Matte styling adds a touch of vintage elegance to your photos. It’s typically achieved during post-processing rather than in real-time. Using the right edits, any image can be given a matte look and feel.
This is where matte Lightroom presets come in handy. They allow you to apply a specific edit with a single click, adding stunning matte effects to your photos.
They also give you consistency, which is especially useful for editing multiple shots from the same session, giving you a cohesive look for your portfolio.
In this collection, you’ll find twenty of the best free Lightroom matte effect presets. Each offers rich matte effects and is easy to apply, even for beginners. Pick your favorites, download them, and start editing today!
Matte Lightroom Preset
Free to Download
Reducing color contrasts is a hallmark of matte photography. It softens photos and lets the details stand out. This matte preset works for almost any subject and focuses on color reduction.
Matte & VSCO Lightroom Presets
This professional collection of VSCO and matte Lightroom presets will boost the efficiency of your photo processing and editing tasks. They give your photos the understated and fashionable look associated with VSCO.
Mattehue Matte Lightroom Preset
Free to Download
Mattehue is a matte preset for urban and street scenes. It adds a matte effect without a faded look by working on the hue of each photo.
Matte Box Lightroom Presets
The Matte Box Lightroom presets have been designed to give your photos a very distinctive matte finish. These presets gently soften colors, slightly fade darker tones, and create the look of images printed on matte paper.
High Tide Matte Preset for LIghtroom
Free to Download
High Tide is a versatile matte preset. It adds a grungy aesthetic to cityscapes and urban scenes. But you can also use it for landscapes to create a moody atmosphere.
50 Matte LUTs Pack
With just a few clicks, you can quickly create impressive cinematic-style visuals with these presets. These color-grading LUTs have been designed to add cinematic tones, with a matte touch, to your photos and videos.
Matte Gold Lightroom Preset
Free to Download
A gold tint can give any photo a timeless look. This matte preset with gold coloring can be added to your photos with a single click.
Matte B&W Lightroom Preset
Free to Download
Did you know that matte photos can be in black and white? Of course, they can. That’s exactly what this preset does: it transforms color photos into matte black and white stills.
Matte Color Presets
Free to Download
This wedding-focused matte preset captures your special day by softening unwanted details in your photos. It also adapts well as a versatile matte preset for any portrait image.
Autumn Matte Lightroom Preset
Free to Download
Do you want warm, retro photos that look like they’re from the 1960s? Even without a camera, you’re in luck. This matte Lightroom preset adds a vintage, grungy look to any photo in your portfolio.
Pastel Matte Lightroom Preset
Free to Download
Matte Lightroom presets draw attention to the subjects. This preset applies pastel tones, making it an excellent choice for portraits.
Urban Soot Lightroom Preset
Free to Download
Urban Soot is a gritty matte preset for street photography. It produces soft, almost sci-fi visuals.
3rd Dimension Lightroom Presets
Free to Download
Remember that matte photos can also be colorful! The free 3rd Dimension preset gives both landscapes and portraits a colorful matter effect.
Matte Cream Wash Lightroom Presets
Free to Download
This is another matte Lightroom preset for portraits. It washes away bright colors, merging subjects into their background for a softer visual look.
Darken Matte Lightroom Preset
Free to Download
This free Lightroom preset will add a feeling of warmth to your photos. It’s a great choice if you want a moody look for an outdoor portrait or landscape shot.
Matte Fade Lightroom Preset
Free to Download
Matte Fade is a general-use outdoor matte preset for Lightroom. It’s a candidate for vintage-inspired beach scenes and more.
Matte Blue Lightroom Preset
Free to Download
This powerful Lightroom preset will add a matte effect to your photos with a blue aesthetic. Most of the tones are flattened, with blue shades bolstered.
Matte Black Lightroom Preset
Free to Download
It’s easy to overlook black and white styles as an option for matte photos. Yet, they let you add eye-catching effects in just two tones. This preset for Lightroom allows you to add them with just a few clicks.
Skyfall Matte Lightroom Preset
Free to Download
Skyfall takes on a very vintage aesthetic. It’s a solid preset choice if you need retro shades applied to photos. Versatile, it will work on landscape and portrait photos alike.
Morning Stroll Lightroom Preset
Free to Download
Morning Stroll adds a matte look to outdoor photos, especially cityscapes. Brown shades grow warmer, giving your modern digital photos a vintage film feel.
Matteroom Lightroom Preset
Free to Download
Think of Matteroom as a way to create matte yet sun-kissed landscapes. It adds warmth, making your landscape photos resemble film stills. Shades of brown and blue are the most noticeable.
Woodsy Matte Lightroom Preset
Free to Download
Are you looking for a fairytale natural landscape? Matte presets like Woodsy are created for forest photography. You’ll notice earth tones blend in vintage warmth and softness.
How to Install & Use Presets
How to Install a Lightroom Preset:
- Download the Preset: Download the Lightroom preset file you want to use. Preset files come in the format
.lrtemplate
or.xmp
. - Locate the Preset Folder: For Lightroom Classic, open the
Develop
module, and go to thePresets
panel on the left side. For Lightroom CC, go to theEdit
panel on the right side. - Import the Preset: For Lightroom Classic, right-click on
Presets
and selectImport
. Then, locate and select the downloaded preset file. For Lightroom CC, click the three dots...
in thePresets
panel and chooseImport Presets
. Locate and select the preset file. - Install the Preset: Once you’ve selected the preset file, click the
Import
button. The preset will now be added to your preset list.
How to Use a Lightroom Preset:
- Select Your Photo: Open the photo you want to edit in the Lightroom module.
- Apply the Preset: In the
Develop
module of Lightroom Classic or theEdit
panel in Lightroom CC, scroll through your preset list. Click on the preset you want to use. Lightroom will apply the preset’s editing settings to your photo. - Adjust Settings (if Required): Presets are not one-size-fits-all, and your photo may require additional edits to achieve the desired look.
- Save Your Edited Photo: Save your edited photo once you are happy with the changes. Click
File
and thenExport
to choose your export settings and save the final image.
Conclusion
We’ve just explored the top free Lightroom matte presets. These single-click transformations can instantly improve your photos, creating something new and magical. Why wait? Select stunning presets from the collection and start using them in your edits.
They will all make things quick and easy, allowing you to apply consistent matte effects across all your photos. This is the true advantage of Lightroom presets!