Inconsistent treatment of files

Question

Has anyone come across or can explain why camera raw does not process files the same. If I create some files with 3 tones in each but with varying amounts of each tone in each file then make adjustments in camera raw and apply the same to each file, the 3 tones end up at different values!  Therefore there seems to be some compensation being applied depending on the amounts of various tones within a file. This becomes problematic if one splits a large file to work on sections within camera raw as they will not merge well when reassembled

Conrad_C · Answer

If I understand correctly, whether that happens depends on which adjustments you’re applying. Some adjustments are always the same no matter what kind of image you apply them to. But some adjustments — such as Highlights, Shadows, Clarity, and Dehaze — are content-dependent, so the results can be different if the image content varies.

That’s partly because those types of adjustments analyze the local relationships among tones, like whether a certain area is surrounded by darker or lighter tones. That type of analysis is intentional; it contributes to why those adjustments are so useful and powerful, especially for tuning local contrast. But they can cause problems for some types of processing, such as causing frame-to-frame inconsistencies in time lapses.

Is there a reason an image needs to be worked on in split-up sections in Camera Raw? Could there be a way to edit without having to split it up?

The alternative would be to avoid or at least minimize the degree of adjustments using options that do local tone analysis, and stick to adjustments such as Tone Curve that are blind to image content and will apply the same numbers every time.

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