Edit Spring Photos With Summer Lightroom Presets
By Max Rive Photography | Published: 2026-10-18
Category: How-to Guides
Learn how to adapt summer Lightroom presets for spring landscapes. Adjust greens, yellows, and warmth to match the season without losing the preset's character.
Quick Answer
You can use summer Lightroom presets on spring photos by reducing contrast, cooling highlights, and desaturating bright yellows. The key is to preserve the preset's creative intent while matching the softer, greener light of spring. Start with a preset like the Summer and Spring Lightroom Presets pack, then fine-tune exposure and HSL sliders.
Why Summer Presets Can Work for Spring
Summer presets are built for strong sunlight, golden hours, and deep greens. Spring light is softer, with cooler shadows and fresh foliage that can look too yellow or orange under a summer preset. Rather than building a spring preset from scratch, you can adapt a summer preset by adjusting a few key sliders. This saves time and keeps a consistent editing style across seasons.
The Summer and Spring Lightroom Presets pack from Max Rive is designed to handle both seasons. It was tested on over 250 RAW files to produce bright yellows, soft oranges, and darker saturated greens. That makes it a flexible starting point for spring landscapes, as long as you tweak the white balance and saturation for the actual light conditions.
Step-by-Step: Adapting Summer Presets for Spring Photos
- Apply the Preset and Check White Balance: Start by applying a summer preset from the Summer and Spring Lightroom Presets pack. Look at the overall color cast. Spring photos often have a cooler, bluer tint than summer. If the image looks too warm or yellow, move the Temp slider toward blue by 5-10 units. Common mistake: skipping this step leads to unnaturally orange grass or skies. Checkpoint: The image should feel bright but not overly warm. If the grass looks more yellow than green, cool the white balance.
- Reduce Contrast to Match Soft Spring Light: Summer presets often add contrast to handle harsh midday sun. Spring light is diffused, so too much contrast crushes shadows and blows out highlights. Lower the Contrast slider by 10-20 points. Then lift Shadows by 15-25 and pull Highlights down by 10-15. Common mistake: leaving contrast high makes spring photos look harsh and over-processed. Checkpoint: The histogram should have a gentle slope, not sharp peaks at either end. Details in the clouds and shadows should be visible.
- Tame Yellows and Boost Greens Selectively: Summer presets push yellows and oranges to mimic golden hour. In spring, fresh leaves and grass are more yellow-green than deep green. Open the HSL panel. In the Hue tab, shift Yellows slightly toward green (by -5 to -10). In Saturation, reduce Yellows by 10-15 and increase Greens by 5-10. Common mistake: over-saturating greens makes spring foliage look artificial or neon. Checkpoint: The greens should look natural and slightly muted, not electric. Compare with a reference spring photo if needed.
Preset That Bridges Seasons
- Summer and Spring Lightroom Presets: Create the most amazing green and yellow summer and Spring landscape images with this 2021 Lightroom Preset Pack from Max Rive. Over 250 summer and spring RAW's have been extensively tested to create the perfect presets. Bright yellows and soft oranges and reds with darker and more saturated greens are the key for great summer and spring landscape images. This preset pack was built for both summer and spring, so it already handles the green-yellow balance better than a pure summer preset. You still need to adjust exposure and white balance for the specific spring light, but the base color palette is already aligned with the season.
