Camera Raw rating system - what am I missing?

Report · May 30, 2020

I am a real estate photographer and do most of my editing in Camera Raw. (I rarely have a need to go into PS to do finer editing for real estate as I would for portraits.) Let's say I take 100 photos. I will open 50 of them in Camera Raw. I do a quick scroll and rate the photos I want to use/edit with the star system that is offered. I click "done" and open the next 50 and do the same. (I'm not yet ready to delete the unrated photos - I may end up using some after all.)

Is there any way that a star rating in Camera Raw could somehow become a tag in Finder (on Mac)? It's so frustrating to be in my file with 100 photos and have to open them ALL again to see which ones are starred. And when I DO open them all again and click "Select Rated" it doesn't give me an option to do anything with the unrated - other than delete them. I just want to open only my rated photos from the file in Finder. I know I could do a batch save on only the rated photos - but that's creating several extra steps not to mention that I now have two sets of the same photos taking up space. And if I want to delete the original files, it's the same issue - I have to open every file and then do a "select rated" and delete, etc.

So to make that long issue shorter: Is there a way to tell in my Finder folder which images I've "rated" in Camera Raw so I can select and only open those files?

Report · May 30, 2020

Have you considered using Bridge rather than Finder? You can filter on number of stars in Bridge.

Report · May 30, 2020

I’ll be honest, I’ve never used Bridge. I’ve never really understood what part it plays in the world of Photoshop. It sounds like that may be my answer. Thank you for taking the time to reply. 😊

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Report · May 30, 2020

The question here is where to begin. I won't even try to explain all the benefits of using Bridge. It can be used sort of like Finder, browsing your folders and displaying your images. It is possible to configure Bridge to open images directly into Camera Raw. From Bridge it is possible to copy settings from one image to another, to filter images based on different criteria, just for starters. It is an excellent front end for working with Photoshop, and at the least would provide you with the filtering that you are looking for. It wouldn't have to change your Camera Raw workflow, but it could certainly enhance your filtering workflow that you describe that you desperately need. I'm sure there is an abundance of tutorials on YouTube or the Adobe websites on how to use Bridge. Pursue if you wish, it's up to you.

As an example, here is one tutorial from YouTube that if you take the time to watch it you can see how star ratings can be implemented and capitalized on. Yes, I know, he jumps around a lot. But if you take the time to watch the video anyway you can at least get an idea of how to integrate Bridge into your workflow. Again, it's up to you. Just trying to help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y_zIJHLwB8

Report · May 31, 2020

Thank you Jim!

I pulled up a short overview tutorial last night and you're right - Bridge sounds like just what I need. I'm surprised that it's not a more well-known app. I've taken many courses on post-processing and editing, and while photographers either mention Light Room or Photoshop and sometimes Camera Raw - I've never had anyone mention that they use Bridge. Thanks for info and the link. I really appreciate it.

Report · May 31, 2020

Strange. I just assumed Bridge was taken for granted as the best starting point for working with Camera Raw and Photoshop. Have been using it for years when I use Photoshop. Most of the time, however, I now use Lightroom Classic.