LightRoom - Virtual Copies

Tom Potter

Hey Guys,

I use LightRoom 2. Those of you familiar with it know you can make "Virtual Copies". I wondered if there is a benefit to making virtual copies of all my pics, and then making development adjustments ONLY to the copies, and never touching the originals.


'Thx,

Tom

rsquared

Tom Potter wrote: »

Hey Guys,

I use LightRoom 2. Those of you familiar with it know you can make "Virtual Copies". I wondered if there is a benefit to making virtual copies of all my pics, and then making development adjustments ONLY to the copies, and never touching the originals.

Nope... All changes in LR are non-destructive. You can go back to the original with the click of a button.

I use virtual copies if I want to try an alternate processing on a photo. I'll develop it one way, and then make a virtual copy and develop it another way and compare the two.

ebwest

rsquared said it all. I'm just agreeing with him to give you another opinion. Since LR never touches the original, it would be a waste of time to create virtual copies of all you photos. I don't use the virtual copy feature, but where I've read about using it, it's always for comparison purposes.

Tom Potter

ebwest wrote: »

rsquared said it all. I'm just agreeing with him to give you another opinion. Since LR never touches the original, it would be a waste of time to create virtual copies of all you photos. I don't use the virtual copy feature, but where I've read about using it, it's always for comparison purposes.

Guys, that makes perfect, total sense. Thanks so much for your input - Much appreciated! :O)

Tom

jfriend

ebwest wrote: »

rsquared said it all. I'm just agreeing with him to give you another opinion. Since LR never touches the original, it would be a waste of time to create virtual copies of all you photos. I don't use the virtual copy feature, but where I've read about using it, it's always for comparison purposes.

Virtual copy is not so much for comparison purposes, but when you want two different renditions of the same image. The simplest reason to use it is when you want one 8x10 crop and one 4x6 crop. Adjust the image the way you like, make a virtual copy and then crop one to 8x10 and the other to 4x6. You get to keep both and they both refer back to the original RAW file.