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maracujaneiro
maracujaneiro
Inspiring
August 23, 2020
Answered

Exif Data of Virtual Copies

  • August 23, 2020
  • 5 replies
  • 2868 views

Finding "duplicates", I am using the Teekesselchen plug-in and the well known ExifTool. Most of the duplicates are virtual copies, generated by the catalogue import process of Lightroom Classic. Most of them are identical, but some are quit different, for example different crop widths and crop heights. I really don't know where the Teekesselchen plug-in with ExifTool searches for Exif Data (master photo within the database? stored master photo itself? virtual copy within the database?), but I would like to know where LR Classic stores these Exif Data of virtual copies and how the tags are named.

 

Any hints would be very appreciated!

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Jeffrey Friedl

FYI, I've released an update to my Bag-o-Goodies plugin that includes the ability to find superfluous virtual copies.  It also lets you compare the editable differences between any two photos, which is perhaps the more-generally-useful feature.

Thanks to the original poser (maracujaneiro) for helping test initial versions of the plugin.

5 replies

ManiacJoe
ManiacJoe
Inspiring
August 23, 2020

The LrC catalog is a SQLite database.

If you want, you can go to the SQLite website and download their database tools, which will allow you to browse the catalog as a SQL database, if you are comfortable doing so.

 

Adobe does not publicly document the organization of the catalog/database.

 

maracujaneiro
maracujaneiroAuthor
Inspiring
August 24, 2020

Thanks, ManiacJoe! It's useful to know that the LrC catalogue consists of a SQLite database. If I knew that the Teekesselchen plug-in, with ExifTool activated, really compares tags of that database (and not only reads Exif data from the master image), I would try to read the SQLite database directly and hopefully find the tags I need.

 

But I'll see if Jeffrey Friedl can help me. His Metadata Viewer only reads data from the master image (and doesn't work with Teekesselchen, moreover), but Jeffrey should know the LrC catalogue very well.

 

Regards.

J
Jeffrey Friedl
Participant
August 25, 2020

It's a trivial matter for a plugin to compare two virtual copies and see that they are identical except for the copy name.  It's a bit more work to make sure that they are in exactly the same set of collections. If both are true, they can be considered pure duplicates.

If the plugin finds that a virtual copy is a pure duplicate of its master, or of another virtual copy, what would you hope to see happen? Simply have the spurious virtual copy removed?

    Rob_Cullen
    Community Expert
    Rob_CullenCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    August 23, 2020

    Maybe of interest in this discussion:

    An option in Teekesselchen Duplicate Finder-  

    Duplicate Photos (Lightroom Queen)

    Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.1.1, Photoshop 27.3.1, ACR 18.1.1, Lightroom 9.0, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0.2 .
    maracujaneiro
    maracujaneiroAuthor
    Inspiring
    August 24, 2020

    Thanks, WobertC! In Teekesselchen, I unchecked "Ignore virtual copies" because I want to get rid of all of the virtual copies created by LrC (when I imported images from other catalogues). Unfortunately, there are also virtual copies I created by myself, with different cropping sizes for example. The Teekesselchen plug-in compares only a few Exif data, most of them are identical in the master image and the virtual copies. As a result, nearly all of the virtual copies are recogniced as duplicates of the master image, these with different cropping sizes too. Therefore I tried to use ExifTool (see checkbox), but none of the tags I used worked well.

     

    Your Lightroom Queen link I still read before, yes, a very useful and recommendable page, but without a solution of my problem.

     

    Regards.

    Rob_Cullen
    Community Expert
    Rob_CullenCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    August 24, 2020

    I see your problem! And the Filter Bar-Attributes has the icon that shows only VCs, but it shows them all. It does not differentiate between 'yours' and the 'Catalog Import' VCs.

    Following with interest.

     

    Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.1.1, Photoshop 27.3.1, ACR 18.1.1, Lightroom 9.0, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0.2 .
    JohanElzenga
    Community Expert
    JohanElzengaCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    August 23, 2020

    No doubt the plugin searches for capture date and time, among perhaps other things. The capture date and time of a virtual copy is obviously identical to the capture date and time of the original it belongs to, because a virtual copy is nothing more than a second set of metadata belonging to the same original.

    -- Johan W. Elzenga
    maracujaneiro
    maracujaneiroAuthor
    Inspiring
    August 23, 2020

    Thanks for your answer, JohanElzenga, you are right, "the plugin searches for capture date and time, among perhaps other things". These "other things" could be the crop width and the crop height of the virtual copy, for example. So, if I knew where these data are stored and which tag names are used, I possibly could use these data to avoid false duplicates.

    JohanElzenga
    Community Expert
    JohanElzengaCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    August 23, 2020

    I doubt it will consider crop (and it would be wrong if it did), because crop and all other Lightroom edits are non-destructive edits. That means that no matter how much you cropped, the underlying image is still the original image. The goal of the plugin is not to find images that look the same, but to find duplicates: i.e. images which are the same. And a non-cropped image and a Lightroom-cropped copy of that image are duplicates.

     

    The only debatable thing is that the plugin finds virtual copies at all. I think it should only find real physical duplicates. But perhaps finding virtual copies is an option?

    -- Johan W. Elzenga
    DdeGannes
    Community Expert
    DdeGannesCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    August 23, 2020

    Just a thought, ”Virtual copies” are not image files or copies of image files, it's just data in the Catalog file.

    Regards, Denis: iMac 27” mid-2015, macOS 11.7.10 Big Sur; 2TB SSD, 24 GB Ram, GPU 2 GB; LrC 12.5,; Lr 6.5, PS 24.7,; ACR 15.5,; (also Laptop Win 11, ver 24H2, LrC 15.0.1, PS 27.0; ) Camera Oly OM-D E-M1.
    maracujaneiro
    maracujaneiroAuthor
    Inspiring
    August 23, 2020

    Thanks for your thought, DdeGannes, it's exactly how you mention, virtual copies are "just data in the catalogue file". For that reason I am interested "to know where LR Classic stores these Exif Data of virtual copies and how the tags are named".

    Just Shoot Me
    Just Shoot Me
    Legend
    August 24, 2020

    All data for a Virtual Copy is stored in the cataslog file only. No second XMP file is created and no entry in the XMP file for the original images is made.

     

    The EXIF data for a Virtual Copy is Exactly the same as for the original. IT IS VIRTUAL. It does Not really Exist. It is all make beleive, Smoke amd Mirrors. Like Virtual Reality. It does not exist.

    Virtual copies go hand in hand with the original. Delete the original and the Virtual copy goes Poof, Gone, Never to be seen again.

    gary_sc
    Community Expert
    gary_scCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    August 23, 2020

    Hi Maracujaniro,

     

    Since this is the result of using this plug-in, wouldn't it be easier to ask them? I'm not trying to pass the buck here but I've never heard of this plugin but by definition, it's doing it's own thing "in" LR. I'm sure they would know what that thing is and how to work with it. At least I'd hope so!

    maracujaneiro
    maracujaneiroAuthor
    Inspiring
    August 23, 2020

    Thanks a lot, gary_sc, yes, I posted my question there as well.

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