"auto" doesn't work for very light photos

[judy04]

I'm trying to duplicate results for a photo from 2016.   I did filter > stylize > Find Edges and then used "auto" on that to get a much darker image (plus other enhancements).    Now when I do "find edges" in PS; then go to LR and auto,  the image doesn't change at all ie "auto" has no effect on this very light image.   Why and is there any way to activate what should be a very simple operation for LR or ACR (and worked great back in 2016).   

Very perplexed,

Judy

[richardplondon]

Why, is because all the parametric processing that's current for Lightroom (Classic) and for ACR, and all 'auto' behaviour so far as controlling that processing, has changed in the meanwhile - with a whole new Process Version.

It may be possible to set the re-imported image (the result from your Find Edges operation in PS) to a much older Process Version, and then see whether Auto will have the same result as before (it may not). If not, find an image that you previously applied this Auto operation to at the time, under this same much older Process Version. Try Syncing the old-style adjustment settings from one, onto the other, and they should have the same effect - at least, as a starting point.

[judy04]

I guess maybe I'm asking why rather than "how to".   I can't imagine why the new algorithm is set so this very, very light photo doesn't get closer to the center of the histogram like a normal photo would.   If I took a photo way over exposed in bright sunlight, "auto" would pull everything that's not blown out into a reasonable photo.  So I'm wondering if the algorithm "knows" that the "find edges" result came out of a filter.   I tested this last hypothesis by getting a screen dump of the image so all metadata would be removed (at least I thought), and LR still wouldn't turn it into a resonable ie darker result.   So I get back to WHY and maybe include HOW since this is not normal behavior for "auto".

    Actually very good idea to check out the adjustment settings from before and apply them.   I've been doing my own, but interesting to compare. 

    And thanks very much for replying. 

[richardplondon]

The "goals" of the current Auto function may also have changed, besides the means that employs.

If you take an extremely overexposed conventional photo, the results from aggressively lowering the Exposure etc image processing to meet some pre-conceived histogram average, would typically be very ugly.

So perhaps this newer Auto algorithm hopes instead, to salvage (more gently) something more pictorially pleasant: a "high-key" treatment.