Congratulations Alex Vincent, March 2024 PFRE Photographer of the Month! The theme this month was "Kitchen". Alex Vincent - #906 Yvonne Raaijmakers - #909 Peter Wingfield - #902 Here's what Alex has to say: Thank you for the award of Photographer of th ...
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Frequently reverting to the original image is an integral part of photo editing. You need to see how your edits are bringing changes in a photo and whether all the effects are well worth it. Knowing how to see the original in Lightroom will allow you to contemplate your editing in a better way.
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Providing options for easy access to the original image is a powerful feature in an image editing software. As you go ahead with the processing, it's hard to remember where you started. Accessible and clearly comprehensible ways to look back at the original feeds your intuition for effective editing.
In Lightroom Classic CC, the option to toggle the view and compare feature allows me to keep an eye on the original image while you edit. With time, it becomes the most used feature of photographers as they need to visualize their edits quite frequently.
Looking back at the original, unedited version will help you to see whether you have over edited the image. It will also help you rectify any local adjustments and mistakes that are causing a decline in image quality rather than improving it.
You must turn on the view modes in the Develop module if they are not visible to you in the toolbar below. When you enable the view mode, you get several options to view the image individually, as well as comparatively.
Most of the time, when you shoot RAW images, they require processing. However, not being happy with them doesn’t mean you don’t have to view them during the editing phase. While processing RAW images, you will frequently feel the need to see the preserved details in the original image.
One of the easiest ways to view an original image while editing is a keyboard shortcut that not many Lightroom users are aware of. Tracking your progress is a lot more manageable with this option, where you get to see the full view of your original image rather than a small one in comparison view.
For images that have small details in them, such as the interior photos in real estate, the toggle feature is very useful so that you don't miss out on any section of the photo.
Viewing the original and the processed image side by side best serves the purpose of keeping track of your editing. Lightroom provides you with the Y|Y button in Develop module for that. When you press it for the first time, you will see the original image on the left hand side and the edited image on the right hand side.
Alternatively, you can click on the small arrow beside the Y|Y button and select Before/After Left/Right from the drop down.
Another comparative mode you get with the same Y|Y button is the top/bottom view, where the original image is shown on top and the edited one below. Again, you can either press the button once or choose Before/After Top/Bottom from the drop down beside it.
This view is perfect for exterior real estate images as you can get a wider view to see the improvements.
Another helpful view mode to compare the changes in a larger view is the Split Screen mode. Here, your image will be shown as a whole, but it will be split half into the original form, and the other half will be edited.
You can see the split screen view in two ways. Either select Before/After Left/Right Split to get a side by side view, or click on Before/After Top/Bottom Split to view the top/bottom view.
Just beside the Y|Y button, you will see three options of Before and After.
These three options are also available in the Settings menu. Just go to Settings and look for the last three options which say:
Comparing the currently edited version to the original is simple. But you may need to view and compare the edited image with an earlier processed version. For instance, you may want to compare the views before you applied a Local Adjustment.
One method to revert to the original image is to reset all the Develop settings. On the right hand panel in the Develop module, you will see the Reset button. Click on it to undo all the processing done on the image.
Or, you can press CTRL + SHIFT + R on Windows or CMD + OPT + R on Mac to scrape off the edits from the image. Finally, you can undo this step by pressing CTRL + Z on Windows or CMD + Z on Mac.
Each version of your edited image is stored in the Settings tab as well. To view any of these, just click on the setting tab and hover over the Processed Version option. Then, select the version you wish to view from the drop down.
Lightroom Classic CC has bagged a reputation of being one of the best image editing software for its absolute functionalities. The ease of viewing the original image during the editing phase is a feature that makes Lightroom a convenient choice. We hope that the methods described above to view the original will be helpful for you in post-production.
