How to Import Your Dog Photos to Lightroom

By Kim Rodgers and Sarah Sypniewski

When you import your dog photos to Lightroom, you don’t actually move or copy files to the program. Instead, you create a link to the place where those photos live on your computer. In addition, Lightroom is a totally nondestructive program, meaning that when you start editing your photos, you don’t change the original photo.

Lightroom simply creates a small “side car” metadata file that accompanies your original file and contains all your adjustments. This is a great feature because you can always revert back to your original file no matter how far along you are in your edits!

To import photos into Lightroom, do the following:

With Lightroom open, click the Library module in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
Click the Import button on the lower left-hand side of the screen.
Under the Source pane on the left-hand side of the screen, navigate to the folder where the photos you want to import reside.

Your photos appear as thumbnails on your screen. Choose Check All or individually check the photos you want to import.
Look at the top-middle part of the screen and make sure the word “Add” is highlighted.

This adds your photos to Lightroom without actually moving them.
Click the Import button at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.
When your photos are done importing, you’re taken back to the Library module, and the photos you imported appear on the screen.

Because Lightroom creates a link to your photo files, if you later move your photos to a new folder, the link is broken. If this happens, a question mark appears in the right-hand corner of the photo preview within the filmstrip that runs across the bottom of your screen.

To locate the missing file, click the question mark and a dialog box will open. Click Locate and simply navigate to the new location.