True North
The signature look: balanced blue, bright stars, and clean contrast. Start here.
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After Dark Astro Presets
Ten cool-blue, bright, contrast-rich edits built for the Milky Way, desert nights, moonlight, and that stubborn glow on the horizon.
Free download · 10 presets · Lightroom desktop and mobile
What you get
Night color with the volume turned up.
I rebuilt this collection around my original Milky Way before-and-after edits: luminous blue skies, clear galactic detail, decisive contrast, and clean dark silhouettes. The spirit of that first astro pack is here, expanded into ten distinct starting points.
Astro files change wildly with the camera, lens, moon, and light pollution. Apply the look you like, then use Exposure and White Balance to make it belong to your particular night.
- 10 XMP presets for Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw on desktop
- 10 DNG presets for the free Lightroom mobile app
- Built-in detail, color-noise, lens, and night-sky adjustments
- A quick guide to every look and simple installation instructions
Inside the pack
Ten ways into the blue.
Cobalt Trail
Deep cobalt color and bold separation for genuinely dark skies.
Starlight
The brightest edit, built to open foregrounds without flattening the sky.
Dark Sky
Dense blacks and dramatic contrast for a more cinematic night.
Galactic Core
Extra definition, dehaze, and violet-blue detail through the Milky Way.
Moonrise
Softer contrast for moonlight, twilight, and naturally brighter skies.
Red Rock After Dark
A cool sky that keeps Arizona reds and oranges alive below it.
Electric Night
The boldest, bluest, most vivid look in the set.
High Desert Haze
Bright atmospheric blue with a gently lifted black point.
Midnight Clean
Natural cool color, restrained saturation, and extra noise control.
How to install
Choose your Lightroom.
You only need the version that matches where you edit.
Lightroom or Lightroom Classic
- Download and unzip the desktop file.
- Open Lightroom and select a photo. In Lightroom Classic, go to the Develop module.
- Open the Presets panel, choose the plus or three-dot menu, then select Import Presets.
- Select all 10 After Dark XMP files and import them.
- Find the NOT LOST — AFTER DARK group, choose a look, and fine-tune Exposure and White Balance.
Lightroom mobile
- Download and unzip the mobile file in your phone's Files app.
- Import the 10 DNG files into the free Lightroom mobile app as photos.
- Open a DNG, tap the three-dot menu, and choose Create Preset.
- Use its filename as the preset name and save it to a new After Dark group.
- Repeat for the other files, then apply them from the Presets panel.
Before you panic
A few quick fixes.
The preset looks too blue.
Warm the White Balance slider until the sky feels natural for your scene. Electric Night and Cobalt Trail are intentionally bold; try True North or Midnight Clean when you want a quieter blue.
The sky is bright but my foreground is still dark.
Raise Exposure first, then open Shadows only as much as the file can handle. Starlight and High Desert Haze are the most forgiving starting points for foreground detail.
Why does my photo look noisier?
Astro files often need camera-specific noise reduction. These presets include controlled luminance and color-noise adjustments, but high-ISO files may need additional Denoise after the preset is applied.
Can I use these on JPEG and phone photos?
Yes. They work with RAW, JPEG, and phone images, although RAW files give you more room to recover star detail and adjust color.
Can I share the preset files?
Please send friends to this page instead. The presets are free for your own photography, but the files may not be resold, repackaged, shared, or redistributed.
Ready when you are