find duplicate photos in lightroom classic

With your duplicate file created, you’ll have to reimport that photo into Lightroom. You can see how this can snowball if you did this for all your photos. For example, a 5GB folder with duplicated images suddenly jumps to 10GB. This isn’t a big deal when working with a small number of images, but if you were to duplicate an entire folder, this becomes problematic since it can bog down your computer. If the original photo is 30MB, duplicating the same image will create a separate 30MB file. Just remember that you now are taking up twice as much space by duplicating the physical file on your computer. Now you will have an exact copy of your original image. To create a copy, simply right-click and select Duplicate.

To do this, you’ll need to first find the image you want to duplicate on your computer. The second option you have is to duplicate your original file on your computer and then reimport it into Lightroom. Duplicating Your Original File & Reimporting Once exported, the virtual copy XMP file is simply attached to the RAW image and combined as a new file. There’s no disadvantage to using virtual copies since everything remains connected to the starting photo. When you export your virtual copy, Lightroom will apply the edits made to that copy onto your original file. You can duplicate your photo to apply new edits, but you don’t need to sacrifice the storage space on your computer. In short, virtual copies are the best way to duplicate a photo in Lightroom since it gives you the best of everything. Your first edit would be saved to the original RAW file, while the remaining two edits would be attached to the virtual copy XMP files linked to the root RAW image. For example, you could apply three totally different edits to the same photo using two virtual copies. For each virtual copy created, you create a new set of instructions for your photo. When you create a virtual copy, you are creating a fresh XMP file for Lightroom to use. That way, Lightroom can see your original RAW photo, look at the editing instructions from the XMP file, then apply those edits onto your photo for viewing in the program. This file contains all the information for what adjustments you’ve applied to your image. Instead, Lightroom creates a new set of “instructions” attached to that particular image.Įvery time you adjust your photos in Lightroom, you create something known as an XMP file. The original image file does not get duplicated on your computer. In this example, my virtual copy is listed as my RAW file name / Copy 1. As you create more virtual copies, you will see Copy 2, Copy 3, and so on.Ī virtual copy creates a duplicate version of your photo, but only inside of Lightroom. You can also note virtual copies from your other files via the file route listed at the top of the filmstrip. You can easily tell the difference between the virtual copy and the original file by the dog-ear fold in the bottom corner of the image thumbnail. Just right-click on your photo in the filmstrip or Library Module and select “Create Virtual Copy.”Ī virtual copy will then appear directly beside the original inside of your Lightroom library. To duplicate a photo with a virtual copy is very easy. So let’s dive into each of them! How To Duplicate A Photo In Lightroom 1.

You can now create a new edit for the virtual copy without taking up extra space on your computer.īesides virtual copies, there are a few other options for duplicating your photos in Lightroom.

This creates a duplicate version of your photo inside of Lightroom without duplicating the original file. To duplicate a photo in Lightroom, right-click on your image and select Create Virtual Copy. One of the easiest ways to duplicate a photo in Lightroom is with something called a virtual copy. There are a few different ways to duplicate images in Lightroom, depending on whether you want to actually create multiple copies of your original file. When you’re editing a photo in Lightroom, you may want to create a duplicate version to apply a secondary edit or use it as a reference.

Find duplicate photos in lightroom classic