Lightroom numbers my photos out of sequence

When I import photographs into Lightroom, I sort them by capture date and time and tell Lightroom to rename the files sequentially in that order. So the first image I shot should be numbered 0001, the next 0002, and so on.

Sometimes, however, Lightroom seems to number the files completely randomly. The first image by date and time may be numbered 0042, the next 0164, and the next 0006. I’m writing a quick post now because I finally figured out the solution to this problem and I want to share it with other photographers.

Of course, I searched extensively for an answer online. But although I found many forum threads in which photographers talked about their frustration with the same issue, no one seemed to have a definitive fix. There were even suggestions that involved reinstalling Lightroom and rebuilding Lightroom catalogues.

And then a week or so ago, deep into one of these threads, I spotted a tiny two-line remark from an Adobe engineer which said that when importing it was always better to select the source of the photos to be imported in the ‘Files’ section rather than in the ‘Devices’ section. There were no rapturous responses thanking him for this insight, but it does actually work.

With a card in a card reader connected to your computer, the Source section at the top left of Lightroom’s Import module will probably look something like this. You will be able to select the photos in two ways, either under Devices – for example F:\(YOUR CAMERA) – or under Files – for example, YOUR CAMERA (F:). Always choose the second of these two options, in the section of the Source panel headed ‘Files’.

If you use the ‘Devices’ option, your image files will be imported but any renumbering that you have configured may be completely out of sequence. Why this should be so remains a mystery. Is it a bug? Is it a feature?

If anyone has any further information on this issue, do please get in touch and let me know so that I can update this article.

2020 – it could have been worse

I count myself extremely lucky. I have not caught the coronavirus. I have not had to endure confinement alone, or in a tiny apartment. And I no longer rely on my photographic work to pay a mortgage or university fees.

But many others have suffered and are suffering horribly. I’m especially conscious of the difficulties of younger photographers.

2020 didn’t work out anything like I’d expected. Many personal and professional plans had to be abandoned. But I can still find a lot of positives to draw from this year – above all, the rich and intense encounters that I have had with my wonderful subjects. The pleasure that my photographs have given them is the fuel that propels me forward into 2021.

2020 has seen an unprecedented number of jobs cancelled or postponed, sometimes several times. I still have bookings for weddings originally planned during the summer, for which the couples concerned now have tentative dates in 2021. I had two periods of complete shutdown, in April-May and again in November, and no conference work at all (and very little corporate work of any kind) after mid-March. So I lost three whole months out of my year, as well as most of the corporate work that had accounted for 55% of my income in 2019.

Despite that, I delivered nearly 100 contracts, up 15% from the previous year, though revenue was down by 18%. From June onwards I focused my online marketing exclusively towards the private market. In particular, I shot a large number of portrait sessions – income from portrait work tripled compared with 2019. Surprisingly, given the general anxiety about social distancing, over 70% of portrait sessions were shot in the studio, up from 50% the year before.

Saturdays continued to be my busiest working day of the week in 2020, and Wednesdays were still the day on which the largest number of people got in touch for the first time. (I’ve never understood why Wednesday would be the day people are most likely to think about hiring a photographer.) I continued to advertise online with Google Ads. But an increasing number of leads and contracts came from ‘free’ sources, especially from Google My Business and from previous customers. GMB and organic search accounted for nearly 20% of delivered contracts, and repeat business for nearly 25%.

I improved as a photographer. Of course I did – I learn from every job I do!

More specifically, I finally accepted the advice of my friend and colleague Phil Mortreux (Hire him, he’s a brilliant film-maker and photographer!) that shooting exclusively in RAW would allow me to deliver higher numbers of really top-quality images from each shoot.

Second, I continued to develop my portrait studio. I added a pair of Elinchrom ELC-500 studio lights. These have been a pleasure to work with from the start, and really do give me complete freedom to light my subjects in all the ways I want. And I acquired two gorgeous collage backdrops created by British artist Gail Fox. I cannot wait to start shooting portraits against these in 2021.

Finally, I refined the way I use Adobe Lightroom to edit my images, including the integration of a number of tricks taught to me by Phil Mortreux. (Thanks, Phil!) I have a light-touch approach to post-processing, but Lightroom is critical in enabling me to deliver clean, sharp, colour-balanced image files to my clients quickly.

Windows ate my Lightroom catalogue

On Thursday my PC got the latest Windows 10 update. On Friday, my external hard drive had disappeared. Lightroom still showed my photographs using its previews, but it couldn't find the originals. Every single folder displayed a question mark. Hundreds of thousands of image files had gone missing.

The more I researched the problem online the more worried I became. Neither the online help systems nor the user forums of either Microsoft or Western Digital turned up the simple, clear, recent advice I wanted: “It's a well-known issue, just do x and y.” Instead, the articles and threads were long and confusing, with multiple options and many comments of the “I tried that, but it didn’t work” type. Many suggested reformatting the hard drive as the best solution.

WTF!

I told myself to stay calm. It was true that everything was backed up in the cloud. But still, downloading terabytes of data and rebuilding my Lightroom catalogue was not the way I had planned to spend my weekend.

I turned off the PC.

I unplugged the hard drive from the USB port and powered it down.

I turned on the PC.

I powered up the hard drive and plugged it back into a different USB port.

It worked! Everything is back to normal. Windows sees the drive again, even on wake from sleep or hard reboot. Lightroom knows where to find each photograph.

Microsoft 0 – Simon 1