Basic lightroom questions

I don't need multiple versions of an image, but I can see how it'd be useful for some people.

tonylong wrote in post #11060369
But Tim, seriously check out the LR Virtual Copy and History tools, and Snapshots -- Bridge/ACR make it a bit clunky to work with alternate versions of an image, but with these tools it is quick, easy, and resource-efficient to have multiple versions you are working on simultaneously. So, for example, you can have versions that are cropped differently, processed differently (B&W, etc) all in front of you for messing with.

Tony - the latest ACR has a Snapshot tab now that is very handy IMO. Just a matter of saving each edit as a snapshot. All the snapshots remain even after closing ACR/Bridge.

tim wrote in post #11064892
I don't need multiple versions of an image, but I can see how it'd be useful for some people.

Different crops, b&w, different aspect ratio?

D Thompson wrote in post #11065105
Tony - the latest ACR has a Snapshot tab now that is very handy IMO. Just a matter of saving each edit as a snapshot. All the snapshots remain even after closing ACR/Bridge.

I OK, I think I heard about that -- I haven't kept track of everything I've heard!

Yeah, I make use of the virtual copies whenever I take a file in some kind of "dramatic" direction, I don't do it all the time or for every file, though, simply because even though they are "vitual" copies I still don't need the visual clutter in my library. But they are valuable for when I do want them.

tonylong wrote in post #11065334
I OK, I think I heard about that -- I haven't kept track of everything I've heard!

I know the feeling.

The ACR snapshots are stored in the xmp file when the RAW is converted. I've also got ACR to open jpegs and I assume the snapshots are stored in the jpeg somehow. It seems to be a pretty handy feature.

tonylong wrote in post #11065334
Yeah, I make use of the virtual copies whenever I take a file in some kind of "dramatic" direction, I don't do it all the time or for every file, though, simply because even though they are "vitual" copies I still don't need the visual clutter in my library. But they are valuable for when I do want them.

Don't forget that you can stack the virtual copies with the original to keep the clutter out.

In2Photos wrote in post #11065816
Don't forget that you can stack the virtual copies with the original to keep the clutter out.

Yeah, true that -- I haven't been a big fan of stacking because of the bother of stacking and expanding to do "stuff" but at least like you said it clears up the clutter!

D Thompson wrote in post #11065105
Different crops, b&w, different aspect ratio?

My images are 3:2, I don't crop differently. Albums might have them tweaked, but that's done in the album design program. If I want a B&W it's for a CD, in which case I just open in ACR, hit sepia, and convert to jpeg on the fly, then I hit cancel. If I want B&W for the album I do much the same thing. It's just not a useful feature for what I do, but I can see how it'd help some people.

If you wanted to stay in LR you could do the same thing by clicking a sepia or b/w preset and afterwards canceling it by going back a step in History or using Cntrl+Z.

I had a basic question: how does one save the history applied to an image? This way I can refer back to it for other images etc.

Simple answer: You don't.

History is maintained only in the LR catalog. If you convert a Cr2 to DNG for instance, LR forgets about the CR2 and your history is gone.

You can easily copy over the settings used settings though. (Click "Previous" or select multiple images and hit "Sync")

Does removing the 1:1 previews help speed up the system/software?

Depends. Have a look here: http://www.lightroomqu​een.com …room-the-best-speed-tips/

Thanks for that link Rene; it has answered many of my questions.

Al