasing Light” workflow, Mr Sleeklens, any chance of taking a look at that workflow?

For further information, please visit the Sleeklens website, or click on the following links;

https://sleeklens.com/product/landscape-lightroom-presets/

https://sleeklens.com/lightroom-tutorials

https://sleeklens.com/product-category/lightroom-presets