[derelict]

I ran into a problem yesterday. I have been trying to learn to split tone in LR and was looking through a back catalog of photos to play with. I took some landscape photos and while ago and I would like to play with them. I plugged in the hard drive where the RAW files were and tried to import the three or four I wanted to work with. LR said it could not do it as they were already in the catalog. Problem is, I cannot find them and cannot figure out how to gain access to the catalog.

Anyone know a way around this? Is it possible for me to remove the catalog? Maybe alter it? Or, better yet, on a Windows machine, tell me where the hell this catalog is?

[boriscleto]

Why not just make a new catalog and import them into that?

[riseform]

I hate the whole catalog/RAW linking confusion with LR once you start backing up and saving files to another drive.
Without answering the question (because I cannot), I think one way quick way around it would be to simply rename the four RAW files you're interested in and then import.

[derelict]

Why not just make a new catalog and import them into that?

I can barely work with the one that is already there. I do not want another memory hog.

I hate the whole catalog/RAW linking confusion with LR once you start backing up and saving files to another drive.
Without answering the question (because I cannot), I think one way quick way around it would be to simply rename the four RAW files you're interested in and then import.

Brilliant! Why did I not think of that?

[pschlute]

Can you not search for them using date or filename using LR ?

I use an external drive with LR with no problems

[murrelet]

Another suggestion:

1. Assign the 4 images to a quick collection or a regular collection so you can get to them later
2. In the Develop module, roll back the history as far back as you need (for example, at the time of import, after cropping, or after basic exposure fixes or white balancing)
3. Create a virtual copy of the image
4. Add the virtual copy to the quick or regular collection (again, so you can get back to later)
5. Use the virtual copies to experiment with split toning

The advantage of virtual copies is you won't have multiple files of the same images clogging up your hard drives. Not a big deal with only 4 images. But best practice is 1-image-1-file. Let Lightroom handle multiple versioning.

[lsimpkins]

Problem is, I cannot find them and cannot figure out how to gain access to the catalog.

Anyone know a way around this? Is it possible for me to remove the catalog? Maybe alter it? Or, better yet, on a Windows machine, tell me where the hell this catalog is?

If you have only one Catalog, it opens when you open Lightroom. That's how you gain access to it. To find where it is located, open LR. Click on Edit>Preferences. Under the General tab the location of the Default Catalog will be listed. I do not recommend that you attempt to edit it in some way other than through normal LR usage.

If you know the name of the files, you should be able to search either in your operating system or within LR to find their location. In LR you can do this in the Library Module. In the left column under Catalog, highlight the line that says "All Photographs". In Grid mode, at the top of the screen should be three search criteria. Click on "Text". Then in the first box that appears next to the word Text, select "Filename", fill in the name of the file in the second box, and voilà, you should see your image. Repeat as needed, but also note where in your directory structure the files are located.

[derelict]

If you have only one Catalog, it opens when you open Lightroom. That's how you gain access to it. To find where it is located, open LR. Click on Edit>Preferences. Under the General tab the location of the Default Catalog will be listed. I do not recommend that you attempt to edit it in some way other than through normal LR usage.

If you know the name of the files, you should be able to search either in your operating system or within LR to find their location. In LR you can do this in the Library Module. In the left column under Catalog, highlight the line that says "All Photographs". In Grid mode, at the top of the screen should be three search criteria. Click on "Text". Then in the first box that appears next to the word Text, select "Filename", fill in the name of the file in the second box, and voilà, you should see your image. Repeat as needed, but also note where in your directory structure the files are located.

Thank you for the step by step. My issue now is that every file in the catalog is for a file it cannot find. I have backed them up onto an external hard drive off of my computer to save room for other things. I guess I need to play the relocate and reload game.

[lsimpkins]

Thank you for the step by step. My issue now is that every file in the catalog is for a file it cannot find. I have backed them up onto an external hard drive off of my computer to save room for other things. I guess I need to play the relocate and reload game.

Just a suggestion - make sure that your external hard drive is attached to your computer. Then open LR. In the Grid Mode of LR you should see some previously cataloged image files. They should have a question mark on them indicating that LR can't find them (they've been moved from their original location). If you right click on one of the ? images you should get an option to have LR find the file in Explorer. Let it do so. Once you have found one - on your external drive, LR should be able to find the rest in batches, not one by one.

[cpk]

Once you catalog your photographs in Lightroom any photograph or directory renames and moving of photographs between drives and directories should be done only within Lightroom. Using any other software, such as Windows Explorer, to do these operations will cause the photographs to be "lost" to Lightroom. It takes time to learn that lesson.