Unable to Open LR catalog to re-edit photo

Question

Hello, I'll try to be brief and concise here. I'm on a Mac Pro using Lightroom Classic. Here are the steps of my workflow and the roadblocks I run into when trying to re-edit a photo that has been edited previously in LR.

1] Put SD card with today's shooting into Mac, create/ name folder/move the new RAW photos to the new folder. Move the new folder to the thumbdrive.

2] Choose a new RAW photo from this thumbdrive folder, drag it to the desktop.

3] Open LRC click on 'Import photos'/ click desktop/import that desktop photo/edit it, export to desktop as Jpeg.

4] Those actions always work well - No issues.

5] Later, hours/days/weeks I may want to re-open that RAW photo to re-edit it.

6] Insert thumbdrive, drag chosen RAW photo I want to re-edit, drag it to desktop.

7] Open LRC, click on 'Import photos/desktop - the photo is greyed out and can't be moved to 'develop'.

I'm certain that's where my error occurs, ie, the RAW photo has been loaded into the catalog - But! Sometimes the photo isn't greyed out and I can re-edit again, it isn't consistent.

At this point I can't find an actionable 'click' that will show me an open catalog where I can choose an older edited photo which isn't greyed out. There are 2 LR catalogues in the Mac finder, neither one will show the photo I want.

I'm certain this issue has cropped up with others, but the 'solutions' I've read seem to indicate they have a different program with different controls that are available to me.

Thanks for the help on this!

Rob_Cullen · Answer

You are certainly not brief in your workflow! It needs a big 'make-over'.

1) Insert the SD card and IMPORT directly to a folder that will be their final location.

-Use the IMPORT dialog to 'Copy' the files from the SD to their final location.

-Not the Desktop (folder)!

-Not a thumbdrive. A thumbdrive is not a permanent location for photos!

-No "moving" of files after they have been imported to their permanent 'resting' location on a hard-drive.

2) Don't Export to JPGs. It is NOT necessary unless you need JPGs for sending out to print shops or friends. They can ALWAYS be exported again in future.

3) You do NOT "re-open RAW photos"!

-They are already imported to the Catalog (as in Step#1). Trying to re-import WILL give you the grey preview in the Import dialog.

4) Use only ONE catalog!

-Different catalogs will only cause confusion.

So to summarize-

1) Import photos to permanent location, in ONE catalog.

2) Edit photos in the ONE catalog. Always use this Catalog.

3) Only when wanted - export JPGs.

Check out the free eBooks from the Lightroom-Queen to help you understand better the catalog system of Lightroom-Classic.

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/

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