Create multiple copies with multiple develop settings in one keystroke (like PS action)?

Question

Hi,
I'm trying to move over from PS to LR in my tourist photo studio (it's easier to train employees, it's more intuitive, it's cheaper, etc.). However, there is one element missing that I simply can't do without. We're located in a theme park and we handle A LOT of people in a day so we're are a very fast paced studio, I like to call it fast food photography. Customers come in, have their photos taken, pick them out immediately and get prints right away (hopefully all in less than half an hour). I've always used Photoshop actions to make everything very fast and efficient (afterall, the less time we spend tinkering on a computer the more time we can spend interacting with our guests). As of now, customers get to pick the finish of their photo so I have an action that creates four layers, each with a different effect (b&w, antique, desaturated, full color). We then can click the layers on and off to show the customer what each finish looks like. I've been trying to replicate this in LR without any luck. The best I can figure out is to use virtual copies and create a preset for each effect. However, we simply don't have the time to click "create virtual copy" three times in succession then select each one and apply a different preset to create the four effects for one image. Esepcially since each customer usually buys multiple images we'd have to do that many times for just one sitting. It seems simple in theory, but the amount of time it takes to create 3-18+ virtual copies each with different presets applied adds up drastically. Clicking a function key for each image is an amazing time saver. The focus of our business is very customer oriented, and we've tried our best to create a workflow where we face our guests more than we face our computer monitors. If anyone knows of anyway to accomplish what I described in PS in an equally efficient manner in LR that would be wonderful. Perhaps there's a tactic I haven't thought of yet.

Answer 1

What you describe cannot be done directly in Lr, i.e. there is - unfortunately - no way to create multiple Virtual Copies (VC) with one command.
But in Lr you don't need multiple VCs. If you have created presets for each "look" you can just apply one "look", i.e one preset after the other the one-and-the-same VC. And you can apply the "looks" i.e. presets in any order and go back-and-forth numerous times. Since the Lr edits are not pixel edits but parametric (only a set of data in the Lr database = catalog), there is no harm done if you apply the same set of presets numerous times in various order. In Photoshop you would switch layers on and off (maybe you use layer comps), in Lr you would switch from one preset to the other for the same VC - or even for the original.
And, you can always go back to the original state the photo was in when it was imported.
If the customer likes one preset, just switch over to the Print Module, apply your Print Preset and print. If the customer likes three presets, go back to the Develop Module click on the other preset, go back to the Print Module ... go back to the Develop Module, click on the third preset .... etc.
PS: I bet Lr could be even faster than Photoshop
Message was edited by: web-weaver: PS added