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Mark Sirota
Known Participant
May 5, 2011
Open for Voting

P: New virtual copies should inherit develop history

  • May 5, 2011
  • 18 replies
  • 690 views

When a virtual copy is created, the initial develop history includes only a "Create Virtual Copy" history step with a timestamp.

I'd like to see the develop history of the parent as well. I'd envision seeing the entire develop history of the parent plus the new "Create Virtual Copy" step.

This is particularly valuable in cases where you switch the copy to the master, then delete the old master. This triggers a needless loss of develop history.

    18 replies

    F
    FeedbackCommunityMember
    Inspiring
    August 14, 2021

    I edited a photo (RAW edited to v1), then made a virtual copy and made a few more edits (v2).  I decided that I liked v2 better, so I set it as the master (which automatically made v1 a virtual copy), and then I deleted v1.  When I hit "\" to toggle between before and after, Lightroom toggles between v2 and v1, not v2 and RAW, which is what I want to see.  I have two requests that are related:

    1- Allow a virtual copy that retains the existing history. This means I start with a real copy of v1 and its whole history tied back to the raw photo.  This is very helpful when I want to try different types of edits, which may require me to go back to a step in v1's history before I made the virtual copy.

    2- Whether or not the above is implemented, there should be a way for a virtual copy to be referenced to the original RAW image.  After all, when a virtual copy is set to master, I don't care about the point in my work flow where I first created the copy, I care about the original RAW image and my final edit.

    Antoine HLMN
    Antoine HLMN
    Known Participant
    October 16, 2019
    Up!
    S
    Squash306
    Participant
    January 6, 2017

    How about this scenario, I develop an image, but I want to try something else with it. I want to save a copy with history and call it "1st attempt". Then I want to reset the original and re-develop it another way.

    The best I can find so far is to click on the Import entry in history of the original, create a virtual copy, then reposition the history to the latest entry on the original. Then develop the virtual copy. That way I keep my original history in case I decide that was the way to go.

    However, if I decide to keep the copy and delete the master, now the copy history starts with Create Virtual Copy and not Import.

    G
    gregbenz
    Inspiring
    April 17, 2013
    Rob - I hadn't seen that before. It isn't as smooth as having the full history on the virtual copy, but that's a very useful feature to know. Thanks!!
    areohbee
    areohbee
    Legend
    April 17, 2013
    In case you aren't aware: you can use the '\' key in conjunction with snapshots too - granted, you have to copy the snapshot settings into the "before buffer".
    G
    gregbenz
    Inspiring
    April 17, 2013
    True, but I use the / key to do before and after comparisons very quickly. I edit thousands of photos a month, so I'm looking for every time savings I can find, and I've found snapshots aren't nearly as convenient as just using the / key.
    areohbee
    areohbee
    Legend
    April 17, 2013
    you can still do the before after comparisons - the snapshots are all there, even though the edit history is not.
    G
    gregbenz
    Inspiring
    April 17, 2013
    Agreed... I'm not so concerned with going back in history, as much as I'd like for my before and after comparison (using the \ key) to compare to my original photo, rather than the point at which I created the virtual copy. I often use such a comparison for perspective on the changes I've made on a specific image, my own learning over time, or for doing demos.
    F
    FeedbackCommunityMember
    Inspiring
    April 17, 2013
    Agreed..always finding myself wishing the entire history was available in the virtual copy.. i especially want to be able to see the original before, not the before being at the time when the virtual copy was created.
    Stephen Shankland
    Stephen Shankland
    Known Participant
    March 29, 2013
    I'm sure there are reasons why Adobe did things the way it did. All I know is that they don't seem to apply to me and my workflow needs. On many occasions I've needed the full editing history in a virtual copy and not once has it been the other way around. Missing this feature makes virtual copies significantly less useful to me.
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