Evolution of Quest
Quest started over 50 presets ago— how has the preset subscription changed since the start?
Image by Story of Eve
Edited with Quest 01 Diffusion
Beginnings
The First Quest Set
The Archipelago Quest preset subscription began in February 2021 with Quest 01 Diffusion. The very first Quest set is still a favorite to many: a clean and modern preset with true skin tones. The adjustable Diffusion profile in Quest 01 emulates the hazy glow found in diffusion filters while retaining center detail.
The first Quest release was actually a double release: Quest Tools 01 Lens Effects was launched with Quest 01 Diffusion.
Image by Flora Gibson
Edited with Quest 01 Diffusion
Early Sets
The initial Quest sets included 3 preset variations and a creative profile. The first set to include more than 3 presets was Quest 05 Gemtones, and that set also included unique creative profiles for all 4 presets (the gemstone inspired Rose Quartz, Citrine, Jasper, and Obsidian profiles).
Quest 05 Gemtones 04 was also the first black and white preset in the Quest series.
Image by Shanea Snyder
Edited with Quest 05 Gemtones
Tools
Quickly, our preset developers began flexing their creative muscles by including tools in the Quest preset collections. Quest 07 Obscura was the first to include more than presets with the Obscura Radial Filter, followed by Quest 08 Nomad SE, which included tools to help manipulate the creative profile as well as two unique tools (Diffuse and Specular).
Image by Brittany DeJesus
Edited with Quest 07 Obscura
Special Edition Extension Presets
With Quest 08 Nomad SE, our developers began creating Quest sets that could act as extensions of some of our most beloved Archipelago Presets full collections. Quest 08 Nomad SE was a special edition extension set for Nomad Presets, Quest 09 Atlas SE for Atlas, Quest 10 ExFilm SE for ExFilm, Quest 12 LXCV for LXCR, and Quest 21 Wayfarer SE for Wayfarer.
These sets stand on their own, with all new presets, creative profiles, and tools, but they could also be combined with their corresponding Archipelago sets to mix and match together.
Image by Valeria Duque
Edited with Quest 08 Nomad SE
The first year of Quest— Quest 01-Quest 12— is available as a bundle! Collect the first 12 sets in Quest Volume 01
Innovation
Subject and Background Masks
As soon as Adobe introduced Mask Layers to a Lightroom update, our developers were all over it, incorporating masking into Quest presets! Quest 18 Arbor was the first to include a tool using the masks called Subject Pop, followed by Quest 19 Elements with the ☯ tool, and Quest 20 Orphic with masks baked into the base presets, as well as the ꩜ (Mist) tool!
Many of our Quest sets now include masks as part of the preset or tools.
Image by Jocelyn Fletcher
Edited with Quest 20 Orphic
Borders
Our creators painstakingly created border presets for Lightroom so you can add the finishing touch without even opening Photoshop! Beginning with Quest 11 Instant Film’s InstaFilm inspired borders, our presets offer borders that range from simple and filmic to grungy or modern. Quest 16 Riven, Quest 21 Wayfarer SE, Quest 31 Mythos, Quest 34 Collodion, and more include borders in the preset collection, and we have two borders toolsets: Quest Tools 06 - Modern Borders and Quest Tools 07 - Filmic Borders.
Image by Vivid Symphony
Edited with Quest 16 Riven
Portrait Tools
Once Adobe updated with person-aware masks, we started creating presets to enhance portraits, skin tones, and subjects using masks. To name just a few, Quest 45 Atelier includes Enhance Skin and Enhance Features tools, Quest 37 Soraya includes a Skin Softening tool, Quest 36 Botanica includes a Skin Saturation - tool, and Quest 25 Fable includes tools to adjust subject masks.
Image by Mariola Zoladz
Edited with Quest 37 Soraya
Lighting Effects
Many Quest collections include masks, vignettes, radial or gradient filters, or other ways to manipulate light in an image for dramatic editing effects. Quest 41 Raven includes the Moonlit tool as well as a baked in Background Mask, Quest 28 Descent has Abyss, Euphotic Light, and Specular Reflection, Quest 23 Odeon has an Anamorphic Flare tool, and more.
Image by Ryan Chard Smith
Edited with Quest 28 Descent
Toolsets
From the beginning, we’ve released dedicated toolsets periodically— we now have up to 11 Quest Toolsets! The first was Quest Tools 01 - Lens Effects, and we’ve also released toolsets for Dust & Scratches, Prism Effects, Snowfall, Light Leaks, Lens Emulations (using Lens Blur), and more!
Some of our toolsets have been included as monthly preset releases, some are bonus freebies, and some are paid bonus sets outside the monthly Quest preset, and all are available in the Quest Archive if you’ve missed some from the past!
Image by Shanea Snyder
Edited with Quest Tools 04 Prism Effects
With over 50 Quest presets, one thing you can count on from our preset developers is that they never run out of inspiration or ideas for new, groundbreaking presets, tools, and ways to make our lives easier when it comes to photo editing.
We’re celebrating the launch of our 50TH QUEST SET, Quest 50 Pathfinder, and that is such a huge milestone for our team!
Part of the celebration is for a limited time, ALL QUEST ARCHIVE AND PUBLIC SHOP SETS ARE 50% OFF! Use code QUEST50
Plus— we brought back Quest 01 through Quest 16 to the Archive as individual sets (normally only available as part of various preset bundles).
If you sign up for Quest this month, you get the milestone Quest 50 Pathfinder set, which is a choose-your-own-adventure style preset collection able to create an infinite number of custom editing combinations!
Don’t miss the celebration! We’ve been thrilled to be on this Quest journey with all our Questers for over 50 sets!