Today’s Question: When I look at the History section for an image in Lightroom Classic, I often notice the Snapshots section, which I never use. Is there any reason I should be using snapshots?
Tim’s Quick Answer: Probably not. In my view, in most cases when you might put snapshots to use in Lightroom Classic a virtual copy would likely provide a better solution.
More Detail: Snapshots in Lightroom Classic enable you to record the current state of all adjustments in the Develop module. In effect, you’re taking a snapshot of what the image looks like at that moment. When you create a snapshot (by clicking the plus icon to the right of the Snapshots heading) you can enter a meaningful name for the snapshot. The snapshot will then appear under the Snapshots heading, and you can click on a snapshot to quickly return to the saved appearance for the image.
Based on their behavior, to me the scenario where it makes sense to potentially use snapshots for an image is when you want to settle on a single version of an image, but you’re not sure which version to go with. For example, you might be debating on a color versus black and white version of an image. In that case you could create a snapshot when you’ve achieved a final color interpretation, then apply adjustments for a black and white version and create a snapshot for that. You could then alternate between the snapshots as you decide which version will represent your final interpretation.
When you want to keep more one version of an image, I recommend using a virtual copy. For example, you could finalize the color version of the image, then create a virtual copy (by right-clicking and choosing Create Virtual Copy from the popup menu). You could then apply adjustments to the virtual copy for a black and white version, so that you effectively have two images (based on the same source file) for the two interpretations.
Personally, I prefer to use virtual copies even for situations where snapshots might make sense. If you use virtual copies and then decide you don’t want one of the versions, you can simply remove the virtual copy. To me virtual copies provide greater flexibility and a more streamlined workflow compared to the use of snapshots.
