Inspiring

Question

XMP files not saved for Open as Camera Raw methods nightmare

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
January 18, 2025
4 replies
696 views

Hi,

I buy Photoshop 26.1 to get at the RAW converter with masking methods (primitive as they are) I have loads of scanned negs and slides to use RAW converter controls on, gain acces to dehaze, clarity etc.

made a load of masks to sort one photo out, 14 or more. opened it into Pshop 26.2, went back next day and all are gone, no .xmp file in the folder the file lives in, .A test discovers File>Open As > Camera RAW, denies an xmp file being made. Only opening a raw file from a camera raw mode setting allows .xmp.

I have a Canon EOS 70D and set to take images only as RAW. each one 24Mb !

I get sent images not as raw, and so use Open As method.

I have scanned negs, and slides , loads of, to fix., they are not native RAW files, denoise in RAW would be so useful for them, and all the tools it gives for sorting out images.

Why is Adobe against non native RAW files ? Its exactly what we need for such.

what STUPID THING is this. oh its not a raw file so sod off , it feels like !

so had to work on the next file till 1am then have my evening meal, as unable to save it.

have loads to do like that.

THIS CANNOT BE RIGHT.

Merlin3

Windows

Ari Mäkinen

Participant

Thank you Merlin3

I Thought, that I was alone. I used to use ACR to edit jpg´s too. Now all adjustments are flatted to file, and I cannot edit again and again the way that I can allways go back to orginal file.

Conrad_C

Community Expert

This reply is not correct, it doesn’t address the actual problem at all. It doesn’t even contain the work “mask.”

It reads like it was generated by AI.

Conrad_C

Community Expert

Is your goal to preserve Adobe Camera Raw masks when editing the image in Photoshop? If so, does the demo below show that? These are the steps I used:

1. (Not shown) Choose the command File > Open as Smart Object, and choose the JPEG or TIFF file that you edited in Camera Raw. My example is a JPEG with a Camera Raw mask that desaturates the background.

2. Camera Raw appears. Click OK.

Because of the command used, what you should now see is not a plain Photoshop layer of the image, but a Camera Raw Smart Object layer containing an embedded JPEG file and its edits.

3. To edit that layer in Camera Raw, double-click it. This is a shortcut for the command Layer > Smart Objects > Edit Contents. Do not use the command Filter > Camera Raw Filter; the filter version of Camera Raw can’t get inside a Smart Object and only applies changes on top of it.

4. Camera Raw opens, showing the masks you created earlier. Edit any masks as needed. (In the demo below, image quality is a little rough because Adobe forum software degrades animated GIF uploads.)

5. When done editing in Camera Raw, click OK. The Camera Raw edits are applied to the Smart Object layer.

6. Save in any format that supports preserving layers (PSD, PSB, TIFF). Any format that does not preserve layers will flatten the Smart Object layer, so that Camera Raw edits are no longer editable.

Note: Camera Raw masks are not stored in an XMP sidecar file. They use the newer .ACR sidecar format. It looks like .ACR sidecars can’t be stored inside JPEG/TIFF, because I am finding .ACR sidecars next to the JPEG files I masked in Camera Raw. XMP files are not present because of what davescm said.

davescm

Community Expert

Camera raw edits are recorded as XMP data alongside the image.

On a raw file, the changes are written into the sidecar file so that the principle of leaving the raw file itself unchanged is maintained.
On a DNG file you have the option of having a separate sidecar or writing the XMP data into the DNG file.

On a TIF or jpeg opened in Camera Raw, the XMP data with the edits is written into the metadata of the jpeg / tif itself. So re-opening in camera raw does not lose the changes or masks, they were just written into a different place.

It works fine here, no changes or masks are lost and all are available as they were when they were made in camera raw.

Dave

M

Merlin3Author

Inspiring

Hi,
I did some tests with the friend who a year or so ago, showed me the wonders of opening non original raw files into camera raw using file>open as>camera raw.

So doing so on a .jpg that has never started life as a RAW file in a camera, a scan of a 35mm neg for example.
If I open that in the raw editing , create some named masks, then open into Pshop 26.2 using Open option and save the file as a jpg, as I wouldnt want to lose what I had just done as an image, then open that again in same way into camera raw, the masks get lost.
If however I brave it and dont even save it, then open it again into camera raw in same manner, the masks are there !
If I use the option at top of raw converter, the downward pointing arrow into square, and check the settings seem good to go, it fails to save the masks.

I have just spent 3 hrs editing a .jpg image (scan of a 35mm neg) , and clicked open, then went save as .tiff, so as not to lose what I had done, then went close without saving the jpg, then file>open as>camera raw and browsed to that jpg, it opened WITH NAMED MASKS.

Don’t save the jpg you open into Pshop, else it will lose the masks, seems to be the rule. Its all very scary and something needs explaining to all users editing jpg in raw mode here.
Save as a copy and choose tiff, then don’t save the jpg. Needs more testing but so far that seems to fix the issue.

also with raw converter editor open its tricky if not impossible to gain access to other progs on the pc such as email, the internet, anything, even word doc, took me several goes to try and get a word doc up over the editor so as to make some notes in it.
why the heck cant we have a minimise button on that cconverter ?

Merlin3

davescm

Community Expert

'...its tricky if not impossible to gain access to other progs on the pc...'

I've never had an issue opening other applications with the Camera Raw window open. Other applications open at the front, which is a Windows function. You may however, want to take the camera raw window off full screen (click at top right) so you can see the Windows task bar, which is covered if camera raw is set to full screen.

Dave

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