I was recently approached by a company called Sleeklens to trial and review their Sleeklens Strike a Pose Portrait Workflow, which is a collection of Lightroom presets and brushes designed specifically for portrait editing. To be honest, I'm not really normally someone who purchases presets, I tend to just make my own to match my natural, lifestyle images. But I have really enjoyed having a play around with this workflow system - in fact, looking at the way they have created particular presets has taught me the uses of some amazingly powerful tools in Lightroom that I didn't even know existed!
One of the greatest thing about the Sleeklens workflows presets are that they are 'stackable'... meaning that their effects actually complement each other, rather than cancel each out out... so you have so much more control than you do with regular presets that you purchase as 'one-click-wonders'! Their 69 presets can look a bit overwhelming at first, but they are categoried into easy sections (All-in-ones, base, exposure, colour correction, tone/tint, polish and vignette). I'm always sceptical about 'all in one' presets... because they never look the same on images as they do on their on the sample images that entice you to buy them! Some of the Sleeklens 'all-in-ones' are far too heavy for my natural, clean style... but having customisable, stackable presets is a huge asset. It's great to get a different perspective on how products can be used by looking into how they have created their presets, to then tweak them to our own preferences.
One of the greatest thing about the Sleeklens workflows presets are that they are 'stackable'... meaning that their effects actually complement each other, rather than cancel each out out... so you have so much more control than you do with regular presets that you purchase as 'one-click-wonders'! Their 69 presets can look a bit overwhelming at first, but they are categoried into easy sections (All-in-ones, base, exposure, colour correction, tone/tint, polish and vignette). I'm always sceptical about 'all in one' presets... because they never look the same on images as they do on their on the sample images that entice you to buy them! Some of the Sleeklens 'all-in-ones' are far too heavy for my natural, clean style... but having customisable, stackable presets is a huge asset. It's great to get a different perspective on how products can be used by looking into how they have created their presets, to then tweak them to our own preferences.
I have found their 62 'brushes' to be even more useful - and even just watching a few of their super helpful tutorials, I learnt a lot about ways to specifically contour faces and create beautiful portraiture within Lightroom. I normally process all images through Lightroom, and then take many into Photoshop, to enhance and perfect the look I want there. But these brushes allow so much more control in Lightroom... that PS often isn't even needed! The brushes and presets have something for everyone - it's customisable enough to suit those who like simple, clean looks, and for others who prefer more heavily edited photos. So yes, when used well, this workflow system would save time, and even in the small amount of playing I have done so far, I've learnt some new skills in Lightroom and tips on how I can improve my current presets, and use the Sleeklens brushes to enhance my photos.
A lot of the sample images, and other review images I have seen for this 'Strike a Pose' workflow are more fashion-orientated images... which is not something I do a lot of. So I was interested to see whether it would be helpful in my every day, lifestyle work with families, children, and babies. So take a look at a couple of my before and afters, playing around with different options in the Sleeklens package. Obviously there are so many different looks I could create, but if I'm going to rate anything like this highly, I also need it to help with efficiency and enhance my already established style. I was really happy to see this could elimate so much Photoshop work, and that I could get colours and styles to suit my look, along with lots of awesome new looks to play with.
If you're keen to have a look into these, they are reasonably priced at around $56 (NZD), and they also have a huge selection of other bundles suited to all types of photography... I haven't tried any others so can't recommend them specifically, but they are worth looking into rather than 'one-click-wonder' presets which I know a lot of people don't have any luck with! Check out Sleeklens and their vast array of options here! :)