Importing photos into Lightroom: Basic workflow

You must import photos into the Lightroom library to begin working with them. Importing tells Lightroom what photos are in the library, and whether they are imported directly from a camera, hard drive, memory card reader, or other storage device. During import, you can choose either to move or copy the photo files into a specific folder, or reference the photo files in their current location. As photos are imported, you can rename them, apply Develop module adjustments to them, embed metadata and keywords, and even back up the original photos to a different folder.

Note: Lightroom supports photos up to 65,000 pixels long or wide, up to 512 megapixels. Lightroom does not support CMYK images. For a complete list of supported file formats, see File formats.

After they are imported, Lightroom adds the photos to the library and starts building previews and cataloging metadata. Unless manually removed, the previews and metadata stay in the library, even if you move the corresponding photos off of your computer to archive them at a different storage location. Thumbnail previews appear in the Grid view and Filmstrip, and folders containing the imported photos appear in the Folders panel of the Library module. You can’t import the same photo into Lightroom multiple times unless you first delete the photo from the library. See Browsing the Grid view and Create virtual copies.

Note: Lightroom also offers an auto-import feature for automatically importing photos into the library from a specified folder. See Importing photos automatically.

The Import Photos dialog box allows you to preview, select, name, and add information about the photos you want to import. To import photos into Lightroom, follow these basic steps:

1. Connect the camera or memory card reader to your computer.

In addition to cameras and memory card readers, Lightroom imports photos from any folder on the hard drive, CDs or DVDs, and other storage devices. You can also import photos from another Lightroom catalog or from Photoshop Elements (Windows).

2. Select the photos to import.

To bring photos into the library, do any of the following:

  • Click the Import button in the Library module.

  • Choose File > Import Photos From Disk.

  • Choose File > Import Photos From Device.

  • Drag a folder that contains photos or drag a group of photos into the Grid view of the Library module.

If necessary, navigate to the folder that contains the photos and click Choose.

3. Choose how to import the photos into your library.

In the Import Photos dialog box, choose whether to import photos by referencing them, by copying or moving them to a specified directory, or by copying photos as Digital Negative (DNG) files. If you copy or move the photos, specify the destination folder and how to name the imported files. See Import photos from disk into Lightroom.

Select Show Preview to view and select specific photos if you don’t want to import all of the photos in a folder. See Preview and select the photos to import.

4. (Optional) Back up your photos as they’re importing.

If you’re copying or moving photos into the library, specify whether to make a one-time backup of the original photos as they’re imported.

5. (Optional) Give your files a custom name.

When copying or moving photos into the library, Lightroom by default imports photos using their current filenames. You can customize the name by choosing an option from the File Naming Template menu. For example, you can add a sequence number. See Name photos when importing.

6. (Optional) Set options for importing your photos.

In the Information To Apply area of the Import Photos dialog box, you can set options to apply Develop settings, metadata, or keywords to the photos as they’re imported. See Apply Develop settings to photos when importing, Create and apply Develop presets, and Apply metadata to photos when importing.

7. Select the type of previews to display.

The Standard-Size Previews option provides higher quality photos in the Grid view. Selecting Minimal uses the embedded previews in photos and initially displays photos faster. See Specify initial previews when importing.

8. Click Import.

Lightroom displays a progress bar in the upper-left corner of the window as it imports the photos. Then it renders thumbnails in the central area of the Library module.

For a video about importing photos into Lightroom, see www.adobe.com/go/lrvid2201_lrm.