How to restart an editing session where I left off?

DxO PhotoLab
1

Newbie question for sure, but can’t find an answer in the manual or online. To illustrate, I do the following, in order:

  1. I open PL 7 and using the photolib, browse to a raw file, select it and see it on the main edit screen.
  2. I notice the default preset of DxO natural has been applied per the history window.
  3. I apply the preset “DxO standard” and see it appear in the history window as well as see the image in the main window change.
  4. Using windows 10 explorer, I do not see a .dop file in the dir containing the raw file I’m editing indicating PL 7 is saving my edit.
  5. I click the “X” in the upper right corner of the PL 7 window to close PL 7. I now see the .dop fil using win explorer (yay!)
  6. I open PL 7, browse to the raw file edited above and note the history window shows only the default preset has been applied, not the “standard” preset I previously applied. So it appears I have lost the edits from my previous session.

Noted that under Edit-Preferences, the “save/load dop files automatically” options are both checked.

So my question is how do I do a bunch of edits, close PL 7, then later reopen PL and pick up editing where I left off? I understand the original raw file (or jpg for that matter) is not changed. I just expected the .dop would contain and apply the previous edits when I reopened the raw file for further edits.

Thx ppl.

2

PhotoLab is a parametric editor. The order in which operations are performed is not recorded. Some people use the history list but affecting a previous operation will undo everything you’ve done after that point. You can alter any operation in any order.

The “default” preset is whichever preset you defined in the preferences.

3

Thanks for the reply. I’m afraid I’m not yet smart enough to understand it.

I understand the default preset is that which is set in preferences. Are you saying the default preset is applied each and every time I reopen PL and view a raw file, thereby canceling the edits from the previous session?

4

Are you asking about which image you edited last and how to go on with the next image?

On my Mac, after quitting PhotoLab in “Customize” view and restarting Photolab, the image I selected last is shown in the film strip, usually at right … and the image is still selected.

Quit PhotoLab in Photo Library view and you’ll have to find out by yourself.
DPL will usually show the first image in the last selected folder. The last used image is not remembered or DPL doesn’t access that information, should it have been recorded.

BTW, the default preset is applied when PhotoLab “sees” an image for the very first time - unless you delete the PhotoLab database by purpose or accident.

5

If you are using the Windows version of PL then the history panel only records the current session history, it doesn’t show history from early editing sessions.

Personally, I never use PL’s history.

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6

No, I am saying PL does not appear to save my edits between sessions; however, see (2) below.

  1. If my default preset is X, when I open PL and view an image I can see in the history that the default preset (X) was applied. If I then change the preset to Y (not the default in preferences, just the preset applied to the current image), close and reopen PL, the history again shows the preset as X. What happened to the changes to the image that were made when I selected the Y preset?

  2. As a further twist, if instead of changing the preset from X to Y, I instead, say, open PL, view an image, change the exposure drastically (so it is easy to see if applied), then close and reopen PL, the exposure change is clearly still there but all the history shows is the application of the default preset. History shows nothing about the exposure reduction which is clearly visible in the image.

Clearly I don’t understand how everyone uses this tool. It seems like editing across multiple sessions is not to be done. Which makes no sense as the dop files are supposed to be saving the edits.

Appreciate everyone’s patience and help straightening my sorry butt out.

7

Ahhhhhh. Ok. Thanks. Then how can I tell if an image was previously edited? Or does everyone just somehow reset an image to unedited somehow and start over every session?

8

Quitting out of DPL and opening it again works as expected on my Mac.
Neither history entries nor customising settings are lost.
Persistent Settings.mov.zip (5.1 MB)

Note that I set DPL to not import and export sidecars (.dop files) automatically.

9

At least that’s how it is on Windows. You apply a different preset than the one you selected in the preferences (to be applied to newly discovered files). You close PL and reopen it. The name of the most recently applied preset has vanished with the history*) even though all corresponding settings have been applied correctly. – I have no idea why that is.

*) as explained by @stuck in Windows the history is only visible during the session

10

Understood. Thanks for that.

I believe my confusion stems in part from me being an idiot. But also from the edit history not being preserved from session to session. Not preserving the history session-session is a design choice, so ok. BUT, history always does show what the the default preset applied was, even if that preset has long since been superseded by another preset or edits. I think that was my main confusion point since I saw the history of the application of the default preset but not the history of other changes.

I created a .bat file to delete the database, then open PL. That way I can tell if an image will open with edits by the existence of a .dop file. To avoid PL from rediscovering images w/o .dop files every time it starts (due to no db) and applying a default preset, I set the default preset to “none”. I just need to remember to apply the desired preset before I start editing and being an idiot I’ll prob forget to do as often as not.

Sincere and appreciative thanks to all for your help.

11

Hello and welcome.
I believe that the complete history list is only visible between sessions in macOS and not in windows. At least it was that way before.

The history list in PL do not carry such importance as it does is other pixel based editors like photoshop et al.

PL have an internal scheme for the order in how it applies all parameters upon export.

After you have opened a photo for the first time and the preset was applied, every other edit, adjustments or even never presets applied will be retained in the dop files.
So when you open up the photo a week later, you will pick up were you left off.
No matter what the history list says or not.

You will not have lost anything.

12

Good questions, PPP:

Yes - and you can change that to whichever preset you’d like to be applied to all newly discovered images … that is, any image for which there is not a database entry OR an associated .dop/sidecar file.

No - the default preset is applied ONLY if there is not a database entry OR an associated .dop/sidecar file.

No, that’s not the case - You can definitely edit the same image multiple times, across multiple editing sessions (it would be a MAJOR issue if that were not the case !).

It’s just that, for the Windows version of PL, the step-by-step history of corrections is not retained. Some users see this as a negative - others, like me, don’t think it’s a big deal at all … For the reason why, see Joanna’s response above.

The .dop/sidecar (and database entries) contain the latest “current-state” of all corrections you have applied - not each step-by-step list of corrections you applied.

If you have applied any corrections to an image then (assuming you have preferences set to save settings in sidecar files) a sidecar/.dop file will exist for the image.

To make this more obvious from within PL, you could assign a colour label to each image that you edit … Eg. Purple = [Ctrl+Alt+7].

PL will NOT apply any preset to an image for which there is either a database entry OR an associated sidecar/.dop file.

John M

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13

You can adopt that workflow if you want but, for me, that’s just making things hard. Why can’t you set your preferred preset as the default via Edit | Preferences | General tab | Correction settings section? Doing that means PL will automatically apply that preset to every new image it discovers, i.e. for every image where there is not a database entry OR an associated .dop/sidecar file.

For all other images, i.e. ones you have already edited, all the edits are written to the associated .dop file. The history of the order in which you applied those edits is not important in PL, because PL will handle your edits according to its internal algorithm.

However, you might have forgotten which of the many features of PL you have used so to see at a glance what corrections you have already applied, in the ‘Customize’ window, click on the ‘Active corrections’ button in the top right of the right hand pane, it’s just below the ‘Apply preset’ button, which will simplify the list of palettes to show only those in use on the selected image. Once you’ve reminded yourself of what you did, toggle the ‘Active corrections’ buttons off, to reveal the unused palettes again.

My own default presets are:

  • for RAW, a variation on PL’s built in ‘Neutral colors’
  • RGB images, ‘no correction’

NB I don’t advise using ‘DxO Style - Natural’ as a default because, in my far from humble opinion, it’s most definitely not natural.

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14

My thghts might change as I get more seat time but for now…

I don’t like the history window telling me what default was applied mainly because that will be irrelevant/old news/misleading regarding the status of edits to an image if I’ve previously edited the image. I’m also not a fan of having to wait for PL to apply a default to 100++ images when it discovers them as most are going to get trashed anyway. I am running PL 7 on an 8 year old nothing-special dell laptop with 8G of RAM, lol.

Since edits can be held in either the DB or in a dop file, the absence of a dop file is not a sure-fire way to determine if the image was modified (since the DB might be holding edits, eg, the default preset changes). Thus, by deleting the DB before starting PL, I can be definitively sure whether the image I’m looking at has had edits applied by the presence/absence of a dop file. I can also periodically append a sequence # to a copy of the dop file to easily enable rolling back edits, even after PL is exited.

Since there will be no DB, and presumably not all images will have an associated dop file (cause I’ve not edited them yet), if I have a default preset other than “none”, every time PL starts and I navigate to a new directory, it will rediscover all images w/o a dop file, apply the preset, and update the DB (which I’ll be deleting anyway). That will slow thing down for no good reason.

Understand about how to see the edits applied thus far using the “active corrections” button, thx.

FWIW, to reduce the # of images I have to sort thru in PL, every press of the shutter in my cams produces an 80 Mbyte raw file and reduced strength jpeg. I look at the jpegs outside of PL to decide which raw files to keep. Only those raw files go into PL. That 1st-level cull speeds things up quite a bit. Maybe when I get a super whamo fast computer that step won’t be needed. Edit: or I install irfanview as sugg by @George (thanks!)

15

So close the History palette, you’ll also save a bit of screen space as well :grin:

As @Joanna has already explained, using the History panel to step back undoes everything after that point but you don’t need to step back to change what ever it is you are stepping back to. You can simply adjust the parameter you wish to step back to from where you are because PL doesn’t care about the order in which you do things. It handles, and thus presents on screen, your edits according to its internal algorithm.

16

Just don’t use PL for that.

George

17

Just making sure I’m not missing an opportunity to learn something here… why not use PL to delete images?

18

It’s a converter not a viewer. Use something like Irfanview. Much faster.

George

19

Such a helpful forum. Thanks again to all of you.

1 Like
20

Experienced PL users don’t point PL at folders that contain 100s of images … 'cos they know it will be slow (as PL applies a preset to all “new” images OR re-applies previously made corrections, and renders the result).

My personal workflow has PL operating within a “Work-in-Progress” folder, containing around 20-30 images … I then move the results to my image storage system - - and repeat.

Not so !

  • Assuming your preference setting is to save corrections in sidecar files, then a sidecar/.dop file will be created for any image to which you have applied a correction … regardless of the existence, or not, of the database.

Therefore, the absence of a dop file IS a clear indication that an image has not been “modified” by you.

If aiming to achieve such an assurance is the only reason that you’re deleting the database then that’s a wasteful/pointless action. … See above.

You could - but that would be a tedious process …

Better to create Virtual Copies (Ctrl+J) as “snapshots” of your process in editing an image … The result will be contained within the associated sidecar/.dop file (and in the db).

And, PL then enables buffered/cached comparisons between any 2 versions of an image.

Note: There are some implications of deleting the database … the main one being that you will lose the ability to search for images by keyword. But, if that doesn’t bother you (as it does not bother me) then there’s no problem in relying only on sidecar/.dop files (as I do) … and it does avoid the potential for the db to become corrupted and/or cluttered-up with obsolete references to images that have been moved/deleted from outside PL.

Summary, assuming you have preferences set to save settings in sidecar files AND regardless of whether or not the database has been deleted;

  • The presence of a sidecar/.dop file is a reliable indication that you have applied a correction to the image (and NOT simply that PL has applied a preset to a “new” image).

  • If you point PL at a folder containing 100s of source files (eg. RAWs) then the load-time will be slow … for reasons explained above.