Hello my fellow travel addicts! Since I get quite a few questions on how I edit my travel photos I thought I’d share my editing secrets with you here.
Well, its not really such a secret.. I create my own presets in Adobe Lightroom! So whenever I travel somewhere new it will take me just a few clicks on my phone to edit my fresh travel photos. I think it is so much fun and I love how easy it is on the go. Which is why I thought I’d share my presets with you guys for free. I hope you like them!
These free presets can help you improve your travel photos in just a few clicks, and all you need is a smartphone and an email address.
Um.. What Is A Lightroom Preset?
No clue what I’m talking about? No worries. A preset is a combination of photo settings someone has created and saved using the popular editing program Adobe Lightroom. It is hands down the best editing software on the market, and it’s loved by both beginners and the pros for a reason.
If you want to use Lightroom on your computer you need to pay for a monthly or annual subscription (worth every penny). However, the Lightroom app for your phone is 100% free!

What You Can Expect From My Free Presets
The Travel Pack consists of 4 presets I’ve developed myself, all inspired by popular travel destinations in Asia. The presets are very bright and colorful, which works extra well with tropical photos. If your photos turn out too bright or too colorful you can easily make adjustments in the Lightroom app after applying the preset. Read more tips at the end of this post.
Although presets in general are a great way to edit images quickly, results will vary and all images will not turn out the same. This is due to each photos individual properties like image quality, white balance, original exposure, original color balance and much more. However, presets are a great way to start experimenting and they’re so much fun!
Have a look at my before and after photos below to get an idea of what you can expect from my travel presets.
Before & After The Travel Pack
Want some real life examples on edits done with my free preset pack? Keep scrollin’ to see before and after photos edited with all 4 presets. All photos were shot with an iPhone (aka no fancy camera).
FREE PRESET I: BALI
A fresh and bright preset inspired by magical Bali. Perfect for the beach-y vibes.
FREE PRESET II: PINK DREAM
A warm and dreamy preset with loads of orange and pink tones. Great for colorful motives like this beautiful pink cathedral. Try them on your beach photos too.
FREE PRESET III: ANGKOR SUNRISE II
A warm preset with a bit of contrast, which is great for those wonderful sunrises and sunsets.
FREE PRESET IV: NUSA
A lovely preset that does wonders for those greens and blues. Ohh and it also makes that tan pop!
How To Download and Install My Free Presets
STEP 1. Follow me on Instagram here.
STEP 2. Download the free Lightroom app to your smartphone.
STEP 3. Enter your name and email to the subscription form below. Confirm your subscription and you’ll be redirected to a website with access to the files you need.
STEP 4. Download the files. Now you’ll have access to 4 presets (dng files) and an installation guide (pdf file). Save the dng files on your phone, for example in Camera Roll or Files.
STEP 5. Open the free Lightroom app. Tap the button that says “ADD” and select one of the dng files (presets) from the folder you saved them. Once opened, tap the button shaped like a circle with three little dots. Select “create preset”. Type in the name of the preset (ex “Bali) and hit the check/done button. The preset is now in your app.
STEP 6. Repeat step 4 for each of the four presets.
STEP 7. Have fun editing and improving your travel photos. Show me your results using #ManhattanitePresets on Instagram if you’d like. I would love to see your work!
Troubleshooting
Not getting the results you expected when using my free presets? Try some of the suggestions below. If that doesn’t work either, you can send me an email and I’ll try to help you out.
Too bright/too dark: Adjust exposure, shadows, highlights, whites and blacks until you’re happy.
Too colorful: Pull saturation and/or vibrance sliders to the left.
Too warm/too cold: Adjust temperature slider until you’re satisfied.
Too grainy: Pull “noise reduction” slider and/or “color noise reduction” slider to the right. Make sure grain is set to 0.
Off skin tone: Go to color mix and adjust saturation, hue and luminence of the orange and/or red color tones.
Blue or green tones are off: Go to color mix and adjust saturation, hue and luminence of the blue and/or green color tones.
Like It? Pin It.
I truly hope you like your new presets! Please pin and save for later, I appreciate every share. Although you can unsubscribe from my email list at any time, I hope you stick around so you don’t miss out on any new freebies in the future. I promise I won’t spam you 😉
These are beautiful presets and I love the before and after look! Great tips on editing and so nice of you to offer these, thank you!
Author
Thank you so much, Vanessa 😄😍 glad you like them!
beautiful edits! Love them! xx
Author
Thanks girl😍
Love the presets! Really beautiful ones! xx
These are insanely bright and positive travel presets! Love the colours xxx
Author
Thank you <3 <3
I loved your photos and therefore I would surely look into this preset photos editing by Lightroom. I always thought it a paid software but as you said, that it is free for mobile, then I would surely download it on my mobile.
Author
Yayy I hope you like it! If it doesn’t fit your style, at least its a great way to learn how to use lightroom 🙂
Awesome 🥰👏
These look beautiful! I’d love the presets 💕
Author
Thanks love! Were you able to download them?
Will these work on the desktop version of LR?
Author
Hi! As stated in the title + article, these are mobile presets (dng files). But if you have a LR subscription, the mobile presets you install using your phone can be used on both desktop and mobile 🙂