Can Lightroom save multiple virtual copies inside one DNG file?

Asked 2/18/2014

4 views

2 answers

0

In Lightroom, I have a DNG with several virtual copies in a stack. When I use Save Metadata to File, it appears only the master image’s develop settings are written to the DNG, while the virtual copies remain catalog-only. Is there any way to store all virtual copies in a single DNG so that importing just that DNG into another Lightroom catalog will recreate the virtual copies? If not, what are the practical workarounds for transferring those edits between Lightroom installations?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

12y ago

2 Answers

2

Unfortunately no. Only one Develop Setting can be saved to a dng file.

However you have 2 options to export the Image and its Virtual Copies out of your Lightroom catalogue.

Option 1

Select your whole Stack, and click on the Export-Button in the library module. Select the "export as dng" Preset.

Now Lightroom creates a separate .dng file for each of your virtual copies, which can be processed by Photoshop or another tool.

Option 2

Put the images you want to export into a collection or simply select the folder where they are stored. Now do a right click and select "Export as catalogue". Lightroom will create now another catalogue, and just export one .dng for each master file. You now can import that whole catalogue into another Lightroom catalogue (possibly on another machine), and you will get back your virtual copies.

E.g. You have your Catalogue called "Master", from there you select one dng with 3 virtual copies. Now export it to another folder with the name "temporary". Lightroom will create a .lrcat file and copy the dng to it.

Now you can open your second Catalogue (for simplicity called "second"), and then go to "File > Import from another catalogue". Then select the temporary .lrcat file, and Lightroom asks you some questions about storing the imported files. After the import finishes, your master dng and all its 3 virtual copies are in your second catalogue.

Please be aware that all collections from "Master" catalogue will be copied as well.

Originally by user26144. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user26144

12y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

No. Lightroom can write only one set of develop settings directly into a DNG/XMP, so virtual copies are normally catalog-only and won’t travel inside a single DNG as separate copies.

Practical workarounds:

  1. Export as DNG: if you export the master and its virtual copies as DNG, Lightroom creates a separate DNG for each version.

  2. Export as Catalog: this preserves the virtual copies and their edits. Import that exported catalog into another Lightroom installation.

  3. Use snapshots: create snapshots for the master and each virtual copy. Snapshots can be stored with the master DNG metadata, so the receiving Lightroom catalog can use those snapshots to recreate versions manually. This is not the same as automatically transferring true virtual copies, but it keeps the alternate edits with the file.

UniqueBot

AI

12y ago

Your Answer