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Hps1

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 14, 2017
106
28
What is the correct way of updating an existing Lightroom file and retain the adjustments made to the superceded version?

Currently the only thing i've found is to overwrite metadata but that loses all the adjustments. I would've presumed the file would automatically update like a linked Photoshop file, but no.
 

Hps1

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 14, 2017
106
28
Sorry, to be clear I don't need a copy. I use LR for adjustments to rendering files, so the process is pretty much:

1. make rendering and import to LR
2. adjust in LR
3. show to team, goto step 1 with revisions and repeat 2000 times until it's done

...so rather than copying or duplicating, I just need LR to see and replace the photo, but retain the previously made adjustments. Does virtual copy help with that?
 

tlnargi

macrumors 6502
Oct 16, 2019
272
197
If I understand your workflow properly, I would use virtual copies. It only makes a copy inside of lightroom, not on the hard drive. It also keeps all virtual copies together visually as one asset in LR. And you can flip back and forth between whatever version you need. You could call it “version stacking.”
 

Hps1

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 14, 2017
106
28
hmm.. I don't need more than one image though. The photo will change many times but I only need the latest. The LR adjustments will pretty much remain the same throughout the process.

Say I'm working on a box. I import the box, adjust sharpness. The client then says add a sphere. I'll add a sphere, render it out, replace the box render in LR and adjust sharpness again. The client doesn't care about the single box image any more. **edit - the key thing here is the photo is overwritten as it gets updated. I don't have box001, box002, boxandsphere, etc.

I don't think I'm explaining it right, but I don't think additional copies is what I'm after. I'll toy around with it and come back with an apologetic face if wrong.
 
Last edited:

mollyc

macrumors G3
Aug 18, 2016
8,052
50,507
It depends on your workflow.

Ideally you would open a raw file with your raw edits into PS, make whatever PS edits you want, then use Save (not Save As) and LR should automatically import the new file. It will be a new/second file because PS writes as either a psd or tiff file, depending on your preferences. If you make no other edits to this in LR, and your client wants a change that requires PS, you can reopen it in PS via LR. Then you can Save again in PS and everything stays updated.

If, however, with your original psd/tiff file you made secondary adjustments in LR and then wanted to reopen, you'd end up with a bunch of files. Portrait.dng gets opened in PS and saved back to LR. You have a second file named Portrait.psd. Then you realize that it really needs to be slightly brightened and cropped. You brighten and crop the psd file in LR. Then you realize you made a glaring clone problem, so you want open Portrait.psd back into PS. Because you did the crop/brighten in LR and you want to edit that image, then you will end up with a third copy of this file, named something like Portrait-Edit.psd.

Does that make sense? If you only go between the original LR file and a single PSD file, your edits will always show up in LR. It is after you start making LR edits on a psd file that you will start to accumulate multiple versions of the same file.

Typically when you reopen psd files you will get a warning message with something like "do you want to open the original file or open one with LR adjustments?"
 

Hps1

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 14, 2017
106
28
I think what i'm seeing is that while an updated file is immediately visible in the Library, it is not automatically updated in Develop. But then even with an updated file in Library, switching back to Develop still shows the old one unless sometimes. Weird. Going to play more. Thanks for the help so far
 

mollyc

macrumors G3
Aug 18, 2016
8,052
50,507
how can i check that mate?

In Photoshop, go to File-->Preferences-->Camera Raw and the version will be in the header of the popup screen.

In LR go to About LR and the splash screen will tell you the version.

It probably doesn't matter if they are .x version off, but you want them fairly close. If they aren't the same I'd update both programs. When the underlying ACR differs between the two programs you can get odd behavior.
 

Hps1

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 14, 2017
106
28
They're okay i think. I'm alright with this now, after some jigging around the workflow kinda works. Or at least well enough for me to stop wasting time whinging about it. Thanks all
 
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