Let’s say you find an account on Instagram, all the pictures have the same vibe and kind of filter added to them

You can nicely ask them advice on how they achieve their look.

Maybe they bought a commercial preset pack you can buy too.

Though I get impression more people are selling presets than using them 🤣

Learn to recognize the effect of the different controls. It takes some time playing around, but honestly, I found it really fun and interesting.

A simple example is by practicing on your own photos and seeing how shifting the color temperature up or down affects the colors, you’ll be able to recognize the same thing in other people’s photos.

To copy a particular photo’s vibe exactly, just download a copy for personal use, add it to lightroom and do a side by side with a photo of yours that looks like it was taken in a similar environment but is straight out of the camera (preferably a RAW photo). Now just play around till you get the same vibe you admired in the other photo.

You can edit a photo to your liking, and save the adjustments as a preset. Then apply that preset to other raw files. You will probably need to readjust each image, as photos taken in different environments and lighting conditions will stay different when the same adjustments are applied, but this at least gives you a starting point.

You can also use presets for specific tools. For example, you might start working on each image individually, mostly in the Basic panel, and then apply a preset to the colour grading tools.

Honestly, you quit editing in Lr. The thing is that even if you go ahead and create those settings that bring your reference and your target images close, then most probably you will lose the vibe in the next image you load up. Then Lr can only do so much, because it is meant as a developing tool and not a color grading tool. So consistency will remain as long as you are editing the same set and then on your next shooting you need to start all over again.

I would suggest a 3DLUT based workflow. So for example from my work I am using analog film simulating LUTs. First in Lr I only flatten the contrast settings in the images, then open in Ps, a color lookup adjustment and load a 3DLUT onto them. Adjust the opacity and more than often I am done while all my library looks very consistent. I also don’t use only one LUT a few more (3 for color, 2 for BW) and still the color looks very consistent thoughout my insta.

Should do the trick, but If you need more info or a tutorial let me know I’ll make something.