Loss of original photos on export catalogue

[Hughbie]

Hi,
I transferred photos from a PC to laptop, then did the export catalogue for the Lightroom settings. I did not tick "transfer original photos" for some reason. Now I have the amneded versions of photos but not the originals e.g I have the cropped image only. Is there anything I can do to recover this, please? Can't find a previous answer on this.
Thanks

 

[dj_paige]

Yes, you have to go to your PC and copy (or move) the photos to your laptop. Put them in the exact same folders that they were in on your PC, and you're done.

 

[Hughbie]

Paige, thanks for the reply. I think I changed the folder name of the photos when I moved them off PC to external drive and then onto laptop. I did the export catalogue after moving the photos. I am worried that I have lost lightroom's record of the original photos and has just copied the data/recipes for the changes I made. So I am still stuck. Not sure if there is anything else that I can try?
Thanks, Hughbie

 

[dj_paige]

Your writing is very un-enlightening.

"I think I changed the folder name" ... you think you changed it? Either you did or you didn't, which is it?

First you say you transferred the photos (not bothering to explain how you did it), later you said you "moved them off the PC". Could you clear this up as well, stating exactly how you did this transfer or move? And where are they now ... you have to know, since you claim you did something (either transfer or move) to these photos.

The bottom line is your original photos must be somewhere. Lightroom doesn't alter your original photos, so whether you transferred them or moved them, and did or didn't change the folder name, your photos are somewhere, intact and unchanged, and it is your task now to find those original photos. Once you find them, we can probably help you fix this issue. And if you find these photos ... DO NOT RE-IMPORT THESE PHOTOS.

And you do have backups of everything (catalog and photos), don't you?

 

[Hughbie]

I'm going to check through the stages I undertook, check the location of the photos and get back to you on this. I am away from my gear at present so will not be able to post again til Monday.
I appreciate that my vague posting is not helping you to assist me properly - but I have the feeling that I screwed up. Its just 4 or 5 photos where I really want to find the original.

Thanks for your help
Hughbie

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Hi Hughbie, welcome to the forum!

When you get back to your computer, see if you can find those 4 or 5 photos. I wouldn't panic - as long as you have all the parts there somewhere, we can help you put it back together again.

 

[Hughbie]

Victoria,
I had a copy of all my photos - mainly RAW files - on an external hard drive as well as on my PC. I copied those folders and files over to my laptop from the extrenal drive.
I has not exported anything from Lightroom, and thought I would re-grade some photos . Soon tired of this and tries to "export as catalogue" from LR. When I did this, I dis not tick the box "transfer originals 2" or whatever it says. I have a couple of the photos that now remain in cropped format where I cannot find the original image.
If you can help on this, I 'd be very grateful.
Thanks, Hughbie

 

[Hughbie]

Just wondering if there is a way to recover the history on the few photos where I seem only to have retained the cropped image, please.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Sorry, just catching up....

Erm, so, these photos that have only retained the crop image.... I'm not sure I'm following where they've been. If you look in history in Develop, does it list the changes? And is there a question mark in the corner of the thumbnail?

 

[Hughbie]

Victoria,
The History panel on all the photos just states "Imported 21/1'/2''9.." I seem to have lost the histories but retained just the crops - by doing something daft.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

That means you've imported the files directly into this catalog, and you had previously written (some of) the data back to the files, which is why the crop info is there, instead of using import from catalog which would have pulled the history too.

So, do you have those few photos in another catalog somewhere, complete with history, that we can pull in?

 

[Hughbie]

Checked everthing. Pretty sure there are no other catalogues.
I assume this means I've lost the original images.
Need to get back to the basics of this - maybe its time I bought a book.

thanks for trying.
Hughbie

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Are you sure that you've lost the originals? Does the cropped version show the cropping in the Develop module as adjustable? I guess I'm trying to ask whether the crop can be reset.

 

[Hughbie]

Thanks for persevering with this.
Have gone into Develop and tried Reset on some crops but nothing changed. The crops fill the develop view - no extra image area around them to expand into.