Do not import already removed photos

[markus985]

Hi,

do you have any idea if I can avoid importing photos again that I have previously removed already?

Steps

• Shooting 1
• Import 1
• Flag and remove some photos of the library
• Shooting 2
• Import 2
  • Select only "New Photos"

What I have to do now is to manually unselect photos I previously removed already from the first import.

Is there any way I could change this? Is there a setting? Suggestion to change my workflow?

[dj_paige]

If you remove photos from the Lightroom Classic catalog, then when you go to import and the photos are still on the card or on your hard disk (wherever you are importing from), then Lightroom thinks they are new photos as they are not in the catalog.

You could erase the camera card (or delete the unwanted photos from your hard disk, if that's where you are importing from, you could do this via Lightroom Classic when you remove the photo you select "Delete From Disk"). This should eliminate the problem.

[markus985]

Sorry for not getting back - I was 100% sure that I enabled notifications but I didn't get any email. 

Yes, that's what I thought. I was hoping there is some magic trick I was not aware of.

[richardplondon · Accepted solution]

Are you importing from the same camera card repeatedly, and having LrC copy the images into the computer? If so, I see two measures to naturally separate your different shooting sessions:

• empty the card in between (or else use more than one card in rotation if you want to keep the most recent images still on card for a period, providing safety in the short term against something bad happening in the main computer storage before you have had a chance to update your regular backup of that)
• investigate what options your camera gives you, for organising images in folders on the camera card. Normally LrC's import considers all the images found on the card disregarding what subfolders they are in. But lower down on the left side of the import screen, you can drill down to those folders and thus import more selectively.

For example, some cameras just make a fresh folder on the card every time the image number goes up by 100. But instead, it may be possible to set the camera to automatically use a new folder for each calendar day of shooting. By choosing to import just that folder you would avoid images from other calendar days becoming unwanted candidates for import. By rotating camera cards you could separate different shoots on the same calendar day (besides by having multiple cards available, protect yourself from having a single faulty camera card, being disastrous). Otherwise some cameras can be manually told to start a fresh folder, on demand.

[markus985]

Thanks - very good input to consider the camera settings itself. That might work for some situations. Ideally, I think, it's best to also delete the files from the source after importing it (and after having a backup). I am just worried if something goes wrong while importing, so I never let that happen automatically.

[richardplondon]

Exactly so, one should be a little nervous about the images IMO... until

• they are copied into the computer,
• you have seen LR create its own working versions from those (by interpreting the actual image data, e.g. Raw, and not just by extracting the embedded preview image)

and preferably

• you have completed your first backup from the computer - before emptying the card.

For important (to me) photos I've even formed the habit of sliding the write-protect tab on each SD card, as that comes out of the camera, before it goes into the card reader (the period of maximum risk since no safety duplicates, as yet, exist anywhere). This also helps protect me from any pilot error of getting my cards mixed up. This latest-used card will naturally refuse to operate in the camera, or to be formated or emptied; because its write-protect will remain physically set; until I decide to rotate it back into use - unlock it - format it cleanly in the camera.