Inspiring

Question

moving a group of photos

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
December 13, 2020
2 replies
1747 views

I am finding that in lightroom I am unable to select a series of say 10 photos and move them into a new folder that I have made. In the PC you can select a list by clicking on the first and the last picture while holding down the shift key. This works in lightroom. However the centre button does not allow me to pick up the list, the right button gives a selection of actions that I do not want, and the left button just destroys the list. I have found that trying to move the list with the button held down immediately the list has been selected also does not work. What am I doing wrong?

It seems that moving a single photo does work but I need to break up large arrays of photos into component parts. How does one do that? I have looked at the photos in the underlying directory outside of lightroom but the photos are indistinguishably represented by a standard icon.

This topic has been closed for replies.

Rob_Cullen

Community Expert

This is my method-

I do NOT pre-make the 'destination' folders in File-Explorer (Mac Finder).

I make the folders in the Catalog Library using the following method, where I want my groups of images (usually scans of one film ).

This is relatively simple-

1) Select the images you want to Group AND Move into a new folder (ie. make selections in your "large array" using the common methods- Holding [Ctrl] or [Click : Shift-Click] )

2) [Right-Click] on a 'Parent' folder where you want to create the 'new' sub-folder of selected images, (***DO NOT SELECT THIS 'PARENT' folder before the [Right-Click]!)

3) Choose from the menu- [Create Folder Inside "the folder you right-clicked"....]

4) Name this new folder AND check the box for [Include selected photos]

5) [Create]

The result is your selected photos (from the "large array") are automatically moved to this 'new' folder. No dragging of images required.

Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.1.1, Photoshop 27.3.1, ACR 18.1.1, Lightroom 9.0, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0.2 .

dj_paige

Legend

Are you using Lightroom Classic? You don't say that.

When you want to move photos into a new folder in Lightroom Classic, you must point the mouse at the thumbnail of the image, and then press the left mouse button down and drag. It does not work if you point at the grey area around the image.

It seems that moving a single photo does work but I need to break up large arrays of photos into component parts. How does one do that?

What do you mean by "large arrays"? What do you mean by breaking them up into component parts?

S

sockitAuthor

Inspiring

Thanks for your very prompt reply. I am now using Lightroom Classic
having switched about 4 weeks ago.

As a background I am using a Panasonic Lumix DH4 to photograph 35 mm
negatives which I am converting to positives with lightroom and the plug
in "Negative Lab Pro." I have recently switched to using Raw files for
this which gives really very good results. My work flow is that I
capture 4 to 6 rolls of film into the memory card separating each roll
by a marker image. I then load this into an intermediate file on my
windows 10 computer for transfer to the major picture file that is the
basis for my lightroom catalogue.

The problem in this system is that the Lumix raw file format is a
proprietary RW2 format. which can be read by Lightroom and the Negative
Lab Pro, but not by windows 10. Thus in the computer each image is
represented by an icon and it is not possible to identify each
individual film. I am therefore compelled to import the whole set of 100
plus images together into a folder which I can easily develop. However
the problem is to separate these rolls back into individual folders. I
seem to be unable to move the images of any particular roll out from the
big collection.I can identify them and the markers in a grid display and
I can select them. However I cannot find a way to drag them to the
folder that I have prepared. In desperation I have now tried to make a
stack of photos and to try to move the stack. As a result I moved the
first and the last member of the stack, and the intermediate photos have
vanished.

That is my current predicament. I wonder whether if I moved the two
photographs back into the stack and then moved the stack back to its
original position would I be able to retrieve the missing photos?

Thanks for your kind interest

Sockit

Rob_Cullen

Community Expert

“I seem to be unable to move the images of any particular roll out from the big collection.”

Select the photos of interest, so they are all highlighted. Point the mouse at one of the thumbnail images (and not the grey area around the image) and hold the mouse button down and then drag.

If for some reason that doesn't work, reply be explaining exactly what you did (in detail) and what happened.

I also recommend this to all users of Lightroom Classic. My opinion is that with Lightroom Classic, the idea of using folders as an organizational tool is sub-optimal, and to be avoided, other than the default at import to create folders by capture date. You can acheive the organization you want by using either collections or keywords in Lightroom Classic. In particular, assigning keywords requires no move of the photos. Adding photos to collections also does not require a move.

the idea of using folders as an organizational tool is sub-optimal, and to be avoided, other than the default at import to create folders by capture date.

Yes, @dj_paige I do agree with your basic principal of leaving the imported photos in their 'imported' destination.

My suggestions are intended to help when hundreds of images are scanned in one procedure (eg. Tethered camera or Auto-Import). And then the images are sorted / divided / moved to folders that represent 'Capture Date'. By far easier to do this in a Catalog 'Move' rather than resetting the 'destination' for each small batch of scans.- IMO 🙂

eg. 610 B&W Negatives, camera scanned by tethered import-

Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.1.1, Photoshop 27.3.1, ACR 18.1.1, Lightroom 9.0, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0.2 .

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