Preset and effect library for photographers leaving Photoshop

Photographers moving from Photoshop to Lightroom or Affinity Photo hit the same wall: 'It lacks photo organising, raw processing, effects and presets.' The effects and presets gap is specific — Photoshop has a deep library of layer-based effects (bevel, emboss, glow, pattern overlay, custom filter stacks) that have no equivalent in non-layered editors. Lightroom presets exist but are limited to develop module adjustments. Affinity Photo has macros but almost no community ecosystem compared to the thousands of Photoshop Actions and effects packs sold and shared online.

The reason this gap persists is distribution, not technology. Photoshop effects are distributed as .atn, .pat, .grd, and .asl files — formats tied to Photoshop's internal architecture. The effect creator community built around those formats because Photoshop had the dominant user base. Affinity and Lightroom never attracted enough creator volume to build a comparable ecosystem, so switching photographers feel like they've lost access to a library they didn't know they depended on.

This is a business and not a feature because the need for new presets and effects recurs constantly — photographers follow trends, clients ask for specific looks, and the editing style that worked last year feels dated. The market for Lightroom presets already exists and is large (VSCO, Mastin Labs, countless Etsy sellers). The gap is that Affinity Photo has no equivalent ecosystem, and cross-editor compatibility — applying a Lightroom-style look inside Affinity, or vice versa — is entirely absent.

A curated, growing library of effects that work across Lightroom, Affinity Photo, and Capture One — with a conversion layer that translates the underlying parameter logic rather than just exporting flat files — would serve the large population of photographers who own more than one editor and currently manage separate preset packs for each.

What to build

Build a subscription preset and effects library with a desktop companion app that installs looks into Lightroom Classic, Affinity Photo, and Capture One simultaneously by translating each effect into the native adjustment syntax of each editor, so one purchase works across all three without manual re-creation.

Where to start

Launch with a free tier of 20 cross-compatible presets in a specific style category (moody film, clean commercial) and target Affinity Photo Facebook groups and subreddits where photographers are explicitly complaining about the lack of preset ecosystem — this is a known, vocal frustration with an easy-to-demonstrate fix.

The hard part

Each editor's internal parameter model is different enough that some effects — anything depending on layer blend modes or Photoshop-specific filters — cannot be faithfully translated, and the first time a premium preset looks noticeably different in Affinity than in Lightroom, trust collapses; you have to be conservative about what you claim is compatible.

How it makes money

Monthly subscription ($12–19/month) for access to the full library with new packs added monthly, plus one-time pack purchases for photographers who prefer to own rather than subscribe.