lwerthe1mer Loc: Birmingham, Alabama

Hopefully a very simple question. When I insert a memory card (which I know contains photos. Into my computer and then hit “import “ in Lightroom Classic, designating my card as the source of the photos, the photos are dim on my screen, and the “import” button in the lower, right corner is dimmed out. I have imported thousands of photos over the years, and this is a new problem for me. Thanks for your help.

bleyton Loc: Los Angeles, CA

The dim previews usually mean that you have already imported those pictures.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

They either pictures you've imported already, or these pictures were given the same names by the camera.

gsmith051 Loc: Fairfield Glade, TN

Suggestion: Right hand column uncheck “Don’t import suspected duplicates,” and see if that works. If it does you have duplicates. /George

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

So, those of us reading this all agree that you have already imported the photos you are now trying to re-import. Best practice (when completely done with the card) is to import, remove card, put card in camera, format card. If you backup the original files upon import then you have a second copy that sits somewhere away from your original imported copy, the "just in case" images.

Look in your LR catalog and see if you have the files somewhere in your folders that you are trying to import, perhaps in your last import folder? In future, click on the Do Not Import Suspected Duplicates box and this way you can take some photos, import them, put the card back into the camera, take the card out after shooting and put it into the computer, import the new files, and then put the card back in and continue shooting. I do this when I go on a week-long shoot as I import for a backup daily into my computer and then continue to shoot with the same card.

Read the LR help manual, found online by clicking HELP at the top of the application. In particular, read up on the Library Module. This will help you greatly.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

If the images are not duplicates but use the same file name, just import them to a different folder.

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

What is your file naming convention? Is it possible that you have so many files in the same subdirectory that you are starting to have duplicate file names as a result?

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Best practice is to rename all photos on import. You will never have this problem of suspected duplicates ever again.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

To avoid this since many cameras begin renumbering at 9999 images, I now import with a custom name such as X1Da-MiracleMile-xxxx.(your file type designator). I still keep images in a hierarchical group of folders, but it does simplify my life.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Renaming the photos requires some sort of sequence number to make the names unique. An index number works fine if you are only shooting with 1 body. Shooting with 2 or more bodies would result in index numbers not being arranged chronologically. For that reason I switched to the time instead of an index number. With the date and time in the file name you have unique file names even if you use several different bodies. If you take bursts of high frame rates, you will want subsecond granularity in the time used for the file name.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I agree with others.... likely the images you are seeing grayed out are duplicates of ones you've already imported or have the same file names as previously imported images.

You actually don't need to use Lightroom to download your images. There are easier ways. My method with a Windows based system is:

1. Create a main folder to receive the download images, using my computer operating system. My main folder is simply named with the date the images were taken (YYYY_MM_DD). Sometimes I append a keyword to that folder to make it easier to find things.... for example if I photographed a particular person that day, I might add their name. This just makes it easier to find using my system browser.

2. Optionally, within that main main folder I may create one or more sub-folders, as needed. I mostly shoot RAW, so very often I have a subfolder YYYY_MM_DD_RAW. There also can be any number of other subfolders for model releases, finished images, thumbnails, etc. (YYYY_MM_DD_releases, YYYY_MM_DD_finished, YYYY_MM_DD_thumbnails, etc.)

3. Insert memory card(s) in card reader, open in navigator, highlight image files, then drag, drop and COPY image files from card into folder. (Do not MOVE files. Copying leaves the originals on the memory card for now.)

4. Start Lightroom and Import, selecting "other source" and then pointing it to the folder mentioned above. (Can add "parent" folders or include "sub folders", if wanted.)

5. During Import, I've got Lightroom set up to add copyright data to all images, but I don't do anything else yet.

6. Once Import is complete, I check that the sort is by time taken, then select all images and have LR rename them. My files names are YYYY_MM_DD_xxxx where the x's are sequential.

7. Once renaming is complete, I back everything up. Only after the backup is complete and I am sure all the images have been safely copied to my computer will I consider formatting or "erasing" images from my memory cards.

8. Each time I insert a memory card into my camera (I use around 20 cards), first thing I do is format it. This doesn't actually erase the old images, but it marks them as okay to overwrite. This and the renaming process done in step 6 insure I never have any conflicts or suspected duplicates.

Using dates in that way both for file names and folder names insures that I never have any conflicts. It also makes for good general organization that I can locate images pretty quickly and easily both via Lightroom and in other ways.

The above actually is pretty easy and takes no more or less time than using Lightroom to do the download, but avoids a lot of possible problems if LR isn't set up correctly when doing downloads. Because I'm using multiple memory cards, often have thousands of images to download, I don't do the sorting and renaming until all have been compiled (but I often Import the first batch or two and get started on my selections and editing in LR, while additional images are downloading in the background... after the first import, all that's needed is to right click on the folder and select "synchronize folder" to have LR add new images that were added since the last import or synch.)

Oh, and while shooting I put my memory cards in cases face up when they are ready to use (i.e, the images on them are old ones that have already been copied) and later once I've filled a card and am switching it out, I put it back in the card case face down. This a simple visual cue when I am downloading images from the cards later, so I know which ones have new images and which I didn't use that day and don't need to download.

Finally, if you haven't already done so, use a Sharpie and write your name, phone number and email address on all your memory cards. Too often I've seen or heard of lost cards that the owner couldn't be found, because they didn't take this simple precaution. There was a case on another forum where someone found a card with about 500 wedding pictures and posted a few of them... some people on the forum recognized the neighborhood and the church, the person who found the card got in touch with someone there and since they knew the date the images were taken was able to find out the name of the bride and groom, and eventually the photographer, who was VERY glad to get her memory card back! (She didn't have a camera with dual card slots to a backup while shooting!)

David in Dallas Loc: Dallas, Texas, USA

amfoto1, you must write very small (and use a very fine Sharpie) to be able to write all that information onto an SD chip. My SD chips are usually dark blue color, so writing wouldn't be very legible, anyway.

My technique is somewhat similar to yours: I create folders and subfolders on my computer and upload the photos from the SD chip into them (copy, not move). The structure on the computer is such that duplicate names on the photos are usually not an issue, since I instruct Lightroom to import from the structure and names are not duplicated within a given subfolder. The folders and subfolders have descriptive names (including dates) so finding photos is not difficult. I don't bother changing the names of the photos themselves, even when I publish them to Flickr: In Flickr they are organized into Albums and Collections with descriptive names, and I go through and apply Descriptions to a great many individual photos, too.

There are typically 4 copies of my photos in my control: the original on the SD chip; a copy on my laptop (which accompanies me on all my trips); a copy on my desktop computer; and copies of selected ones on Flickr. Once I'm sure the Flickr upload is secure and my desktop has been backed up, I'll possibly delete them from the laptop and format the SD chip.

lwerthe1mer Loc: Birmingham, Alabama

Thanks for all the suggestions. I’m back in the flow, thanks to UHH.

lwerthe1mer Loc: Birmingham, Alabama

I initially imported my photos, and they strangely disappeared. I couldn’t find them on my hard drive, and I unchecked the “avoid duplicates” button and reloaded all photos again. I guess I’ll find the missing photos one of these days. Thanks to everyone for your advice.