where are my pictures going that i "remove" while developing?

[Flying_Dragon_Photography]

I had 1509 shots in my Library. When I go into develop, ive sorted through and removed the ones i dont want to work on by selecting "remove", NOT "delete from disk".  Where are the pictures going, and how do I get them back?  have they actually been deleted??

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[melissapiccone · Accepted solution]

They are still in the original folders on your hard drive. LR removes them from your catalogue. Right click on the folder and show in finder / windows hard drive (can't remember what it says) and you'll see them.

[Per Berntsen]

To add a little to what Melissa said -

Your photos are never "in" Lightroom, they are only referenced by the catalog.

The images you see on screen are not the originals, but previews that Lighroom creates.

All the edits you do are stored in the catalog, and they are never applied to the original - only when you export or print.

When you remove an image, the reference to that file, edits you have done and metadata you have added wiil be removed from the catalog.

You can always import the image again, but edits and metadata will be gone, and you will have to start over.

You may find this article helpful: Lightroom basics