Today’s Question: Are the slider values in applied presets in Lightroom Classic saved as part of the image or is the preset itself saved with the image.? In other words, after applying a preset to an image, if you change the preset will the image automatically change to reflect the new settings for the preset?
Tim’s Quick Answer: When you apply a preset to an image in Lightroom Classic, the settings from that preset are applied to the image. Changing a preset after it has been applied to an image will not cause that image to be updated based on changes to the preset.
More Detail: Presets in the Develop module in Lightroom Classic preserve specific settings from the various adjustments available on the right panel. When you create a preset you can choose which adjustments you want to include, and those adjustments will reflect the settings for the current image in the Develop module.
You can update a preset by changing the settings on the right panel in the Develop module, then right-clicking on the preset in the Presets section on the left panel and choosing “Update with Current Settings” from the popup menu. However, this will not cause any changes to the images you previously applied the preset to.
For example, let’s assume you created a preset that converts an image to a black and white interpretation. You apply that preset to an image, and the image is converted to black and white. If you later update that preset to include a color tint, such as a sepia-tone effect, applying that preset to an image will obviously cause it to have a monochromatic color tint.
However, images you had previously applied the preset to would still appear in black and white, not with a sepia-tone effect, unless you re-applied the preset to the image. Changing a preset does not automatically alter the appearance of photos you had previously applied that preset to.