• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Gnarbox 128 Review
  • Becoming a Better Drone Pilot: Brother AirScouter WD-300C Head-mounted Display Review
  • The Traveling Photographer: Photographing People: Guidelines
  • Mirrorless Camera Maniac: Panasonic Leica 200mm f/2.8 Offers Superb Build Quality & Reach
  • The Vello BG-N19 Battery Grip for Nikon D850

Photofocus

education and inspiration for visual storytellers

Menu
  • Blog
  • Photo
    • Shooting
    • Gear
    • Lighting
    • Photography
    • Close
  • Video
    • Shooting
    • Gear
    • Lighting
    • Cinematography
    • Close
  • Learn
    • Maximize Lightroom
    • HDR
    • Video
    • Lightroom
    • Photoshop
    • Close
  • Gear Guides
    • Bird Photography
    • The Ultimate GoPro Kit
    • Close
  • Business
  • Inspiration
  • News
  • Podcasts
    • Audio Podcasts
    • Video Podcasts
    • Close
  • Software
  • Contests

Importing Photos into Lightroom

Scott Bourne 11/09/2011 2

Guest Photo & Post By Nat Coalson

Part 1 – About Lightroom Catalogs

During the past year alone, I’ve taught nearly two dozen classes and workshops on Adobe Lightroom, and several aspects of using this essential software keeps rising to the top as significant hurdles for new users. In this two part mini-series, I’ll explain the fundamentals of getting photos into a Lightroom catalog and how Lightroom uses the catalog to manage your files.

First point: you need to Import photos into Lightroom in order to work with them. Until you do an Import, Lightroom doesn’t know anything about the files on your hard drive, and they won’t show anywhere within the Lightroom window.

Unlike Adobe Bridge, which is a simple file browser, Lightroom uses a database to manage and track all your work with photos. This database is called the Lightroom Catalog, and it’s a file stored on your hard drive. (The default location of the Lightroom catalog is in your Pictures folder.)

The Import process creates new database records within the catalog. These records include information about the file name, location and other aspects of the original files on your hard drive. The actual image files are never stored within the catalog! The catalog works with the files by reference, meaning that the files always need to be available to Lightroom in order to work with them.

For example, if you import files from an external hard drive, and later have that hard drive turned off or disconnected from the computer, Lightroom won’t be able to find the files. Similarly, if you Import files into Lightroom and then later move or rename those files using the Mac Finder or Windows Explorer, Lightroom again won’t be able to find the files.

In the above cases, you’ll end up with question marks showing on the folders (in the Folders panel) and/or on the photo thumbnails in the Library views. A question mark means that Lightroom doesn’t know where the photo is. And the only reason this occurs is if the photo isn’t where it was when it was imported, or it’s not using the same name. (You can relink missing photos, which I will cover in a future article.)

So the key points to take away from this article are 1) the Lightroom catalog is a database containing information about the photos you’ve imported, but not the photos themselves, and 2) you always need to have the original image files available to Lightroom in order to process them.

In the next part I’ll explain how to import photos and how to properly reorganize your photos on the hard drive. Stay tuned!

Nat Coalson is the author of Nature Photography Photo Workshop and  Lightroom 3: Streamlining Your Digital Photography Process

  • About
  • Latest Posts
Follow Me:

Scott Bourne

Founder at Photofocus
Founder of Photofocus.com. Professional photographer. Author. Speaker.
Follow Me:

Latest posts by Scott Bourne (see all)

  • Gnarbox 128 Review - April 23, 2018
  • Thanks For The Memories - March 31, 2017
  • Alaska Eagle Photography Diary 2017 – Part 3 - March 29, 2017

Categories: Shooting Tags: Lightroom

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Google
  • Email
  • Print
 

You May Also Like:

Please Support Our Partners:

Datacolor Spyder – There is no better time to enhance your capabilities in color management and create outstanding images. Calibrating your display is the first step to ensuring your prints accurately match what you see on your screen.

Luminar – Meet the world’s first photo editor that adapts to your style & skill level. Luminar is the supercharged photo software that makes complex editing easy & enjoyable.

MPB.com – We buy, sell and trade used camera equipment with custom-designed technology, built to solve the challenges of peer to peer transactions. Our rapidly growing marketplace is available in the UK, US and EU countries. Build a camera setup that's right for you with MPB.

Platypod – Platypod Pro LLC makes the world's most compact mini tripod bases for photographers. Inspired by the duck-billed platypus, an animal with flat and broad feet, we designed our camera supports to be ideal for low-angle shots and situations where traditional tripods are cumbersome or impractical.

Perfectly Clear Complete – Built for precision. Made for beauty. Perfectly Clear has mastered the science of intelligent image correction - creating superior quality photos in record time, so you can get back to doing what you really love...in no time. Special Photofocus deal here.

HDR Learning Center – Check out new ways to use High Dynamic Range photography to make compelling images. Free tutorials and posts to get results. Produced in partnership with HDRsoft.

Adobe Portfolio – Beautifully Simple Creative Portfolio Websites are a snap to build. Try Adobe Portfolio, a tool to build your own personalized website in minutes, available to Creative Cloud subscribers today https://www.myportfolio.com.

ThinkTAP – New online education for photographers by working professionals. Be one of the first 50 people to buy our new time-lapse training for only $99 (that’s 60% off); use the code TL50.

Reader Interactions

Trackbacks

  1. Importing Photos Into Lightroom | Nat Coalson's Photography Blog says:
    December 2, 2011 at 1:53 am

    […] Part 1 – About Lightroom Catalogs […]

     
  2. Importing Photos into Lightroom - Photography Essentials says:
    November 10, 2014 at 11:41 am

    […] Part 1 – About Lightroom Catalogs […]

     

Primary Sidebar

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Our eBooks

  • Develop Great Images in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (Scribd | iBooks)
  • The Basic Beginner’s Guide to Photography Light & Exposure (iBooks)
  • Secrets of HDR (iBooks)
  • 72 Essays on Photography (iBooks | Amazon)

Footer

Photofocus

Regardless of the type of photography you focus on, Photofocus is here as a helpful and educational resource for the aspiring and professional photographer. Our goal is to assist in your success as an artist.

Advertise on Photofocus

Our eBooks

  • Develop Great Images in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (Scribd | iBooks)
  • The Basic Beginner’s Guide to Photography Light & Exposure (iBooks)
  • Secrets of HDR (iBooks)
  • 72 Essays on Photography (iBooks | Amazon)

Follow Us On Twitter

Follow @photofocus
Follow @scottbourne
Follow @rhedpixel
Follow @rodharlan
Follow @davecross
Follow @lightroomers
Follow @JoeMcNallyPhoto
Follow @Matthew_JordanS
© 2018 Photofocus · All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Advertise
    • Marketing Kit
  • Authors
    • The Publisher
    • The Founder
  • Contact Us
  • Legal
    • Contests
    • FTC Disclosures
    • Review Guidelines
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.