Lightroom presets have dominated photo editing for over a decade. They're fast, easy, and promise professional results in one click. But AI color grading is challenging that status quo—analyzing images, understanding context, and applying intelligent adjustments instead of blind preset filters.

We tested both approaches on real wedding shoots, portrait sessions, and commercial work. Here's what we found—no marketing fluff, just honest results.

How Lightroom Presets Work

A Lightroom preset is a saved set of editing adjustments: specific temperature shift (+15), contrast boost (+25), saturation increase (+10), HSL tweaks, tone curve adjustments, etc. When you apply a preset, Lightroom copies those exact settings to your image.

The Appeal: Presets are consistent. Apply the same preset to 500 photos, and you get the same look across all of them. They're also fast—one click vs. manually editing each slider.

The Problem: Presets don't know anything about your photo. They apply the same adjustments whether your image is shot in bright sunlight or dim indoor lighting. Whether it's already warm or already cool. Whether it's high contrast or flat. This leads to inconsistent results.

How AI Color Grading Works

AI color grading analyzes each image before applying adjustments. It detects:

• Current color temperature: Is the image warm (yellow/orange) or cool (blue)?
• Saturation levels: Are colors already vibrant, or muted and flat?
• Contrast and luminance: Is it high-contrast and punchy, or low-contrast and soft?
• Dominant colors: What colors fill the frame? (Blues, greens, skin tones?)

When you describe your vision ("warm romantic tones" or "moody cinematic"), the AI interprets your intent and applies adjustments relative to each image's current state. An already-warm sunset photo gets less warming than a cool-toned indoor shot. An already-high-contrast image gets gentler contrast boosts than a flat, diffused portrait.

The Appeal: Context-aware adjustments. The AI adapts to each image while maintaining a cohesive aesthetic across the shoot.

The Limitation: You don't get pixel-perfect slider control. You describe your vision, and the AI executes it. For most photographers, this is faster and more consistent than manual editing. For perfectionists who want exact control over every slider, manual editing is better.

Test #1: Wedding Shoot (500 Photos, Mixed Lighting)

Scenario: A full wedding shoot with outdoor ceremony (bright sunlight), indoor reception (mixed tungsten and LED lights), and low-light dancing (flash + ambient).

Goal: Warm, romantic, consistent color grading across all 500 photos.

Lightroom Preset Approach

We applied a popular "Warm & Airy" wedding preset to all 500 photos. Here's what happened:

• Outdoor ceremony photos: Looked great. The preset was designed for outdoor shots, so these came out perfectly warm with lifted shadows.
• Indoor reception photos: Over-warmed. The tungsten lighting already had a yellow cast. The preset added even more warmth, resulting in muddy, oversaturated oranges.
• Low-light dancing photos: Over-exposed and flat. The preset's lifted shadows revealed noise in dark areas. Faces were blown out from flash.

Time Investment: Applying the preset took 2 minutes. Manually correcting the 200+ poorly-adjusted photos took 3 hours.

Consistency Score: 6/10. Outdoor photos looked cohesive. Indoor and low-light photos varied wildly.

AI Color Grading Approach

We described the desired look: "warm romantic tones with soft highlights and lifted shadows." The AI analyzed and adjusted each image:

• Outdoor ceremony photos: Added moderate warmth. Images were already warm from golden hour lighting, so AI reduced the warming intensity to prevent oversaturation.
• Indoor reception photos: Added minimal warmth. AI detected the existing yellow cast from tungsten lights and adjusted accordingly—results were warm but natural, not muddy.
• Low-light dancing photos: Applied gentler shadow lifting to avoid amplifying noise. Contrast adjustments were context-aware, preserving detail in highlights without blowing out faces.

Time Investment: 8 minutes total (upload, describe vision, process 500 photos). Minor refinements via chat took another 5 minutes.

Consistency Score: 9/10. All 500 photos maintained a cohesive aesthetic despite vastly different lighting conditions.

Test #2: Portrait Session (50 Photos, Outdoor Golden Hour)

Scenario: Outdoor senior portraits shot during golden hour. Consistent lighting throughout, but different poses, angles, and backgrounds.

Goal: Bright, airy, with enhanced golden tones.

Lightroom Preset Approach

We applied a "Bright & Airy" portrait preset. Results were more consistent than the wedding test (uniform lighting helps), but issues still appeared:

• Backlit shots: Preset over-lifted shadows, resulting in hazy, washed-out images with blown-out highlights.
• Direct sunlight shots: Preset over-brightened already-bright images, losing detail in skin tones.
• Shaded shots: Preset worked well—these were close to the lighting conditions the preset was designed for.

Time Investment: 1 minute to apply preset, 30 minutes to manually adjust backlit and direct-sun photos.

Consistency Score: 7/10. Most images looked good, but backlit/direct-sun shots required manual intervention.

AI Color Grading Approach

We described: "bright airy golden hour portrait style." AI adjustments:

• Backlit shots: AI detected high luminance in backgrounds and adjusted shadow lifting accordingly—highlights preserved, shadows revealed detail without haze.
• Direct sunlight shots: AI reduced brightness adjustments for already-bright images, maintaining natural skin tones.
• Shaded shots: AI added more brightness and golden warmth to match the overall aesthetic.

Time Investment: 3 minutes total (upload, describe, process). No manual corrections needed.

Consistency Score: 9/10. All 50 photos maintained the bright, airy aesthetic with golden tones—no outliers.

Test #3: Commercial Product Shoot (100 Photos, Studio Lighting)

Scenario: E-commerce product photography shot in controlled studio lighting. Goal: clean, bright, minimal color grading with slight contrast for punch.

Lightroom Preset Approach

We used a "Clean Commercial" preset designed for product photography. Results:

• White background products: Preset worked perfectly—bright, clean, minimal adjustments needed.
• Colored background products: Preset over-brightened certain colored backdrops, shifting brand colors (a critical failure for e-commerce).

Time Investment: 1 minute to apply, 45 minutes to manually correct color shifts on colored backgrounds.

Consistency Score: 8/10. White background shots were perfect. Colored backgrounds required manual correction.

AI Color Grading Approach

We described: "clean bright minimal commercial product style." AI results:

• White background products: AI applied minimal adjustments (images were already well-lit and neutral).
• Colored background products: AI preserved brand colors while adding subtle contrast—no color shifts.

Time Investment: 4 minutes total. No corrections needed.

Consistency Score: 10/10. Perfect brand color consistency across all 100 images.

Head-to-Head Comparison

When to Use Lightroom Presets

Presets still have valid use cases:

• Uniform Lighting Conditions: If your entire shoot was in the same lighting (e.g., studio portraits), presets work well.
• Starting Point: Use presets as a baseline, then manually adjust individual images. Faster than starting from scratch.
• Personal Style: If you've developed custom presets tuned to your camera and shooting style, they can be efficient.
• Creative Control: For hero images where you want pixel-perfect control over every slider, manual editing with presets as a starting point is ideal.

When to Use AI Color Grading

AI color grading excels in these scenarios:

• Mixed Lighting: Weddings, events, and any shoot with varying lighting conditions. AI adapts to each image.
• Large Batches: Hundreds of photos that need consistent color grading fast (wedding galleries, portrait sessions, commercial shoots).
• Speed Priority: When you need to deliver client galleries quickly without spending hours on manual corrections.
• Non-Technical Photographers: If you don't want to learn technical editing, AI translates natural language into professional adjustments.
• Consistent Brand Aesthetics: Commercial work where brand colors and consistency are critical—AI maintains color accuracy across all images.

The Verdict

For single hero images or small batches with uniform lighting: Lightroom presets (with manual adjustments) offer precise control and proven results.

For large batches with mixed lighting: AI color grading produces more consistent results in a fraction of the time. Our testing showed AI achieved 9/10 consistency across 500 mixed-lighting wedding photos in 13 minutes—vs. presets achieving 6/10 consistency requiring 3+ hours of manual corrections.

The future isn't presets or AI—it's using the right tool for the job. Manual editing for hero images that need perfection. AI for batch processing client galleries that need speed and consistency. And increasingly, AI is winning the batch processing battle.

Presets were revolutionary in 2010. AI color grading is revolutionary in 2025. The question isn't which is "better"—it's which delivers the results you need, faster and more consistently. For most working photographers editing real shoots, the answer is clear.