Recently, (ok it was last summer) I was given the opportunity to try Sleeklens’ Lightroom Strike a Pose Portrait Preset Workflow.  I’m just now finally writing my official review, but remember, I’ve been busy having a baby.  For some reason (actually 5 little sweet reasons), I don’t have as much free time anymore!

First of all, I really liked that they sent a how-to video.  I learn better when I can see something being done.  I felt the video was well done and very simple for someone who has a limited knowledge of Lightroom such as myself.  How to videos and documents made it easy to install the presets and brushes.  I love the idea of stackable presets and brushes and it was nice to learn how to use them in the video too.  Watching the videos was a MUST, especially for someone like myself who has only been using Lightroom for less than a year. As a visual learner, the videos were perfect!

Now, down to the actual nitty-gritty of using the presets.   There are a bunch of All-in-One presets that are meant to create a finished image with one click.  I didn’t like any of these presets because I felt they were too over the top.  Either they made the photo overexposed, or the colors wild, or something similar.  I prefer a more natural look, closer to real life.

Next, there are different levels of stackable presets, which means you can apply multiple presets to one image.  Level one, or base level, didn’t really have any presets I liked.  Again, too much for my taste.  Here’s a screenshot of my image SOOC (straight out of camera) and and then that same image with just the Base Edit 2 preset applied.

The next section is the exposure presets.  I did like these, especially the Less Highlights and Brighten Shadows.  Section #3 of the stackable presets is color correcting, and again, these were easy to use and the names of each preset were perfectly descriptive.  Section #4 is tone/tint, which I almost never use but they work fine.  Section #5 of the stackable presets is Polish. I liked the Color Pop and the Sharpen presets the best.  Section #6 is the Vignette presets and these are adequate and do exactly what they are supposed to do.

After playing around a little with Strike a Pose Workflow, here is my finished image.  I still feel that it may be a little bit too bold for my taste.

Basically, I came to the conclusion that I like this workflow, but will be skipping the All-in-One presets, and probably the base level presets as well.  The rest of the presets worked great.  The black and white presets were beautiful.  I love the simple names for each preset, so I know exactly what they are supposed to do.  

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 stars.  

Thanks for reading my review of the Strike a Pose Portrait Workflow!  Please comment and share this post.  You can check out some of my other reviews HERE and HERE. 

You can purchase the Strike A Pose Portrait Workflow HERE on their website.  Thanks to Sleek Lens for providing me with a complimentary copy of this workflow in exchange for my review.