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R
raphaels28255986
Inspiring
December 4, 2022
Answered

Where do images go when Removed from Lightroom?

  • December 4, 2022
  • 2 replies
  • 2923 views

Hi guys,

An image I was working on for a while disappeared when did "something" - can't remember what. It all happened very fast.

It's not in the Trash I think because I looked, and that in itself is a hit-and-miss exercise.

 

But hopefully it's in the Removed from Lightroom heaven, wherever that is? How do I look for it there?

 

Thanks a lot.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer raphaels28255986

In a Collection, if you are certain a given image needs to be deleted from disk as well as from the Catalog completely including from this Collection - you can use a key combination with Delete.

 

This is sometimes referred to as a "splat delete". It operates immediately. No options dialog, no opportunity to cancel before it proceeds, so be advised!

 

Windows: [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Shift]+[Delete]. MacOS: [Cmd]+[Option]+[Shift]+[Delete].


Thanks a million, Richard.

2 replies

J
JimHess
Inspiring
December 4, 2022

If you are referring to Lightroom Classic, and you chose the option to remove from Lightroom, then the image was removed from the catalog but it is still in the folder where it was imported to. You will have to do a system search using Finder to locate the image in that case.

    R
    Community Expert
    richardplondonCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    December 8, 2022

    When we talk about removing an image inside LrC, the question "where does it go" needs some context. 

     

    If an image is being viewed inside a Collection that it's been added to - pressing Delete only takes away this image's membership in that particular Collection, Going to its Folder, or to any other Collection it belongs to, or in All Photographs, you will see it's still there intact.

     

    Aside from this, pressing Delete (there are also other ways to remove images) you'll get a dialog asking if you want the image just removed from the Catalog / removed AND its source file deleted from disk.

     

    So there are two questions here: what's happened with the file, and what's happened with your edits.

     

    The file is gone if you opted to delete from disk, though it may be recoverable from a recycle bin or the like, or Time Machine, or from proper separated data backups if those are being done. It you chose just "remove" it is still there on disk.

     

    So far as the edits, removing an image altogether from the Catalog destroys all the information the Catalog holds about it. But if you at any prior time told LrC to save a copy of latest edits out to the file, or if while you were editing you had "automatically save changes to XMP" option checked in the catalog settings , that external data is also still sitting there on disk and will get automatically adopted (used for the initial image state) if you were to now re-import the image file.

     

    Also a prior backup of the Catalog will hold import and editing information, though obviously nothing more recent than the time of backup. If you have just done something horrendous and wholesale, you can simply revert back to that.

     

    Or for a known set of images you can open an earlier version of the Catalog and then save all the info out for just those images - as a temp Catalog made just for the purpose - and then merge that package into your main working Catalog. So that would restore both these images' imported status, and all the edit history and such associated.

    R
    raphaels28255986Author
    Inspiring
    December 9, 2022

    @raphaels28255986  I will give a couple of screen-clips as an example that might help-

    1)  Open the Masking panel- Click on [Range]

    2) Choose the [Color Range]

    3)  Use the Dropper to select a Color you want to adjust. (Hold [Shift] for select up to FIVE color tones)

    I selected the flame red on the auto and now the Green overlay (my option overlay) shows the selected area that can be adjusted by moving the Hue slider-

    4)  The color slider is a 'Hue' slider that changes the color of the selected (masked) area-

    The Red flame paint job is now purple-

     

    If instead of [Color Range] you choose [Luminance Range] you then have a slider that selects the luminance area you want, and outer markers fo a 'Feather' the luminance area 'edges'

     


    Great!

    And ... can you please rephrase the instructions for the Color Range option? I am not very clear on what it says.

     

    Thanks a lot, Rob.

    dj_paige
    dj_paige
    Legend
    December 4, 2022

    If you chose to delete from disk: On Windows, the photo goes to the Recycle Bin. I don't know where it goes if you are using a Mac. If you chose to delete from the catalog, then the photo file remains wherever it was.

     

    Have you used the tools in Lightroom Classic to search for this photo, by file name or by metadata or by capture date? What happens when you try?

    R
    raphaels28255986Author
    Inspiring
    December 8, 2022

    Yes, and I found it.

    Thank you!

     

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