Comments on: Working with Virtual Copies in Lightroom

By: Bob Baker

Bob Baker — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 00:46:13 +0000

Would like to see more information like this posted.
Thanks for the tip.

By: Marcy

Marcy — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 20:40:41 +0000

Patrick–

LR keeps the changes in its catalog memory. If you were to export either the original or one of the virtual copies, it would then create a new file of that print with its edits.

Reznor–

That’s why back-up copies of your catalog should be made and updated often. ;)

By: barbara

barbara — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:29:22 +0000

I work with VC’s a lot and really appreciate the “info overlay” tip. that makes my life much easier! yes, you can see a page curl in library view but in any other module you can’t tell which is the original and which is the VC. i rarely change my original, always doing edits on vc’s. so now i can tell in the develop module which version i am working on. bravo!

By: Reznor

Reznor — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:36:32 +0000

@Patrick

Lightroom doesn’t create XMP-files, all the edits are saved in the catalog which means that you lose them if your system crashes and you have to reinstall your OS and LR.

By: Brandon Oelling

Brandon Oelling — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:44:22 +0000

Patrick,

Give this a shot … will help you understand DNG capabilities/differences from XMP without much complexity:

http://x-equals.com/blog/?p=13

By: patrick h. lauke

patrick h. lauke — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:23:21 +0000

so when working with DNGs does this create a separate XMP file to hold the edits applied to the virtual copy? or are all copies stored somehow inside the one single DNG?

By: Nick Potter

Nick Potter — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:01:55 +0000

I just wanted to point out that if you’re unsure which is the virtual copy there’s actually a far easy method that you don’t mention.

Just switch tot he Library Grid view (press “G”). Your virtual copies will have a small page curl showing in the bottom left corner. Originals don’t have this.

By: Brandon Oelling

Brandon Oelling — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:00:29 +0000

GREAT primer on VC’s … armed with this knowledge, things get VERY interesting!

We leverage virtual copies to create gallery proofs for clients at lightning speed:

http://x-equals.com/blog/?p=214

… and once we like what we see … commit those virtual copies to individual files for archival and print:

http://x-equals.com/blog/?p=97