- Setting the White Balance
- How to Set Your Overall Exposure
- Adding "Punch" to Your Images Using Clarity
- Making Your Colors More Vibrant
- Using the Tone Curve to Add Contrast
- Adjusting Individual Colors Using HSL
- Vignetting Effects and Post-Cropping Vignettes
- Getting That Trendy, Gritty Portrait Look
- Virtual Copies-The "No Risk" Way to Experiment
- Applying Changes Made to One Photo to Other Photos
- Fixing a Bunch of Photos Live, While Editing Just One (Using Auto Sync)
- Save Your Favorite Settings as One-Click Presets
- Using the Library Module's Quick Develop Panel
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Virtual Copies—The “No Risk” Way to Experiment
Remember the wedding shot we edited earlier? Well, what if you wanted to see a version in black and white, and maybe a version with a color tint, and then a real contrasty version, and then maybe a version that was cropped differently? Well, what might keep you from doing that is having to duplicate a high-resolution file each time you wanted to try a different look, because it would eat up hard drive space and RAM like nobody’s business. But luckily, you can create virtual copies, which don’t really take up space and allow you to try different looks without the overhead.
Step One:
You create a virtual copy by just Control-clicking (PC: Right-clicking) on the original photo and then choosing Create Virtual Copy from the contextual menu (as shown here), or use the keyboard shortcut Command-’ (apostrophe; PC: Ctrl-’). These virtual copies look and act the same as your original photo, and you can edit them just as you would your original, but here’s the difference: it’s not a real file, it’s just a set of instructions, so it doesn’t add any real file size. That way, you can have as many of these virtual copies as you want, and experiment to your heart’s content without filling up your hard disk.
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Step Two:
When you create a virtual copy, you’ll know which version is the copy because the virtual copies have a curled page icon in the lower-left corner of the image thumbnail (circled in red here) in both the Grid view and in the filmstrip. So now, go ahead and process this virtual copy in the Develop module (adjust the white balance, exposure, shadows, etc.) and when you return to the Grid view, you’ll see the original and the edited virtual copy (as seen here).
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Step Three:
Now you can experiment away with multiple virtual copies of your original photo, at no risk to your original photo or your hard drive space. So, click on your first virtual copy, then press Command-’ (PC: Ctrl-’) to make another virtual copy (that’s right—you can make virtual copies of your virtual copy), and then head over to the Develop module, and at the top of the Basic panel, click on the word Grayscale to create a black-and-white version. Now, make another copy and maybe try a duotone effect using the Split Toning panel (you’ll learn that in Chapter 9). Make one more copy and then hit the Reset button at the bottom of the right side Panels area to return the virtual copy to its original unedited look. Now process it, but change the white balance to something cooler and more blue. By the way, you don’t have to jump back to the Grid view each time to make a virtual copy—that keyboard shortcut works in the Develop module, too.
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Step Four:
Now, if you want to compare all your experimental versions side by side, go back to the Grid view, select your original photo and all the virtual copies, then press the letter N on your keyboard to enter Survey view (as shown here). If there’s a version you really like, of course you can just leave it alone, and then delete the other virtual copies you didn’t like. (Note: To delete a virtual copy, click on it and press the Delete [PC: Backspace] key, and it’s gone—no warning dialog, no nuthin’.) If you choose to take this virtual copy over to Photoshop or export it as a JPEG or TIFF, at that point, Lightroom creates a real copy using the settings you applied to the virtual copy.
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