Help with Lightroom lost photos: I have Lightroom version 6 which of course is not CC or whatever they call it. It's been wonderful and I've used it for years. The last 2 sets of...

lxu532 Loc: Cherry Hill, NJ

I have Lightroom version 6 which of course is not CC or whatever they call it. It's been wonderful and I've used it for years. The last 2 sets of photos I transferred from my camera to my computer (it goes into Nikon View NX2) transferred fine but then I imported them into Lightroom as I always do. I edit and export them and the edited photos have always gone back to View NX2. Now the photos are no longer in NX2, only Lightroom. They're not in Nikon Transfer 2. They've disappeared! I looked everywhere and they're only in lightroom. The photos I exported should have gone to the same folder they came from as they have done in the past. They're not there. Any ideas what's going on?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

lxu532 wrote:

I have Lightroom version 6 which of course is not ... (show quote)

Export them again and closely review the export settings. LR only does what you tell it to do. "Export Location" is the first expandable section in the Export Dialog. Review the settings as this is where the resulting files will go. Look at the next setting down, file naming, as this controls to resulting names of the files. Section "File Settings" defines the type of files created by the export.

If the Nikon software "monitors" a folder location, does that software need to be told to "refresh" or "Read" or "Update" the source folder to see new files adding into the folder?

tcthome Loc: NJ

Is the destination folder? Check the export dialog box. For me with LR6, the last export is usually still listed. Also , while in the Library Module, go to the top left drop down menus & choose Libary. In the derop down dialog list about the 5th choice down is a find option. This might point to where they are. Also next to the library drop down is the Photo drop down menu. In this drop down is the choice to choose Show in Explorer option & what you might want to try first.
One thing I didn't realize to lately is photos I export as jpeg to viewing folders in my Pictures library is, when I moved a couple of photos within some of my viewing folders ( outside of LR6 ) I had to get LR to find them again & now the original NEF photos are all in (1) another folder & not the original LR folders they were in before. I thought the ones in LR would still be where they were & the export as jpegs would reside as copies outside of LR.
Good luck, Tom

PS. I am using windows 10 but imagine it would still be simular.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

tcthome wrote:

Is the destination folder? Check the export dialog... (show quote)

Relying on LR to 'remember' your last export settings is problematic, possibly a cause of our OP's recent issue.

The best approach to accomplish 'set it and forget it' is to create one or several LR Export Presets that standardize and 'remember' your repeatable best-practice export settings. When our OP resolves their issue, saving something like NX-View-Export as an Export User Preset makes the LR export a 2 click process with all the correct file output settings and folders.

lxu532 Loc: Cherry Hill, NJ

Thank you for all the suggestions but I still can't find the photos. I appreciate the responses. Thank goodness they weren't pictures of my family. In the export dialog they should all go to the destination folder as they have been doing for years. I don't know what happened. I'll keep searching LR and my computer. I'm just concerned about future photos also getting "lost." This is terrible!

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

lxu532 wrote:

Thank you for all the suggestions but I still can't find the photos. I appreciate the responses. Thank goodness they weren't pictures of my family. In the export dialog they should all go to the destination folder as they have been doing for years. I don't know what happened. I'll keep searching LR and my computer. I'm just concerned about future photos also getting "lost." This is terrible!

You can't find the original images or you can't find the edited export? These are vastly different issues. When you re-export, are the files now being created where and how expected? If you scroll to the bottom of the Export panel and open the Post Processing section, you can select the option to have an OS 'explorer' window opened when the export completes. This should show you exactly the place and the names of the files being created.

tcthome Loc: NJ

CHG_CANON wrote:

Relying on LR to 'remember' your last export settings is problematic, possibly a cause of our OP's recent issue.

The best approach to accomplish 'set it and forget it' is to create one or several LR Export Presets that standardize and 'remember' your repeatable best-practice export settings. When our OP resolves their issue, saving something like NX-View-Export as an Export User Preset makes the LR export a 2 click process with all the correct file output settings and folders.

Thanks for the advice. It is always valued. For me, my exports usually go to different folders depending on the subject, eg. , birds, flowers, etc. I don’t rely on LR for this. I just noticed that the last export to folder is still there. In fact, when I replied to the op, I didn’t even consider that the op might of made another export after the photos she is trying to locate.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

tcthome wrote:

Thanks for the advice. It is always valued. For me, my exports usually go to different folders depending on the subject, eg. , birds, flowers, etc. I don’t rely on LR for this. I just noticed that the last export to folder is still there. In fact, when I replied to the op, I didn’t even consider that the op might of made another export after the photos she is trying to locate.

If you put some thought into your folder structures and permanent vs WIP folders, you can create generic exports that are still purpose specific. You can also edit / update the export, say with the passage of time like year-based folders.

I have a "quick" export for online posting. I can delete contents in there or the entire folder for clean-up as the Export will recreate the folder at the next export.

If I was exporting based on years, I can set the Export to that year folder, and I add the new subfolder when I select that export. In January of a new year, I just edit the year portion of the export and save the Export setting.

lxu532 Loc: Cherry Hill, NJ

Thanks! I just don't understand why all of a sudden my RAW photos disappear in the NX2 once they're imported to LR and the edited versions do not go back to the NX2 folder.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

lxu532 wrote:

Thanks! I just don't understand why all of a sudden my RAW photos disappear in the NX2 once they're imported to LR and the edited versions do not go back to the NX2 folder.

Did you 'add' via the Import into LR, or did you 'move'?

Your earlier comments spoke to the LR export, not NX2 and RAW and import.

mikeroetex Loc: Lafayette, LA

lxu532 wrote:

Thank you for all the suggestions but I still can't find the photos. I appreciate the responses. Thank goodness they weren't pictures of my family. In the export dialog they should all go to the destination folder as they have been doing for years. I don't know what happened. I'll keep searching LR and my computer. I'm just concerned about future photos also getting "lost." This is terrible!

They aren't lost, they are on your HD somewhere. Use LR find feature and it should show you exactly where the are stored. The n you will probably discover where you "accidently" exported them to!

lxu532 Loc: Cherry Hill, NJ

Thanks! I'll try that. I appreciate all the help!

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

LrC does not, to the best of my knowledge, a “find” feature that located “lost” images. What it does have is a feature that tells us where the images were last located when linked to LrC. The application does not contain a “ crystal ball” that magically finds images. It is up to us to create a good imaging system, know it well and use it to avoid problems.

mikeroetex Loc: Lafayette, LA

via the lens wrote:

LrC does not, to the best of my knowledge, a “find” feature that located “lost” images. What it does have is a feature that tells us where the images were last located when linked to LrC. The application does not contain a “ crystal ball” that magically finds images. It is up to us to create a good imaging system, know it well and use it to avoid problems.

I mis"spoke". I meant to right click and use the Show in Explorer feature. The OP seeems to have the images in LR available to her, just cannot find where they exported to.

one_eyed_pete Loc: Colonie NY

lxu532 wrote:

Thanks! I'll try that. I appreciate all the help!

LR doesn't store originals, only the edits. If you can open an image in LR without a "can't find original" error the original is on your hard drive and LR knows where. Rt click on an image and click on "Show in Explorer" and explorer will open and show the file and the file location in the header.

Regarding how this problem happened, odd things happen on computers. A stray mouse click here or a random button push there?? Last week my wife screamed, "WTH "I lost my "Task Bar", it's not on the bottom." I went over and in 2 seconds dragged it from the rt side to the bottom where she keeps it. (the task bar hides until you hover the cursor over it). How it got there, only the computer God knows????