Using just specific parts of a preset

[rustybatman]

Hey guys
Everybody is selling presets for photoshop.
Is there any cool way in photoshop to just use a specific part of a preset and not the whole preset?
And is there a nice tool to edit XMP files?
Thanks for any help.
Sometimes it would be nice to use just something from a preset to try out.
best,
Rus

 

[IamSam]

Hey. Welcome.

Please describe what you are referring to as presets. All presets can be edited and saved under a different name. Hence the preset manager...

 

[rustybatman]

Let's say you buy a preset from a photographer.
You go to Camera Raw Filter and choose this preset.
Now it affects everything and you don't see what changed. Only when you read the XMP file you can see what the preset is changing.
So maybe you only would like to use the changes in the Color Mixer or Curves of the preset.
What is the easiest way to do this?
I don't want to copy the XMP file and change it like a developer.
Any tricks?

 

[IamSam]

I see............let me do some research on this.

 

[rustybatman]

Wow, thank you Sam! This is incredible. This is forum is so much better then the Adobe one. *

 

[IamSam]

I'm still looking...........but I did remember this......

Now it affects everything and you don't see what changed. Only when you read the XMP file you can see what the preset is changing.

In the Camera Raw Filter, just use the toggle to view before and after preset changes. The toggle will be highlighted in any of the adjustment panels if the preset has altered any setting.



Or the "Swap before and after settings"

 

[thebestcpu]

Other than what IamSam has shown, for a more granular tryout of presets, Lightroom works pretty well.
You apply the preset in ACR, save back out and import to Lightroom. It comes in with all the settings enabled. You can create virtual copies of the original image and from one of them use the Shift+Cmd+C (Shift+Cntl+C in pcs) to bring up the options of what settings to enable, move to another virtual copy and use Shift+Cmd+V (Shift_Cntl+V) to past just those settings. The image below is a copy and paste of the settings you can select among. That would be nice to have in ACR as well.
John Wheeler