Lightroom Question: When I first received Lightroom as a gift from my wife last Christmas, I imported the images I already had on my hard drive into the program. I've since added a...

tommyknocher Loc: Detroit, MI

When I first received Lightroom as a gift from my wife last Christmas, I imported the images I already had on my hard drive into the program. I've since added a good number of freshly taken photos directly from my DSLR into Lightroom.

When I go to view and work with the original images I get message that says "photo is missing" although I can see the preview of it right on the screen. I no longer have those pictures on my memory card. Is there any way I can retrieve them?

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

I don't use LR myself, but from what I understand, the way you did this, will only put thumbnails into LR.
If you still have the card, and hopefully not used it again but only deleted the images or formatted the card, try a program like Recuva (free) to try and get them back.

Next time, copy the photos to your hard drive first, then import into LR

BullMoose Loc: Southwest Michigan

tommyknocher wrote:

When I first received Lightroom as a gift from my wife last Christmas, I imported the images I already had on my hard drive into the program. I've since added a good number of freshly taken photos directly from my DSLR into Lightroom.

When I go to view and work with the original images I get message that says "photo is missing" although I can see the preview of it right on the screen. I no longer have those pictures on my memory card. Is there any way I can retrieve them?

Don't be too concerned that the images are gone. The way I understand that LR works, is that the "photo is missing" is only from the LR catalog and not from the hard drive itself. The "missing" is only from that catalog.

I believe if you do a search of your hard drive for the image, they'll be there, since LR is a non-destructive program and the original is always saved in other places.

Sorry, I can't be more helpful, but I'm sure others can be.

tommyknocher Loc: Detroit, MI

Thanks--that actually helps a lot!

Searcher Loc: Kent, England

In Windows:
When Lightroom imports images from a memory card it copies the image, places the copy into a designated or default folder, then creates a thumbnail image for itself.

The chances are the original images are somewhere on your system unless you have deleted them.

Look at one of the "missing" previews and make a note of the file name; now do a search of the whole computer for that file.

If the search is not successful, look in your recycle bin, if found there then restore it plus any others you spot.

If the search found the image, then you need to note its whereabouts - do not move it. Open the Containing folder and note the file path.

Back in Lightroom, on the preview, in the grey area there will be a faint ! mark. Click on the mark and you will be invited to locate the missing image. Navigate to the image you found, choose Select, and the image is no longer missing.

If you failed to find the missing image on your computer through the search facilities, then its either still on the card, or its gone.

GDRoth Loc: Southeast Michigan USA

It's usually best to go to the Lightroom Forum for this kind of technical question...........You'll get the answer and learn more about LR there.
http://www.lightroomforums.net

Also the Scott Kelby Lightroom books are highly recommended..........don't try to learn LR by trial and error....

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

tommyknocher wrote:

When I first received Lightroom as a gift from my wife last Christmas, I imported the images I already had on my hard drive into the program. I've since added a good number of freshly taken photos directly from my DSLR into Lightroom.

When I go to view and work with the original images I get message that says "photo is missing" although I can see the preview of it right on the screen. I no longer have those pictures on my memory card. Is there any way I can retrieve them?

You should use LR to import (to the default or your own specified folder), and perform all file management within Lightroom, including deleting and moving files from one folder to another.

When you get the file is missing message, LR is telling you that at one point it was in the catalog, but it is no longer there.

The first thing I would do is to use the Library mode, folder view, and right click on the folder name that contains the "missing" images. You will see an option to sync the folder. Pressing this will "find" the missing images if they are in the folder or a subfolder.

If you have deleted or moved the file outside of LR, then you need to put it back - there is a chance it is in the recycle bin or in another folder. After you've put it back you will need to re-sync the folder. Or alternately you can import the file(s) using the Add (not copy) option.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

tommyknocher wrote:

When I first received Lightroom as a gift from my wife last Christmas, I imported the images I already had on my hard drive into the program. I've since added a good number of freshly taken photos directly from my DSLR into Lightroom.

When I go to view and work with the original images I get message that says "photo is missing" although I can see the preview of it right on the screen. I no longer have those pictures on my memory card. Is there any way I can retrieve them?

It means you either moved or deleted the photo outside of Lightroom and Lightroom can't find it. You are viewing the thumbnail created when you imported the images. For Lightroom to keep track of the images you imported any file manipulation, like deleting an image, renaming an image, moving an image or moving, renaming or deleting a folder with imported images must be done within the program. You may not have intended or even realized you moved or deleted an image outside of Lightroom, but you most likely did.

manofhg Loc: Knoxville, TN

I always import directly from my card to LR. I use LR's "import" to do it and don't just put them in a folder that LR uses which I think would cause problems.

Yes, LR takes some time to learn and I spent several hours watching vids to learn it and still need help from time to time. The books recommended would probably be a very good investment. That said, LR is great software.

Goldwinger Loc: Boynton Beach Florida

tommyknocher wrote:

When I first received Lightroom as a gift from my wife last Christmas, I imported the images I already had on my hard drive into the program. I've since added a good number of freshly taken photos directly from my DSLR into Lightroom.

When I go to view and work with the original images I get message that says "photo is missing" although I can see the preview of it right on the screen. I no longer have those pictures on my memory card. Is there any way I can retrieve them?

When you move a folder in windows and do not use LR to move them , LR will still have a preview but doesnt know where that folder went . do a import again when you find the right folder in windows explorer . then always use LR to move pictures and folders with pictures , there in LR you can create new folders , or new catalogs .

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

Goldwinger wrote:

When you move a folder in windows and do not use LR to move them , LR will still have a preview but doesnt know where that folder went . do a import again when you find the right folder in windows explorer . then always use LR to move pictures and folders with pictures , there in LR you can create new folders , or new catalogs .

This suggestion to import the pictures again will result in LR having two versions of the same photo: the original one where it doesn't know where the file is and a second one that doesn't have any edits you may have made to it. ( Realizing that there are circumstances where this is not true.)

If you truly haven't deleted the image from the disk, then finding the missing files/folders as Searcher has suggested is the way to go

bettis1 Loc: Texas

1) The images are not stored in Lightroom.
2) Only the location of the image on your hard drive is stored in Lightroom.
3) Consequently, if you have moved the image on your hard drive without telling LR where you moved it to, it can't find it.
4) When you make a change to an image in LR, only those instructions are stored in LR. That is a GOOD thing because any changes that you make to them in LR are nondestructive to the original image.

topcat Loc: Alameda, CA

I don't use lightroom to import my images, I put them in the folder that I want them in.
But what lightroom is telling you is that the link is broken. Lightroom doesn't store the pictures, it only connects to them on your hard drive. All you have to do is right click on the folder in lightroom, and then find the file on your computer. Then you will be connected to the files again. Everything will be as it was before. Even any corrections that you made.

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

tommyknocher wrote:

Thanks--that actually helps a lot!

Did you find the pictures on your hard drive?

tommyknocher Loc: Detroit, MI

I did! Thanks to all for your helpful advice.