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Virtual Copies, History, and Snapshots

Lesson 22 from: Adobe Lightroom Classic CC Workflow for Photographers

Daniel Gregory

Virtual Copies, History, and Snapshots

Lesson 22 from: Adobe Lightroom Classic CC Workflow for Photographers

Daniel Gregory

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Lesson Info

22. Virtual Copies, History, and Snapshots

Lightroom CC is a non-destructive RAW file editor, which means you can easily undo different edits without affecting the original image. While non-destructive, tools like virtual copies can help you make multiple edits of the same image. Learn how to work in Lightroom's History, then discover the lesser-known snapshot tool.

Lesson Info

Virtual Copies, History, and Snapshots

now in this image, you can see the history over here. So I have worked this image a lot, trying to decide what I was doing, showing different things that don't work. And then above history, you have snapshot, and then you have virtual copies. So I want to address a little bit virtual copy snapshot history and how those things kind of come into play and and when you potentially would use one over the other. Virgil copy, I think is in some ways the easiest for people to conceptualize because of what light room actually does in its implementation. If I have an image I've got, say this image right here and I want a second copy of that with completely different edits in a completely different file, and I want to be ableto have them side by side to compare. I want to look at him. I might want a crop one differently when we do all sorts of different things. But I wanted to be independent of one another. I want to files to do that, I'm gonna create the virtual copy. So when I create a virtual ...

copy, I end up with in light room what appears to be a second copy of my photograph. Now all it is a virtual copy is is a second set of instructions so that the wiki to make that black and white I make it a high key image will brighten up. That's the brush that will not do what I was gonna do. We bring it a high key image, much the contrast up, and I've got this high key image. Great. I could print that. I could export that like it's in that somewhere else, but it's completely different. And if you look, it has its own set of history, its own set of edits that have happened. This file has its own set of minutes that have happened. Here's how that file came in. Here's what I've done to it since then. Basically, I had all these edits done to it, and then I have removed them all. I'm a snapshot is a version of a moment in time in your files history that is attached to the file that it lives in. So rather than have the second copy what the snapshot is, is, here's a look in a moment in time and I might want to revert back to that. I might want to see that again is a comparison within itself. So I come in here and I'm like, Oh, if I come back to this image, let's get back to We have a black and white So I like you know, that version right there. If I right click there, I can choose, Create snapshot. So at any point, my history I don't come back into, say, give me a snapshot of that moment in time. When I do that, I get to name it now it always names it, whatever that step was. So if it's update luminous range mask, the name of the snapshot will default to update luminous mask. But you can call it whatever you want. I'm going to call this black and white Ah, be one up here in the snapshot now is black and white V one and the other snapshot I created. Now I'm gonna come down here to this exposure and I'll create a snapshot here. Call this color version one. If I come back up to the snapshot now, I can click on black and white one, and I get whatever the settings were at that moment in time with nothing above it applied. So he remember history has got every step that's done. This snapshot says. At that moment in time before any of this was done, this is what that photo hat. And so sometimes you get to a point where you're like I'm done. But curious about what If I colored outside the lines so I wanna make a snapshot of what I think I'm done. I think I'm done here. But then it turns out I created this. That's got interesting, too. I don't know which one is done yet. I'm still coloring outside the lines, but I'm still building up my stack of history so I can't come if I come back down in here. I've got Was it that the point that I liked was that the point I like was that one I like, OK, and then was it this debt? Okay, so that's what the snapshots giving you is at this moment in the history stack. I like this now. The other reason that's important is as I mentioned, if I right click on this and I go to edit in photo shop photo shops going to start. It's gonna be a smart object in photo shop. If I chose that, did I choose that? I didn't choose that. Oh, my gosh, that's so embarrassing. Don't say that. I was so excited. I got ahead of myself. This is the coolest thing ever. If you choose the wrong menu option. Okay, I choose Open is a smart object in photo shop. Photo shop opens it up. And now if I come over here, there's my snapshot. So there's no history that moves at a light room. This is the thing people ask me all the time is like, if I'm working in the adobe photo shop workflow, which we're gonna do in one second so you can see that double open thing I mentioned. I need the history. What I did before create a snapshot, create two snapshots of the differences you had in light room, and then you get them. Because if I come in here and choose black and white B one, my history gets moved in the light room or gets moved in photo shop. And now I have the smart object rendered with what came out of the history stack So people ask, Can I get back in my history If I had go into photo shop? Yes, if you put a snapshot on the point time you wanted. If you have two different versions you want to look at, that's the piece you're gonna work with. Okay, so we just saw the first part of this. I'm gonna close this file down. I'm going to the little Photoshopped Loop. If I do edit in Adobe Photo shop file opens up in photo shop. I'm gonna make a change here. I'll add a layer stack, make an adjustment, and I save it. Thanks to the interaction of photo shop in light room, he comes back into my light room collection lives next to the original file. So here's my Photoshopped filing light room that I just edited. I go to edit and Photoshopped. It recognizes that it's a Photoshopped file and it says, Do I want to edit a copy with light room adjustment? Edit a copy? All right. At the original. If I choose that at the original, there's my adjustment layer and I can fix my problem. Save the file, come back in the light room. There's my fix. If I go to edit in photo shop and I choose, edit a copy with light room adjustments or edit a copy. Light room sends out a second file. Let it a copy has Sorry. Edited copy has the edit in there. But now when I say that I end up with Photoshopped file photo shop. If I make an adjustment light room, fix the exposure. Edit in Photoshop with the light room adjustment. It should be there somewhere. Close you languages. You'll notice I lost my exposure. Peace. So once you go into light room Sorry. Once you just make the decision to Lupin to photo shop, you're in photo shop. If you come back into light room, you make a bunch of edits and photo shop, and then you drop back in the light room and then you start editing again and light room. And your mistake was back in photo shop, right? Click and you choose at it. But with my light room adjustments, you're never going to see those photo shop adjustments. You always have to go back to edit the original. So that's why I say once you go into photo shop, you live in photo shop. So that's why opening and as a smart object is so important. So I have this photograph here. If I go edit in and you could see I've got adjustments over there on the panel, I got all sorts of things that have happened. If I open is a smart object and then I come in here is all of those adjustments that were in light room and I can say, Oh, no, you need to fix that as part of the global edit and then anything I do and Photoshopped layers and get at it adjustments to get done, Whatever. I do lives in that file. So once you make this issue going, Photoshopped your workflow. If you need to edit that file again, send it back into photo shopping at the original first time in it is a smart object that preserves all your raw file worked. So you don't lose any year light room stuff that if you need to tweet that file, tweak it again in Photoshopped through the smart object for the camera, Raw is going to save yourself from absolutely going crazy. And if you had him, you take snapshots all right. Any questions about that little weird loop? Good. Same thing. By the way, if I'm doing third party plug ins, I've got Knicks over effects. I'm doing a Topaz plug in. I'm doing something like that if I do that straight through light room. So if I come in the light room and I'm like, I want to take this and I'm gonna edit this in and let's put it in silver effects, light room adjustments, it goes out. So in order for it to hold that nondestructive edit, it's got to export this file so it's gonna create it and export. It is a tiff file, and I do some cool stuff to it. So I did its job. I'm like, That's an interesting artistic decision, but I think that's not quite right. Bet it in. I just want to fix it. I did the working silver effects headed in silver effects copy with layer of adjustments. And now let's go ahead and edit the original. I haven't made any adjustments. Bubble Woman at the original show for FX is going to start. Look, my brightness sliders back to zero. Okay, because this is the original file export of the file. I did my changes and I saved it. There's no relationship to get me back into that world. So if you've got tools like this, you use and you're potentially going to need to read it again. What I would recommend you do is edit in Photo Shop is a smart object. It's thinking open up in photo shop. As a smart object, I can now run silver effects because it's a smart object. It will run is a smart filter, meaning I can come back in and make the change later. So I'll make that same adjustment we made before file looks terrible. Save it comes back into it was back in the light room. Now, if I come back up here and I do an edit in photo shop, edit the original, there is my smart object. I can now fix it because you're gonna see the brightness. Slider is 20 I can undo the edit, and now I have in light room. In a moment, it'll sink and I'll have my update. There it is, So I'm getting the editing ability. If I do it all on light room, I'm gonna lose the ability to do my plug in work again without having to redo it over and over again. If it savours away or and then save it is a photo because I get an extra file long as you edit the original with that plug in it, it's not a smart filter. It won't let you back in to make the edit against, even if it's a layer. If it's not got a smart object on tied to it, you can't get back into your plug It all right? I think that covers are editing high level, not high level. Our workflow implementation across a couple of ideas and dealing. Even if you've got third party pieces, same process doesn't matter where two yards, the same workflow. And just conceptually, I If I'm in a photo shot. By the way. Global edits Region. Let it's local, it's it's no matter what program I'm in, I'm going to silver affects same way, no matter where I am, I'm doing that same work

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

I watched this course live. Really good!. Of course, I like all of Daniel Gregory's classes. It's a real treasure when one finds a really good teacher who thinks like oneself. I thought that I already knew Lr well so I was really surprised about how much I learned from this course. I learned so many ways to improve my workflow efficiency.

Anne Dougherty
 

I was impressed by the amount of information covered in depth, and by Mr Gregory’s teaching style. I’m somewhat new to Lightroom and found his explanations of its capabilities, and why you would use it rather than Photoshop for specific processes, enormously helpful. I especially appreciated his lessons covering printing. This is invaluable information. Great class.

Warren Gedye
 

This was a great course. Daniel certainly explains it well and in terms I can understand! Super worth it and learnt loads of new tricks! Great job!!

Student Work

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