Today’s Question: If I edit my original photo [in Lightroom Classic] and then make a virtual copy, the copy will inherit the edits from the original (as your article in Pixology noted). Is there any way at that point to make a copy of the unedited original?
Tim’s Quick Answer: After creating a virtual copy based on an original image you’ve already edited in Lightroom Classic you can then reset the Virtual Copy to return it to the default adjustment settings.
More Detail: You can create a virtual copy of an image in Lightroom Classic by right-clicking on the image and choosing “Create Virtual Copy” from the popup menu. When you do so that copy inherits the metadata and adjustment settings from the image you created the virtual copy from.
With the virtual copy selected, if you then click the Reset button at the bottom of the right panel in the Develop module, the virtual copy will be reset to the default adjustment settings. You could then start applying a new set of adjustments to the virtual copy.
If you wanted some but not all the adjustments from the original image applied to the virtual copy you could still reset the settings for the virtual copy as above, but then synchronize adjustments from the original image to the virtual copy. To do so select both the original image and the virtual copy, and then click the thumbnail for the original image so it is the active image. Then click the “Sync” button at the bottom of the right panel. In the dialog that appears turn on the checkboxes for only the adjustments you want to copy from the original to the virtual copy, and click the Synchronize button.
