Adobe Camera Raw has different menu options depending on how it is opened/used

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
January 24, 2025
2 replies
207 views

To Community,

FYI: I am using Photoshop 26.2.0, on a windows 10 desktop.
I don't know if this is a bug or it just how the Adobe Camera Raw tool is supposed to work?
If I directly open a .dng file from within Photoshop, the Camera Raw window opens automatically as expected. I was going to crop and adjust the horizon line in the photo first so I clicked on the "Copy, Rotate, Geometry" icon in the upper right hand side of the window. But I relized that I wanted to make this non-destructive first. So, I clicked the open button at the bottom of the Camera Raw window and the image opened in Photoshop. I unlocked the layer then converted the image to a Smart Object.

I then use the Camera Raw filter from the filter menu. When the Camera Raw window opened it looked pretty much the same but now when I attempted to click on the "Copy, Rotate, Geometry", it is now just the "Geomtry" icon. Is this normal?

Also, by opening the .DNG file and then clicking "open" in the Camera Raw window, first, without making any adjustments... Am I converting the image's Linear Raw data to Gamma Encoded RGB data and losing my higher dynamic range?

Thanks for any insight on this.
Regards
David T.

Windows

Conrad_C

Community Expert

It’s sort of how it’s supposed to work, but the workflow differences aren’t made very clear so there is constant confusion about missing features.

The biggest point of confusion is that Camera Raw Filter is not the full Camera Raw processor, but many people think they’re the same thing. Camera Raw Filter is a cut-down version that works only on Photoshop layers, not on whole files. That might sound academic but it means some features are not available in Camera Raw Filter.

There are some Camera Raw features that require access to an original whole file (not a Photoshop layer), and some require actual camera raw data. For example:

Crop is not available in Camera Raw Filter because (as designed) it doesn’t support cropping a Photoshop layer. Crop is available in the full Camera Raw processor because that always operates on entire files. (You can already crop any layer in Photoshop by adding a rectangular pixel or vector mask.)
Features that require raw data, such as Denoise and reflection removal, are never available in Camera Raw Filter because a Photoshop layer is not raw, it’s part of a Photoshop post-raw rendered file (RGB, CMYK…).
Many Camera Raw preferences are not available in Camera Raw Filter, mostly the ones having to do with handling of whole files.

So, how do you get to use the Camera Raw features you want, like Crop?

You already know one way: Open the file into Camera Raw directly, before it’s converted to a Photoshop document. This can include:

Choose the command File > Open or click the Open button on the Photoshop home screen.
Drag the file from the desktop and drop it into Photoshop (same as File > Open).
Select the file in Adobe Bridge and choose File > Open in Camera Raw.

If you want to use all Camera Raw features with a raw/DNG file that you want to use as a layer in a Photoshop document, you must do it in one of these ways to preserve its full original file data:

Choose the command File > Open As Smart Object. It opens in Camera Raw, when you click OK it becomes a new Photoshop document with the file now a raw Smart Object layer. To edit it, double-click it; this is a shortcut for the command Layer > Smart Objects > Edit Contents. This opens it in the full Camera Raw processor.
If you already have a Photoshop document and you want to add a raw/DNG file while preserving full Camera Raw edit features, choose the command File > Place Embedded or File > Place Linked. If you then select a raw/DNG file, those commands will add it as a raw Smart Object layer, and again you edit by double-clicking that.

In no case do you choose Filter > Camera Raw Filter because, again, that’s not the full raw processor, just a filter version for non-raw layers.

D Fosse

Community Expert

The Camera Raw filter is not the same thing as the full Camera Raw processor.

The ACR filter just "borrows" the last and final stages of the full ACR processing pipeline. It can only be used on RGB files from Photoshop, and works just like any other filter in Photoshop.

A raw file has to be opened in the full ACR raw processor, it cannot be opened in the ACR filter.

B

Baddog IIAuthor

Inspiring

So, by opening the file the way I did, do I lose the larger tonal range of the RAW/DNG format?

However, I did discover that it works fine, if I open as an object from the ACR window interface into Photoshop. It does however, embed the ACR edits into the RAW/DNG file.

David Terrazas

BadDog Digital Productions, Inc.
Web design and development
3D Modeling and animations

315-719-7435
www.digitaldoghouse.com<>
www.baddog3d.com<>

D Fosse

Community Expert

Yes, if you open from ACR as smart object, a full copy of the original raw file is embedded in the PSD. That embedded raw file can be reopened and re-edited in ACR, and those changes will be reflected in the master PSD.

However, you cannot use the ACR filter without losing the extended dynamic range of the original raw file. The filter doesn't work on the raw file. It just treats the smart object as a layer, it doesn't access the embedded smart object. It just looks at the layer.

Always keep in mind that the ACR filter is different from the full ACR processor. It's just a filter, and it works just like every other filter in Photoshop. Once you enter the filter menu, you're limited to filter functionality.

There's a hierarchy to this. You can wrap a filter into its own smart object; that's one level up - but you can't go the other way. A filter cannot access an embedded smart object. A smart object can only be opened into its parent application, and in this case that parent application is the ACR raw processor.

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