Help with Lightroom 2

[steven:s]

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I have been using Lightroom 2 now for a few months without any problems. In the last couple of days however, after importing new images into the catalog I have open, each image displays a ? mark in the top right corner. Lightroom then informs me that the image is not linked to the original (ie: link missing) and I cannot do any developing until I manually establish the link by locating and linking the two. Can anyone advise why this is happening and how I can get back to the linked system on import?

Thank you

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[elgenper]

Only thing I can think of is that you inadvertently changed your import settings. One can choose between:

1) Copy to a new location and catalog

2) Move to a new location and catalog

3) Leave at current location and catalog

 

Normally, when importing from a camera card, you choose 1) to get the image files downloaded to your image library (and format the card in the camera afterwards). 2) is convenient when you have image files all over your HD and want to move them all into an ordered directory structure.

 

It does sound as you´ve accidentally used option 3) when importing from a camera card. Then, unless that card is mounted (and the images aren´t deleted), LR obviously cannot find the originals.

 

If this is the explanation, you might be in trouble: if the files are deleted from the card, they´re gone. There is salvage software, e.g. RescuePro (which you get when buying a Sandisk Extreme card) that might help you retrieve some of them.

[Jeff S]

You might want to invest in Scott Kelby's Lightroom book. It covers a ton of issues including this one. Just ignore his sometimes grating humor. Martin Evening's book is also worthwhile.

 

Briefly, one of two things happened. One, your photos are stored on an external drive and the drive is not connected. Or, two, you didn't use an external drive and you inadvertently moved or deleted the originals.

 

If you click on the question mark, the previous location will show under the warning. So, if you moved the file or folder, you'll need to tell LR where. Click on the locate button, find the photo and click on Select to relink. If you moved a folder, be sure to check the box Find Nearby Missing Photos. Or, if there's a question mark on a folder in the Folders panel, then you either moved the folder or disconnected the hard drive, in which case you can right click on the folder and choose Find Missing Folder, go to new location and Select.

 

Jeff

[3rdtrick]

I had the same thing happen when I renamed a folder within Lightroom. Maybe I could have recovered it using Jeff's suggestion but I still had them on the card so I just deleted and imported again. When using lLightroom we need to be very careful when moving and renaming files even inside of Lightroom.

Pete

[rob_w]

I had this happen when I had imported both DNG and JPG versions of photos. LR only shows them as one file unless you specify othewise.

 

I deleted the JPGs (I never normally use them but the camera had been incorrectly set and produced them before I realised). Lightroom put up a "?" to indicate that a file -- in this case, the JPG -- could not be found.

 

Since I still had the DNG version, it was quite hard to spot what was making LR unhappy. It may be something like this in your own case.

 

Cheers

 

Robert