Camera Raw latest version will not create an HDR image.

[DS68112329PO]

I posted this elsewhere, but this appears more appropriate.

I installed the latest version of Photoshop CC yesterday 11.05.2019 along with the latest version of Bridge. I have exactly the same problem. I have tried to do an HDR in camera RAW from 5 files and "auto tone" will not work. I have tried Canon raw files and Sony A6500 raw files with the same result. I am using Windows 10.

I have tried this on 2 different Windows 10 PC's and also on a Windows 7 PC. with exactly the same result.

The latest version of Camera raw 11.2.1 will not create an HDR image.

Adobe really need to fix this urgently.

[Just Shoot Me]

This is the current version of PS.

Adobe Photoshop Version: 20.0.4 20190227.r.76 2019/02/27: 1205725  x64

Go to the Help menu and select System Info. What is it reporting as the PS version.

The current version of camera raw is 11.2.1

Do you have more than one image selected in the Camera RAW app?

[DS68112329PO]

I have exactly the versions you state, as I said installed yesterday.

I have 5 images selected in camera raw, then go to merge to HDR, and the "auto tone" is not applied. The result I am presented with is one of my darker images and clicking "auto tone" on and off does not change the resultant image in any way.

[gary_sc]

Hi DS,

First off, while I'm not at all questioning that this is not working for you, it apparently is working for others otherwise Adobe would be swamped with complaints. So, let's see if we can figure out why it isn't working for you.

I'm gathering you have done this before, correct? Please forgive me but I'm going to go through the basics here just to make sure that you doing everything in the correct order, etc. You probably are, just making sure.

When you do your HDR creation, are you using jpgs, dng images, or raw images? (Also how many stops between images?)

Are you doing it manually from ACR's flyout menu or are you using the keyboard shortcuts? Are you selecting all of the images manually or by keyboard shortcut?

And lastly, when you set it up to do the combining, are you clicking the "Auto Align" and "Auto Tone and Color Adjustments" checkbox. [Note: this should be sticky so if you do check it, is it still checked for the next HDR creation?]

Let us know if anything is different or off from what you do, thanks!

[DS68112329PO]

Hi Gary_sc,

Thanks for the reply.

I would use Bridge to browse to the RAW files that I want to use. I then select the files (say 5) with 1 stop between them. I right click on them and choose open in Camera RAW. ACR opens showing the 5 images, I select all five images and choose Merge to HDR .

I receive the message that all 5 images have been successfully merged. Align images and Apply auto tone and colour adjustments are both selected.

The image I am presented with shows no sign of any auto tone adjustments being applied and when I click on and off the auto tone selection there is no change to the image.

I also posted my problem on the Photoshop forum as a reply to others who were having the same problem.

I have used this function many times in a previous version of Camera RAW with fantastic results but this version just will not work as I have said on 2 different PC's running the latest Windows 10 and on a PC running Windows 7.

This is a very important function for me and I really would like it back.

Hope you can help.

[gary_sc · Accepted solution]

Hi DS,

As far as the mechanics of your work within Bridge -> ACR, it all sounds absolutely correct. I needed to verify that to rule out those issues.

I was about to say I'm on a Mac and I've not observed ANY issues but I went over to the Photoshop forum and found the thread you mentioned and see that there are in fact Mac folks that are having issues as well.

The last comment in that thread by Dave mentioned reporting this as a Bug and provided the link. This is something that you should do. In addition, one of the other folks in that thread was identified as "Staff." That means Adobe and that means that this will get attention. The bad news is that it can take at least weeks to months for the problem to be verified in house, fixed, have the fix tested, and then disseminated for release.

HOWEVER, there are a few things to try in the meantime:

1) you did not mention if you work with the original raw files or if you convert them to DNGs. If you do work with the original raw files, please try converting them and see if that helps. [FWIW, I always convert to DNGs and I've not seen this issue. Coincidence or causality I do not know.]

You can download the free Adobe DNG Converter here [Note: if you use the "Get photos from camera" application from Bridge, you can convert on the fly during downloading.]:

Adobe Digital Negative Converter

One other thing to try is to use an earlier version of ACR. I found the following page that has earlier releases that you can download. If you scroll toward the bottom you'll see them.

Update information for older versions of Adobe Photoshop

Let us know if either of these things provides temporary solutions.

_____________________________

Now, on another matter: if you are taking raw images, there is no reason to create images 1 stop apart. None.

I've been doing HDR for about 10 years now and I remember how people would brag that they took 10 images 1/3 stop apart, etc. etc. If you are taking jpg images, all you need is 2 stops and with raw you can safely do 4 stops between images. *

OK, so why?

It has to do with how much data is in an image. A jpg image is an 8-bit image. There is enough dynamic range in that 8-bits to safely capture everything in 2 stop jumps. However a raw image can be up to 12, 14, or 16-bits depending on the camera. So yes, you can use only 2 images instead of 3.

Here's another way to think about this. Think of a one foot ruler as an 8-bit image and you lay three of them out with 1" overlapping. You can easily and successfully measure out 22" with no problem. Now think of a 16-bit image as an 18" ruler. You can lay two of them out with 1" overlapping and capture 35".

I did an experiment bunches of years** ago where I took my camera, set it up on a tripod to remove one variable and took 9 images, 1/2 stop apart. (-2. -1.5, -1, -.5, 0, .5, 1, 1.5, 2).

I then processed them with the exact same settings of all 9,

then just 5: (-2, -1, 0, 1, 2)

then just 3: (-2, 0, 2)

There was absolutely no difference in any way on the appearance of the three completed images.

Please, once you are back and running, try this experiment, see what happens and please get back to me with your results.

*FWIW, I often still take the three (or 5) images 2-stops apart when I'm taking HDR simply because I'm not always fully sure I can get the dynamic range I want from one image. Since electrons are free I check and maybe even compare the single image and the HDR image and if I can't see a difference I toss the HDR and the DNGs that I now know I do not need and toss them.

**This was done long before Adobe had their "better" HDR capability within PS and long before ACR could do HDR. All testing was done with Photomatix.

[DS68112329PO]

Many thanks for your reply. I am using RAW files for the HDR merge.

Thanks also for your info on using less RAW files to create an HDR Image, something I will certainly investigate.

Adobe have just updated Camera RAW to 11.3 and the HDR function and auto tone is working perfectly again.

Thanks Adobe

[P Moloney]

Hi Gary,

I'm with you on this... you mentioned the -2 0 +2 for HDR panorama to me some time ago and it's standard working for me now using auto bracket (the only safe way) stitching 3 images with 24mm TSE lens

Regarding 11.4.0.273 no obvious problems today with MacPro 10.12.6

Peter

[iskyg]

My Photoshop CC was automatically updated yesterday 60/08/2019. Under automate there are now two choices to merger photos. Merger to HDR pro and photomerge. The photomerge is new.

Neither of these two options are working.

I have been using the Merger to HDR pro for some time with no problem, as recently as 06/05/2019 it was working fine.

The current problem with both versions is that the 3 files are loaded and then the the programme simply freezes.

Can you help please!

[chadphotoguy]

I'm having the same issues. I've been merging 5 images into 'Merge to HDR' via the Camera Raw feature in Adobe Bridge for a couple years now. Recently this started becoming an issue where I would have to wait several minutes for the photo merge to complete. Not sure why it's been running super slow. I don't believe its a ram issue or cache issue as I've cleared my cache several time, uninstalled bridge and photoshop then reinstalling to no avail. If anyone knows of any alternative ways to approach fixing this issue, it would be greatly appreciated.

[ssprengel]

Does it work with less images, like 2?  In other words is the issue related to the amount of work being done, or something is just hanging at the end?

Does toggling the User Graphics Processor performance option in ACR make any difference?

If the GPU is being used to compute things, maybe there is an issue with your current video driver, and an update might change things.

[chadphotoguy]

Thanks so much for your help! I did try less images instead of 5 bracketed shots. I tried 2 and 3 both worked but then the speed would trail off thus forcing me to restart Adobe Bridge. I did attempt toggling User Graphics Processor in the performance option and it still did the same thing. Also on a different note I updated ACR to 11.4 today along with my mac OS update of 10.14.6 and Camera Raw merge to HDR has stopped working completely. I receive an error every time I attempt to merge. Currently chatting with Adobe Support to see what's happening.

[ssprengel]

The speed trailing off or things failing entirely for more images sounds like a resource issue on your computer.  It could be too many programs open, an almost-full boot disk, or a bad video driver, among other things.  Not having Photoshop, itself, open, when you're using just Bridge and ACR might be something to try. 

There are use-graphics-processor settings for both ACR and Photoshop, independent of each other, so make sure you're doing the one for ACR.  If you have PS open at the same time, it's possible PS's GPU setting can also affect how things work if they're both using the graphics processor and maybe it doesn't have enough resources for both ACR and PS at the same time.

Hopefully Adobe support got you going or at least gave you some answers.

[sonjad7605406]

Hello, I experienced the same problem. I used to do HDR merges in ACR out of Bridge and then to edit them later further in PS. But the merges hang themselves ' sort of up ' in the last 30 % of the process. In the past it was super fast, that is why I even preferred using ACR for the merges instead of PS Pro HDR merge. I totally understand your frustration. I have the same. Did you solve the problem? I just reinstalled the whole Cloud to brand new version and still have the problem. 😞