Distorted photo's in lightroom: I was trying to print some older photo's I had in Lightroom and the photo's on screen were digitally distorted.There was a message that said "The file...

timepass Loc: Yardley,PA

I was trying to print some older photo's I had in Lightroom and the photo's on screen were digitally distorted.There was a message that said "The file could not be found".Has anyone else ever had this happen or know how get the distortion out of the photo's.Any help appreciated.The photo's are only distorted in Lightroom.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

The important issue to resolve is message "file could not be found". Where did the file go?

timepass Loc: Yardley,PA

That's the problem,I don't know where the file went.I don't know what I might have done to loose the file.It has been a while since I looked at this particular set of photo's.Just over a period of time,something happened to the file.I'm sorry I can't give you more info on where the file went.

Ron Dial Loc: Cuenca, Ecuador

If you are using a MAC, search for it using Finder. If you are using a PC, open File Explorer, go to your C: drive and then search for the file.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

timepass wrote:

That's the problem,I don't know where the file went.I don't know what I might have done to loose the file.It has been a while since I looked at this particular set of photo's.Just over a period of time,something happened to the file.I'm sorry I can't give you more info on where the file went.

It (the folder) was somehow moved from outside of Lr. That is a common problem for (with) users of Lr. The files are likely on your HDD somewhere. Search with your Windows or Mac file/folder finder.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

Usually file cannot be found means: 1, you moved the file outside of LR; 2, the HD changed letter; 3, you lost the file. What are you doing for backup?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

timepass wrote:

That's the problem,I don't know where the file went.I don't know what I might have done to loose the file.It has been a while since I looked at this particular set of photo's.Just over a period of time,something happened to the file.I'm sorry I can't give you more info on where the file went.

Without the original file to apply the LR edit information, LR will not be able to create any export versions of the image.

The file has been deleted or moved. Hopefully, just moved. Say the image was in c:\picture\folder1 when imported to LR. Maybe you've been doing some clean-up / organization actions and decided to rename or move "folder1" to something more useful. Or maybe, moved your images from the C: drive to an external HD assigned to "K". These types of changes made external to the LR catalog will cause this type of issue. As will deleting the image file or all files from folder1.

You first need to identify where the file now resides and then update the LR catalog to the new location. When viewed in the Grid mode of catalog in the Library Module, you should see an exclamation point in the upper right hand corner. When you know where the image now resides, you can click that icon and <Locate> the image at the new position updating the image and other missing images at the new location.

timepass Loc: Yardley,PA

I completely forgot that I took my pc to Geek Squad to have it repaired.They had to remove everything on the computer to service it and then reinstall it all.This is probably how the file went missing,they probably didn't reinstall some of my photo's on Lightroom.I'll see if they can tell me what happened to the missing file.

mizzee Loc: Boston,Ma

I too lost a lot of photos after a trip to the Geek Squad. Bought a new computer and had them transfer everything from the old to the new. I told the kid that of everything on the computer the one thing I was most concerned about was my photos. And that was the one thing that didn't move. I didn't discover it until it was too late. I cried.

CPR Loc: Nature Coast of Florida

Lightroom doesn't have a "place". When a photo is logged in with LR the location of the photo is saved. If you change that location with the operating system (a move in File Explorer for instance) then LR loses it. You can find it again with Win10 Search and then log it back into LR. You may lose the layer with the changes stored in it.

SusanFromVermont Loc: Southwest corner of Vermont

timepass wrote:

I was trying to print some older photo's I had in Lightroom and the photo's on screen were digitally distorted.There was a message that said "The file could not be found".Has anyone else ever had this happen or know how get the distortion out of the photo's.Any help appreciated.The photo's are only distorted in Lightroom.

If the Geek Squad lost your images, and you cannot get them back, it will be unfortunate, but an experience to learn from. It is important to back up your images regularly to an external hard drive. You can do that manually or you can use a program like SynchBack which does it for you on a schedule you set up. I use "mirror" so that any changes I make on my catalog will be replicated. I also have a "regular" backup that does not make changes, just adds new images and edits. [Remember that backing up your Catalog when closing LR is NOT backing up the actual images.]

Another thing you can do is figure out where your images are stored so you can look for them. Depending on how your computer is set up, there may be copies in a location you did not designate.

Finally, make sure you remember to ALWAYS move photos, create new folders, and do any editing from within LR - except for when images are sent to PS or plugins. Since they are sent out from LR, the edits will come back to LR unless you specify otherwise when choosing whether to use "Save" or "Save As".

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

timepass wrote:

I was trying to print some older photo's I had in Lightroom and the photo's on screen were digitally distorted.There was a message that said "The file could not be found".Has anyone else ever had this happen or know how get the distortion out of the photo's.Any help appreciated.The photo's are only distorted in Lightroom.

I've often had the thumbnails distorted - squeezed from the sides - but they usually fix themselves eventually. This doesn't happen very often.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

timepass wrote:

That's the problem,I don't know where the file went.I don't know what I might have done to loose the file.It has been a while since I looked at this particular set of photo's.Just over a period of time,something happened to the file.I'm sorry I can't give you more info on where the file went.

If you can't find the file and do not know were it went, how can you look at it and see it somehow is distorted?

11bravo

For windows, I use everything.exe to find files. It quickly builds an index of files on all HDD's in the computer. Much easier to use than windows search.

https://www.voidtools.com/downloads/

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

timepass wrote:

I was trying to print some older photo's I had in Lightroom and the photo's on screen were digitally distorted.There was a message that said "The file could not be found".Has anyone else ever had this happen or know how get the distortion out of the photo's.Any help appreciated.The photo's are only distorted in Lightroom.

Have LR find the missing files... did you delete the outside of LR, is sho LR can not find them.