Lightroom How do I unlink images in Collection from original

jinspin

I dragged a bunch of pictures into a new collection.
But then when I edit the pics eg convert to black and white in collection I see the original images in original folder are also changed.
How do I unlink the pics in collection from original images?
I want to make a black and white collection and sepia collection of the same images.

Also is there a setting for library to only show images in folder instead of original + subfolders?
It looks like folder displays images from subfolders too.

Thanks

colourbox

To make variations on an original, you do not want to use collections. Instead, use virtual copies.

Collections - organizing in ways that are independent of the folder structure; the original is used

Virtual copies - creating versions with different settings, that act like independent files

If you accidentally altered originals, go into each image and back up in the History panel to the point before the mistake was made.

The setting you want is the command Library/Show Photos from Subfolders

jinspin

colourbox wrote:

To make variations on an original, you do not want to use collections. Instead, use virtual copies.

Collections - organizing in ways that are independent of the folder structure; the original is used

Virtual copies - creating versions with different settings, that act like independent files

If you accidentally altered originals, go into each image and back up in the History panel to the point before the mistake was made.

The setting you want is the command Library/Show Photos from Subfolders

Thanks
However when I create new collection and flag virtual copy ON it creates the virtual copy in collection. But it also displays the virtual copy in the original folder.
I would like to separate the original pictures from the virtual copies.
If I have 100 images in original folder, once I create a virtual copy for all the images, another 100 images will be displayed in the same original folder and showing 200 images which is a big mess.
I would like folder that just shows original images, and then folder that just shows virtual copies black and white and another folder that shows virtual copies sepia.

arodney

Virtual copies are always "linked" to the originals.

pathfinder

Since they are virtual, they almost have to be linked don't they?

Seems like to be not linked, they could not be virtual copies, but would need to be exported as real copies.

Thunder Rabbit

Howdy.

Colourbox gave a very succinct and accurate response. Here's a little more to go with it.

Collections are not folders. They are more like playlists. A list of images and where to find them. All of the images in a collection are still in the original folder. No matter which or how many collections you add the image to. The virtual copies aren’t even in a folder, per se. They only exist in the Lr catalog. And will always be associated with original image. But they can be in separate or the same collections as the original or other virtual copies.

In your example, you would make B&W and sepia virtual copies of your RAW original. Then you would drag the sepia virtual copies into the sepia collection and the B&W virtual copies into the B&W collection. Then stack the images in your original folder. You will only see the original RAW image with an indication of how many virtual copies are stacked under it. If you had 100 images, with 2 virtual copies each, you would only see 100 images in the original folder, and 100 images in each collection. No added confusion.

Just to be clear, virtual copies are not real copies. And collections are not folders.

Virtual copies exist only in the Lr catalog database, and are merely an alternate set of develop settings applied to the original file and rendered. To make actual copies, you would have to use the Lr Export function.

When you drag an image from a folder into a collection, it never leaves the folder. Its name and address is just added to the collection, or list. No copies are made. No files are moved. File names are added to lists. The same file can be added to any number of collections.