Today’s Question: In Lightroom Classic I want to apply Lens Corrections in the Develop module to all the photographs I imported before I learned to do it at import. Is there some way to do this without having to adjust each photograph individually?
Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can apply a profile-based adjustment for Lens Corrections in Lightroom Classic by applying a preset to selected images using the Quick Develop section of the right panel in the Library module.
More Detail: As I’ve noted in previous answers, I recommend applying a Develop preset at import to apply preferred adjustments to photos that are being added to your Lightroom Classic catalog, including the Lens Corrections adjustment based on a profile for the specific lens used when capturing your photos.
If you have photos that you did not previously apply this adjustment to, you can easily apply that correction after the fact using a Develop preset.
The first step is to create a Develop preset for this purpose. Select a photo that you haven’t applied adjustments to, and then go to the Develop module. In the Lens Corrections section of the right panel go to the Profile tab. Turn on both the “Remove Chromatic Aberration” and “Enable Profile Corrections” checkboxes. Then set the Setup popup to Auto.
On the left panel in the Develop module click the plus (+) button to the right of the Presets heading and choose “Create Preset” from the popup. In the “New Develop Preset” dialog enter a meaningful name for the preset in the Preset Name field. Select the group you’d like to save the preset to from the Group popup. Then click the “Check None” button at the bottom-left of the dialog.
Turn on the “Enable Profile Corrections” checkbox in the Lens Corrections section, along with any other adjustments you applied to the sample image that you want to apply to other photos. Then click the Create button to save the preset.
You can then go to the Library module, and select all photos you want to apply the preset to. That could even include every photo in your entire Lightroom Classic catalog by selecting the “All Photographs” collection in the Catalog section of the left panel and then making sure that no filters are set. You could also select specific folders or collections, however. You can use the Edit > Select All command to select all photos in the current location you’re browsing.
After selecting all photos you want to apply the Lens Corrections adjustment to, go to the Quick Develop section on the right panel in the Library module. From the Saved Preset popup select the preset you created that includes the profile-based lens correction adjustment. This will apply the preset to all selected photos, which in this case means applying the profile-based Lens Corrections adjustment to all selected photos based on the lens used for each of those photos.
