If you want to experiment with different versions of develop work on a photo, virtual copies and/or snapshots are two great ways to do this -- all without having to create a second file on your hard drive. Snapshots allow you to save your work at different points in time so that you can easily [...]
If you want different versions of an image, such as with different crops or both a black and white and color one, you can create virtual copies in Lightroom. These aren’t duplicates of your file — you will still just have one file on your hard drive, but multiple sets of Develop instructions for that [...]
I wrote a post recently about making snapshots while you work so that you can explore different versions of your image -- for example, a black and white and a color version -- with the goal of having just one version in the end. If you want to end up with two or more versions -- [...]
Have you ever worked on an image, been satisfied with your work, but then wanted to try some other things with the option to get back to what you had? Perhaps you want to compare different versions of your work to decide which you like best — for example, a color version, a black and white [...]