Words & Images

Posts Tagged ‘virtual copy’

In my first LR Virtual Copy post, I referred to the possibility to editing for mood / weather. I want to show an example with one of my images.

First, I edited the original. When I was satisfied with it, I made a virtual copy of it.

Then, I gently pulled the clarity slider to the left in this copy to give more the effect of the wind I experienced while taking the photo. I feel it also enhances the windblown grasses.

Finally, I selected both copies in LR, under the drop down menu ‘Photo’, is ‘edit in’. I chose edit in CS4 as layers. This means both copies will be opened in CS4 where I then combined them into one image. The original edit was layer 1, the edited virtuI copy layer 2. I erased the sandhill cranes in the front to show the sharp birds from layer 1. After being done with the composit, I saved the new image back into the folder in LR where the copies had come from.

LR has the wonderful feature of a virtual copy. Sometimes, while editing an image, I wonder which might result in the better photo. I can go back in the history and choose a point where I am still clear about my process, create a virtual copy and then continue with the differing ways of editing. I will have 2 images as an end result that I can easily compare and then make a decision which one I like better.

The same applies if I have different ideas about the final look of an image and so I can start out with virtual copies. It also opens up the possibility to edit one for the highlights and the other for the shadows. By selecting both, they can be exported into CS4 and combined there.

In a future entry, showing a before and after image, I plan on sharing a creative application of virtual copies to better represent the mood / weather.

As I see it, the big benefit of a virtual copy is the fact that it eats hardly any memory compared to a full blown duplication of an image.