How do you organize your LR brushes? Share your favorite LR brushes?

If you would like to post, you'll need to register. Note that if you have a BCG store account, you'll need a new, separate account here (we keep the two sites separate for security purposes).

Andrew Lamberson

Well-known member
Supporting Member
Marketplace
What is the best way (or your way!) to organize your lightroom brushes so the most used are at the top?

I have been using:
01 Background blur
02 Feather sharpen strong
03 Feather sharpen medium

Does anybody have any favorite wildlife brushes you want to share?
 
Can you tell more about the basics of how to do it and what you can do? I've only used the default brush and jump to Photoshop for anything else needing brushes. What am I missing out on?
 
There are hundreds (or more!) brush presets you can buy or download.

For example, I have some "wildlife" brush presents from Matt K like fur: strong feathers: light

Or I save some that I make myself .
 
I've never purchased or downloaded any custom brushes. I've saved a couple that I use for taming highly reflective feathers or fur, but otherwise I make the settings manually when I open a brush. This is just what works for me.
 
LrC, desktop version, unlike PS, does not allow for the choice of multiple types of brushes. LrC has one brush, called the Adjustment Brush, that is used to create local processing edits. The software comes loaded with a few adjustment brush presets and allows the user to create their own adjustment brush presets (click on the wording across from Effect in the adjustment panel), but does not allow the user to create different types of brushes as PS does. A preset is created by using specific adjustment levers in any way you want and then saving them to a preset that is imported into your catalog and is then found on the left side panel, under User Presets if you've selected that option, it might go there automatically, it's been awhile since I've done this. The only presets I've made are for different sharpness and tone curve settings.
Screen Shot 2021-11-24 at 2.06.11 PM.png
 
LrC, desktop version, unlike PS, does not allow for the choice of multiple types of brushes. LrC has one brush, called the Adjustment Brush, that is used to create local processing edits. The software comes loaded with a few adjustment brush presets and allows the user to create their own adjustment brush presets (click on the wording across from Effect in the adjustment panel), but does not allow the user to create different types of brushes as PS does. A preset is created by using specific adjustment levers in any way you want and then saving them to a preset that is imported into your catalog and is then found on the left side panel, under User Presets if you've selected that option, it might go there automatically, it's been awhile since I've done this. The only presets I've made are for different sharpness and tone curve settings.
View attachment 27870

So the hundreds of brushes people mention is just someone making and selling presets? Or is there more to it?
 
I use brushes a lot, especially with auto mask turned on to help keep me "coloring inside the lines" ...so to speak! I can save my favorite settings so that I am consistently starting at the same point and can always the texture, clarity and dehaze as necessary after I apply the brush.

I also created a "Defocus and Darken" brush to darken, defocus and lower the exposure of the background (which is often out of focus anyway!) which emphasizes the subject.

I save them as a new brush using the nomenclature of 0.01 Fur sharp High, 0.02 Fur sharp medium, 0.03 Fur sharp low and so on.

I have 1.01 Butterfly wings and 2.01 Dragonfly wings. I am leaving space for other new brush tailored specifically for the subject like 2.02 Dragonfly Thorax and 2.03 Dragonfly Abdomen. In the article I found online he uses a "blank" brush (no changes) as a header for the section, for example 2.00 Dragonflies. If I get multiples in a section I will probably go back and arrange them that way.

Yes, I probably could just do it each time, but I really try to think my way through the brush settings so I consistently get the same effect.

I can always change the brush and just save it again with the new values as an "update".

All this is done in the brush section.
1637804257390.png


1637804513450.png
 
So the hundreds of brushes people mention is just someone making and selling presets? Or is there more to it?

For LrC it is a preset based on the Adjustment Brush. If you are familiar with brushes as they are used in PS it is not the same. I've used brushes in PS for various reasons so I am familiar with both terms.
 
Yes. For LR and ACR the "brushes" are presets for the basic brush. It can be interesting to see what someone else uses in different situations (see their settings), but it is quicker for me to do my own each time.

For PS the brushes are real brushes with different textures/hardness/shape/and anything else you can think of. It is rare I use anything other than the basic included brushes in PS but I do occasionally. Unfortunately I usually forget to reset my brush settings after use and end up irritated on my next brush. Learning to change basic settings such as flow and opacity can really help when retouching a photo. Also if you spend the time in PS really learning to use brushes you can create some fantastic art.
 
Yes. For LR and ACR the "brushes" are presets for the basic brush. It can be interesting to see what someone else uses in different situations (see their settings), but it is quicker for me to do my own each time.

For PS the brushes are real brushes with different textures/hardness/shape/and anything else you can think of. It is rare I use anything other than the basic included brushes in PS but I do occasionally. Unfortunately I usually forget to reset my brush settings after use and end up irritated on my next brush. Learning to change basic settings such as flow and opacity can really help when retouching a photo. Also if you spend the time in PS really learning to use brushes you can create some fantastic art.

In Photoshop if you click get more brushes from the brush menu you go to Kyle T. Webster's site for thousands of free brushes. And there are several tools that use brushes. All the healing tools, the regular paintbrush, the mixer brush, the history brush and the art history brush. Can get very complex. I spend a lot of time with the mixer brush, which simulates mixing paints by how much paint is loaded, how wet the canvas is, how much the colors mix, how often to clean the brushes, and more. Plus you can make more.

For most jobs though I just use the soft round brush and adjust the hardness, opacity, and flow as needed.

 
Last edited:
For LrC it is a preset based on the Adjustment Brush. If you are familiar with brushes as they are used in PS it is not the same. I've used brushes in PS for various reasons so I am familiar with both terms.

Honestly I didn't know you could save a preset for the adjustment brush or that more were for sale, good to know. I guess I just figured 'brushes, go to photoshop.'
 
Honestly I didn't know you could save a preset for the adjustment brush or that more were for sale, good to know. I guess I just figured 'brushes, go to photoshop.'

I guess there are multiple meanings for brushes as Adobe uses the term. The brushes in PS work, as you know, as actual brushes, a sort of "painting on" of color or effect. The one brush in LrC works as an actual adjustment brush, changing the adjustments for exposure, darks, whites, etc. (Writing this for people who may not know the difference.) But the brush in LrC does not "paint on" color, only changes levels of adjustments. I think it's good to know both programs and to know what both programs do. I use them both routinely.
 
Back
Top