Presets · Reference photos

Where to find it

It's Presets, the first tab in the right panel of the editor (tab order: Presets · Edit · Crop · Masks · Portrait).

From top to bottom, it contains:

1. REFERENCE PHOTO

   a one-line hint, the Choose photo button (plus a Clear button once a photo is chosen), a thumbnail of the chosen photo, and the Strength slider

2. Photo presets

   Save current edit · Import · Export preset

3. Category tabs

   All · Basic · Japanese Mood · Cinematic · Film · Vintage · Portrait · Landscape · Black & White · My Presets

4. Preset list

   Thumbnails in two columns, each showing a small preview of that preset applied to the current photo, with its name

5. Cancel · Apply at the bottom

Reference photo

Choose a photo you like, and its brightness and color (the brightness levels of its highlights and shadows, its warm or cool feel, its overall saturation and the saturation of each color) are analyzed, and the light and color values are adjusted so that your current photo gets closer to that feel. In the words of the panel's hint: "Choose a photo you like, and its tone and color are analyzed and matched to this photo."

What changes — Exposure · Contrast · Highlights · Shadows · Whites · Blacks · Temperature · Tint · Vibrance · Saturation · COLOR MIXER. What doesn't change — As the panel's note says, "Crop and masks stay as they are; only light and color values change." Tone curve, detail, effects, lens and portrait retouching don't change either.

• When you choose a reference photo, values matched to it replace the light and color values you'd adjusted up to then. That's why we recommend applying the reference photo first and then fine-tuning exposure and so on.
• Each slider adjustment can be undone with one press of Ctrl+Z.
• When you move to another photo, the reference photo is cleared (values already changed stay as they are).
• If you're previewing a preset, end the preview with Cancel or Esc, then click Choose photo.

Photo presets

Category tabs

• The selected tab's text becomes bold and underlined.
• If the panel is too narrow to show all the tabs in one row, scroll the mouse wheel over the tabs or drag them to move sideways. You can also click ‹ · › at either end.
• If there are many presets, scroll up and down within the list.

Full list of built-in presets

The thumbnail previews show the preset applied to the photo you're editing now, not a sample photo. On the All tab, they appear in the order below (Basic → Black & White → Cinematic → Film → Portrait · Landscape … → Japanese Mood). The "Effects" column in the tables lists effects included in addition to light and color (vignettes always darken the edges).

Basic (5)

Black & White (4)

Cinematic (5)

Film · Vintage (2)

Portrait · Landscape (4)

Japanese Mood (15) — Airy Japanese film tones that raise exposure and lower contrast for a bright, hazy look, tinting the shadows green and the highlights teal.

Preview and apply

1. Hover over a preset thumbnail, and the large photo changes to show that preset applied (a preview). That thumbnail's outline changes to the highlight color. Nothing has been applied yet.
2. Click a thumbnail to select that preset. Even if you hover over another thumbnail and move away, the preview returns to the preset you selected.
3. The photo changes only when you click Apply at the bottom. Apply becomes active once a preset is selected.
4. To cancel, click Cancel or press Esc. Moving to another tab or changing the category also ends the preview.

What changes when you apply a preset

• A preset doesn't add to your current values — it overwrites them. That's why we recommend applying a preset first and then adjusting exposure, highlights and so on to suit the photo.
• If you don't like it, press Ctrl+Z once to go back to before you applied it.

Save current edit — creating your own presets

Saves the current photo's edits as your own preset. Click Save current edit to open the "Save current edit as preset" window.

At the bottom of the window is the note "Only the checked items are saved in the preset. Applying a preset never changes crop or rotation." When you click Save, the My Presets tab appears (the first time you save), and the new preset is added at the end of that tab and of the All tab.

• What isn't saved — Tone curve, Look (LUT), lens corrections, crop · rotation · perspective, repair (spot removal), masks and portrait retouching.
• Checked groups are saved even if their current values are 0. So when you apply that preset, those groups change to exactly the saved values. For example, to make a preset that changes only color, uncheck Light and Effects before saving.
• If you leave the name empty or uncheck all three groups, the preset isn't saved and the message "Check the name and the adjustment groups to save." appears.
• You can save up to 128 presets of your own.
• Use Save current edit after you've finished previewing presets.

Import

Click Import and choose a preset file (.json) in the "Import preset" window to add it to My Presets. Each file contains one preset.

Export preset

You can save your own preset as a file (.json) to move it to another PC or send it to someone else.

1. On the My Presets tab, click the preset you want to export (Export preset becomes active only when a preset is selected).
2. Click Export preset and choose where to save it and the file name in the "Export preset" window.
3. The recipient opens the file with Import.

• To pass along a built-in preset, apply that preset, create your own preset with Save current edit, and export that.
• "Processing preset…" appears briefly while it's being processed.

Step by step

Change the mood with a preset

1. Open the editor

   In the full view, click Edit and open the Presets tab in the right panel.

2. Choose a category

   For an airy, fresh feel, click Japanese Mood; for a movie-like feel, click Cinematic.

3. Preview

   Move the mouse over the thumbnails and watch how the large photo changes. The thumbnail previews also show your current photo.

4. Select and apply

   Click a preset you like, then click Apply.

5. Readjust the blacks

   Film and Japanese Mood presets deliberately lift the blacks for a hazy look. For deeper blacks, click Auto in the DEEP BLACKS panel on the Edit tab (Deep Blacks).

6. Fine-tune

   Many Japanese Mood presets raise exposure, so in bright photos the sky may blow out to white. Lower Exposure or Highlights a little on the Edit tab.

Match a mood with a reference photo

1. Click Choose photo under REFERENCE PHOTO at the top of the Presets tab.
2. In the "Choose a reference photo" window, choose the photo whose look you want (JPG · PNG).
3. After Analyzing… appears briefly, the light and color of your current photo move closer to the reference photo. A thumbnail of the reference photo appears below the button.
4. Adjust Strength while comparing the thumbnail and the large photo. If the effect is too strong, lower it to around 60–80.
5. Then, if needed, fine-tune exposure and so on on the Edit tab.
6. To go back to the starting state, click Clear. The light and color values return to what they were before you chose the reference photo.

Create your own preset and apply it to several photos

1. Edit one photo the way you like it (light, color, effects).
2. Click Save current edit on the Presets tab and enter a name (for example, "Summer Trip"). Check the groups to save and click Save.
3. Click the next photo in the filmstrip at the bottom of the editor, or move to it with Ctrl+→ (or PgDn).
4. On the My Presets tab, click the preset you just created and click Apply.
5. Adjust just the exposure a little for each photo.

(To apply edits to many photos at once, Copy edits · Paste edits is faster — Editor overview)

Send a preset to a friend

1. On the My Presets tab, click the preset you want to send.
2. Click Export preset and choose where to save it and the file name (for example, summer-trip.json).
3. Send that file by email or a messaging app.
4. The recipient opens the file from the Presets tab → Import in the photoKam Radar editor.

Result

BeforeAfter

An overcast teal film tone is added along with coarse grain and a light vignette. With only the preset applied, the darkest areas float as gray, but Auto in the Deep Blacks panel deepens the blacks of the hair and knit again. For this photo, the Deep Blacks panel's auto adjustment set Black depth to 24 and Neutralize blacks to 64 (darkest area 18/255 → 2/255).

The people in the sample photos were generated by AI.

BeforeAfter

Unlike black and white made by simply removing the color, the skin stays light and the bluish areas of the background stay dark, giving the photo depth.

The people in the sample photos were generated by AI.

BeforeAfter

The indoor window photo takes on the warm light and colors of the riverside sunset photo. Crop, masks and portrait retouching stay as they are. Matching photos with very different brightness (a dark interior ↔ a bright sunset) can make black hair float as gray. In that case, lower Strength.

The people in the sample photos were generated by AI.

Good to know

• The original stays untouched. Presets and reference photos also change only the edit values and never touch the original file.
• Presets overwrite values. Built-in presets replace light, color, color mixer, black & white and color grading wholesale with the preset's values. We recommend applying a preset first and then fine-tuning.
• Reset just light and color with Neutral. When you want to return only light and color to 0 while keeping crop, masks and portrait retouching, apply Neutral (effects, tone curve and detail stay as they are).
• Check the blacks after applying a preset. Many Film, Cinematic and Japanese Mood presets lift the blacks for a matte look. If you like, readjust the blacks at the end with Auto in the DEEP BLACKS panel.
• Portrait retouching, crop and masks aren't included in presets. They stay as they are when you apply a preset, and they aren't saved when you save your own preset.
• Reference photos are calculated for each photo. Even with the same reference photo, values are calculated to suit the current photo, so when matching several photos to the same mood, choosing the reference photo again for each one is the most accurate. If you want to reuse the values from one photo as is, create your own preset with Save current edit.
• If you applied a preset after a reference photo — Clicking Clear in that state returns light and color to the values from before you chose the reference photo, so the light and color changed by the preset are reverted too.
• Moving your presets to another PC — Your presets are saved in this PC's app data. To use them on another PC, move them with Export preset → Import.

Frequently asked questions

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