+ Camera Raw Feature Requests +

[Ian Lyons]

UPDATE:

We're interested in what changes you would like see in our products. Do you have an idea for a feature that would help your workflow? Is there a small change that could be made to make your life a little easier? Let us know!  Share an Idea, Ask a Question or Report a Problem and get feedback from the Product Development Team and other passionate users on the Photoshop Family product Feedback Site on Photoshop.com.

In future it would helpful if you could use this thread as a means to add

"Features" that you would like to see in future releases of Adobe Camera Raw.

Please do NOT create additional new Topics and try not to duplicate requests by other users. Also, be thorough in your description of the feature and why you think Adobe should consider it.

Oh, and if you find it necessary to comment on someone's feature request/suggestion, try not to get into a shouting match. The penalty for doing so is...

b If you're asking that a particular camera is supported in a future release or just taking the opportunity to carp that yours isn't then please do so in another thread!

IanLyons

Forum Host

[dom.lacouture]

Hello,

I've searched for threads on this subject, but could find nothing, so... I've already posted this idea on the RawTherapee forum (so no patent possible 😉 ), but if all RAW softwares could handle this, it would be great.

Having played a little with ACR, I've found that there is something lacking from the multiple images selection management : there is currently no way to apply a relative change to a slider, if the images have different values for this slider.

Say you want to brighten a set of images, all having different Brightness values. The value and slider will not be displayed, and any change to it will set all the images to the same value. Not what you want to do...

Solution:
Upon multiple selections, all the sliders could take the form of Range  sliders symbolizing the min-max range of values found in the files.
You could then either:
- grab the range slider by the middle : all the files would be updated by the relative move done. So the same  brightness "boost" can be applied to several images, without assigning  them the same brightness value. The slider would stop when one extremity  reaches the control's limit, so as to forbid changing the relative  position of each value.
- grab the range slider by one extremity: all the values would be compressed accordingly to their "position" in the range, while the other extremity stays constant.

This could work with all sliders in the GUI...

Say you want to warm the WB of a set of images :

- select the images (WB sliders will change to range sliders taking all the values into account, whatever WB is currently set: Auto, As shot, Custom, etc)

- grab the Blue-Yellow range slider, and move it...

- the WB will change to Custom, with the new values being computed for each image depending on its original value's position in the range slider and the relative change applied.

Now, if you want to set the same value for all images, you just have to grab one end and compress the range slider.

I've not seen anything like this in existing raw softwares, so I hope this is not a dumb idea...

[5DM2]

Relative adjustment for exposure on multiple images is available in the Library Module of Lightroom, but I don't think it works for other adjustments.

Personally, I've given up on seeing any of these requested interface enhancements for ACR. This is ancient code, and I don't think it is a priority for Adobe to make it more usable. They are more interested in adding useless new features to Photoshop so they can justify CS6, 7, 8, etc.

[_Udo_]

I wonder how many Photoshop users upgrade to be able to run the next version of ACR. I do. I will upgrade to CS6, if the changes in ACR are worth it.

Maybe Adobe knows how many Photoshop upgrades are sold only because of an improved ACR. If they don't, they might allocate their development priorities wrongly.

[hankydysplasia]

I hate to admit it to myself, but I dish out the big bucks just for the upgrade to Camera Raw.  The last version of Photoshop brought some overall performance improvements for me that I enjoyed, but at this point I do 90% of the work in ACR.

[5DM2]

I agree with you that many people upgrade Photoshop just for the latest version of ACR, especially if you have a new model camera that is not included in the previous ACR. The actual raw processing has steadily improved, and is the reason I finally upgraded to CS5. However, the basic usability improvements that we have been requesting for years are still not there, and I honestly doubt that they will ever be implemented. Management always has to weigh the expense against the potential profit, and razzle dazzle features that make good marketing demos are always going to win.

A simple example: I have been requesting keyboard shortcuts for adjusting Exposure up and down without having to use the mouse to give focus to the slider first. This would greatly improve the efficiency of adjusting large batches of files. I know it's available with the API because there is at least one expensive keyboard product out there that allows this. Don't get me started....

I still prefer Photoshop/Bridge/ACR over Lightroom because I prefer working directly on my files instead of thumbnails in a database, but it sure would be nice to have software like Paddy for Lightroom (Paddy for ACR) so I could assign whatever shortcut keys that make sense to me.

[Guest]

Yes, more keyboard shortcuts would be really nice

Clicking the same exposure slider several hundred times is making me very nervous

[_Udo_]

There is a (not too elegant) way to use the keyboard to control exposure in ACR. Once you get used to it, it is actually quite fast.

From anywhere press "Z" --> this will get you to the basic panel without any control being in focus.

Press tab key three times --> this will focus on the exposure slider.

Press the up arrow to increase the exposure by 0.05 or the down arrow to decrease the exposure by 0.05

Press the shift up arrow to increase exposure by 0.50 or or shift down arrow to decrease exposure by 0.50.

If you are already in the basic panel with another slider selected, hit the "Z" key twice, followed by hitting the tab key three times. Now you can use the up and down arrow keys to adjust exposure. I find this better than hitting the tab or shift tab to move the focus from one slider to another because I do not have to watch the panel to determine the number of tabs, and whether I have to tab or shift tab.

This works on a Macintosh, should also work on Windows, but I did not test it.

[Guest]

Yes, that's what I'm doing, but moving across the fields with tab / shift tab is also making me nervous.

Just usually slightly less than using the mouse

[Hudechrome]

On PC, Z doen't work. Just hit Tab to move down, Shift-Tab to move up.

It moves all the way up to Preview, but I don't know whay simce P controls Preview anyway.

Message was edited by: Hudechrome

[Guest]

'Z' works on PC, as it is a shortcut for the Zoom tool.

Just it won't allways get you to the Basic pane, but it will return you to the pane you were before you used some other tool.

The same will hapen if you press shortcut for that tool (say G for gradient tool) one more time

I'm usually using 'H' instead of 'Z', which is a shortcut for the hand tool

[Hudechrome]

Yes it enables the Zoom tool, but doesn't get you back to anywhere else.

I'll have to try it on a Mac and see for myself.

[_Udo_]

You are right.

ACR has two sets of buttons or tabs.

One is on the left top of the window (Zoom, Magnifier, ..., Graduated filter ...)

When you have any of these buttons selected, pressing 'Z' will get you always to the basic panel, and NOT the last one selected.

The 'Z' method to get back to basic works all the time as long as you switch between these buttons.

ON the right side of the window, below the histogramme, are a set of tabs (Basic, Tone Curve, ..., Effects, ...)

When you selected any one of the tabs, then pressing 'Z' will get you back to the last tab that was selected (most of the time--see below), and never to the basic tab.

The 'Z' method will never get you back to the  Basic panel.

This is how it works on a Mac:

1. Start out with basic panel.

2. Click HSL/Grayscale tab.

3. Click Detail tab.

4. Now hit 'Z'. I get Graduated Filter: WRONG--I should have switched to HSL/Grayscale

5. Now hit 'Z' again. I get Sharpening/Noise Reduction: WRONG--I should have switched to Graduated Filter

6. Now hit 'Z' again. I get Graduated Filer: OK

7. Now hit 'Z' again. I get  Sharpening/Noise Reduction: OK

8. Click on Lens Correction tab.

9. Click on Effects tab.

10. Now hit 'Z' again. I get Graduated Filer: WRONG--I should have switched to Lens Correction tab.

Have not figured out the pattern. Maybe somebody else has.

[Hudechrome]

Dang! Here it is only Jan 5, and I already got my years worth of confirmation!

Thanks for the info, Udo.

[Noel Carboni]

Please add scroll bars to the Camera proxy display.

Yes, I know I can enable the pan (hand) tool by pressing the space bar, but scroll bars not only allow you to move the image but the thumb sizes give visual indications of how much of the image is visible.  Every modern plug-in and application provides scroll bars when the image exceeds the display area.

See also: http://forums.adobe.com/message/3379068?tstart=0#3379068

-Noel

[Eigenmeat2]

I know this had been brought up before, but please support the raw format for the Fuji EXR cams! We will have 4 EXR raw capable camera soon(S200EXR,HS20, F500, and F550)!!

[ldallan]

In ACR 6.x, the cropping options for aspect ratios are limited to:

1:1

2:3

3:4

4:5

5:7

9:16

Custom

I would appreciate having the option 8.5 : 11 added to the above (or 17:22 equivalent aspect ratio), which is a very common paper size, at least in the USA for "Letter Size". Also 8.5 : 14 (Legal size ... ~ 17:28 aspect ratio), and 13:19.

Better would be allowing the equivalent of "Saved Presets", so an end-user could define their preferred aspect ratios for future use, and have them be "Sticky".

Thanks.

[Hudechrome]

I'll second the "Saved Presets", but first, please make the drop down menu actually available. I cannot access it consistently. So I can't use the crop tool.

[Eric Glam]

It would make a lot of sense to include a Browns slider in the HSL / Grayscale tab. Browns are very important for adjusting skin tones, along with earth, clay and sand.

Those Browns are very important and should have a slider of their own. I know I can somehow play with the browns using the Reds and Oranges sliders, but it's just not the same.

By the way, looking at the sRGB color gamut, there are a lot of human-visible browns that are not included in sRGB. The Adobe Wide Gamut RGB includes a lot more browns, and the ProPhoto RGB color gamut includes pretty much all of the humanly-visible browns. Current LCD technology has reached a point where high-end LCDs cover the entire AdobeRGB 1998 color gamut, but I sure wish we can somehow progress to LCDs covering the entire Adobe Wide Gamut RGB. It's not perfect, but it covers more than twice the colors visible in sRGB.

Adobe Wide Gamut RGB color space covers 77.6% of the visible colors specified by the Lab color space.
Adobe RGB 1998 color space covers 50.6% of the visible colors specified by the Lab color space.
sRGB covers 35.0% of the visible colors specified by the Lab color space.

[b2martin_a]

Eric, dosen't the targeted adjustment tool accomplish what you need relative to browns or any color?   With the targeted adjustment tool you can select the HSL slider you want to adjust (H, S, or L), select the targeted adjustment tool, place the cursor over the color you want to adjust and with the left mouse button clicked drag up or down and the correct slider or sliders will adjust that parameter for the color you selected.  If multiple sliders are required to adjust the parameter for that color then multiple sliders will move in the correct ratio for the color you selected.

[Eric Glam]

TheTargeted Adjustment tool is nice, but as you said - it can affect other colors, like reds, oranges and yellows in some other regions of the photo. I still believe that Browns, which are closely related to skin tones, should receive a discrete adjustment. 
This would really help light-up a person's face in a manner that I, the photographer, intended. For example, colorists working on Hollywood films are paid a lot for the purpose of lighting-up faces in a certain manner.
And after taking tens of thousands of photos, with many years of experience with post-production - I can tell you that it's very hard to get a good skin-tone in a photo. I've seen very few still cameras that can do that, and most of them are in the Medium Format league (Hasselblad, Mamiya, etc.).
Just for reference - I'm using a 10bit capable LCD covering 96% of Adobe RGB, with the entire 10bit path connected as it should (Quadro card to DP cable to 10bit capable LCD, Deep Color enabled in GPU settings, PS CS5 set to use OpenGL), so that I can see the best image possible when working on a photo.
So I think I know what I'm talking about.

[dan3430]

@ Eric - In my experience "good" skin tones are more a function of lighting than they are of the camera. I'll agree that a lot of digital cameras don't have accurate white balance, but that is an easy fix in ACR. People with light skin are especially affected by color casts from surrounding objects and the color/ quality of light. Brown is related to skin tones in the same way that orange is: brown=dark orange. If you want to brighten faces but leave surrounding colors intact (lots of things in photos are orange and brown) then use the ACR adjustment brush. The problem with adjusting a photo based purely off of a color selection is that editing programs don't know what part of the photo you're adjusting unless you tell it through masks or specific selection. With the ACR adjustment brush it is easy to apply specific color/tone/exposure adjustments to exact areas of your photo.

I use a canon 5dmkii (as does a third of the wedding/portrait/advertising world) and can honestly say the only times I've had issues with skin tones are from really bad lighting sources or color casts. When you see hassalblad photos with great skin tones it's most likely that people using hasselblads also know how to use good lighting.... and how to post process. I'm not telling you that you're wrong, I'm just saying a lot of people use ACR and DSLRs and get great photos and skin tones.

Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2011 13:03:19 -0700

From: forums@adobe.com

To: ithedanman@hotmail.com

Subject: + Camera Raw Feature Requests +

The

Targeted Adjustment tool is nice, but as you said - it can affect other colors, like reds, oranges and yellows in some other regions of the photo. I still believe that Browns, which are closely related to skin tones, should receive a discrete adjustment. This would really help light-up a person's face in a manner that I, the photographer, intended. For example, colorists working on Hollywood films are paid a lot for the purpose of lighting-up faces in a certain manner. And after taking tens of thousands of photos, with many years of experience with post-production - I can tell you that it's very hard to get a good skin-tone in a photo. I've seen very few still cameras that can do that, and most of them are in the Medium Format league (Hasselblad, Mamiya, etc.). And just for reference - I'm using a 10bit capable LCD covering 95% of Adobe RGB, with the entire 10bit path connected as it should (Quadro card->DP cable -> 10bit capable LCD->Deep Color enabled in Software->PS CS5 set to use OpenGL), so that I can see the image possible when working on a photo. So I think I know what I'm talking about.

[Eric Glam]

@dan3430

I know I can use a selection or mask to adjust only a certain part of a

photo (only a real amateur wouldn't know that). Isn't that one of

Photoshop's most basic uses??

Color casts and bad lighting sometimes cannot be avoided/controlled, but

that's not the issue here. Think more of a controlled studio environment.

Anyway, with respect to your Full-frame 5D MkII, I still haven't seen

anything more amazing than skin-tones from a Hasselblad. They're just so

real, sharp and correct, straight from the camera (with proper lens and

lighting, of course).

Actually, you can't really tell how good something is until you compare a

side-by-side.

I mean, the 5D MkII is an amazing camera on its own with

veryhigh-quality stills and very convincing skin tones (when

shooting CR2 RAW

AdobeRGB 14bit stills).

Yet, when I compare the 5D MkII (and even a Nikon D3X) to a

Medium-Format Hasselblad, the difference is apparent (take Petter Hegre's

work for example).

It's not just the higher resolution, it's more of "*this is exactly how it's

meant to be seen*" kind of thing.

I hope you understand.

[Hudechrome]

Yes, this is a primary reason Edward Weston would not enlarge 8x10, and his son, Brett, dragging an 11x14 on site to shoot. They are so damn convincing!

Of course, one can sidestep the deficiencies of DSLR, for reasonably static subjects, by constructing a grid of smaller images and stitching. I am intrigued by the subtle difference on the look compared to a WA view covering the same viewing angle.

[Guest]

Well, in HSL pane, Orange slider afffects colors centered around sRGB hue 26-27. It is higher than Skin hue defined in Gretag Macbeth color chart, but is actualy very close to hue of desirable skin tones on the photos (skin hue as on macbeth chart looks too pinky on real photos). So I don't see what's the problem about correcting skin hue, saturation, lightness here

Soil hue is usually similar os slightly lower, so you can use both Reds and Oranges slider and wider range of brown colors will be affected

What I don't like about these sliders is that they seems to be working in Photo Pro color space, moving the sliders can produce a kind of unexpected results in sRGB or Adobe RGB. For instance, if you have to desaturate too strong orange color and move Oranges saturation slider to the left, you will also decrease the hue (in sRGB / Adobe RGB), so you will get a kind of reddish color and you have to move Hue slider to the right to compensate. This is a bit non-intuitive for me

My suggestion to Adobe team: there could be a kind of Check box named "Work in Output Color space instead of Photo Pro" on HSL pane, so you can select ...

[JATinNH]

In ACR's Lens Corrections, rotation is to the nearest 1/10th of a degree.  Sometimes for architectural shots I need a little more precision (e.g., vertical lines of a building near the edge of the image).  Precision to the nearest 1/20th of a degree would be helpful.  Precision to the nearest 1/50th of a degree would cover all of my needs.  I note that PS's Lens Correction has a precision to the nearest 1/100th of a degree.

Jim