ACR sidecar data in PS

[StuartKane]

Hi,

If I'm editing a raw file in ACR, all of my edits are recorded in the sidecar file, and can easily be returned to. If I then open that RAW file in Photoshop as a smart object, and then make more edits to the file by using the ACR filter in PS, those edits are not recorded in the original sidecar file.

So my question is: Is there a way of exporting that data from PS so that ACR can use it?

There's been a few occasions recently where I've opened a file as a smart object in PS, and then basically done all my editing via the ACR filter, and realized that I didn't even need to open it in PS in the first place, but now all my edits are in the PSD and not in the original RAW

Thanks,

Stuart

[D Fosse]

The ACR raw processor (the plugin) is a very different thing from the ACR filter (in the Filter menu in Photoshop). Don't confuse them.

The ACR filter just borrows a small subset of the ACR processing, to use it as a standard filter in Photoshop, just like any other filter.

The crucial difference is that the ACR filter works on rendered RGB files. It does not and cannot work on raw files. Once the raw file has been processed into an RGB file opened into Photoshop, a lot of data have been discarded and you can't get that back from the RGB file. Then you need to go back and reprocess the raw file.

The only way to return to ACR raw processing from Photoshop, is to open as smart object. This embeds a copy of the raw file inside the Photoshop file, and this is what you return to, not the original raw file.

[Stephen Marsh]

So my question is: Is there a way of exporting that data from PS so that ACR can use it?

By @StuartKane

Note: This is based on the Adobe Camera Raw plug-in for raw camera data, NOT the Camera Raw Filter for rendered RGB images.

The CRS metadata added when processing the raw file in ACR are stored as metadata in the file opened by Photoshop.

If you then edit the embedded smart object, it uses the original sidecar values which are in the metadata, but it doesn't use the sidecar anymore.

If you then save the raw embedded smart object with new editing settings, the edits are reflected in the smart object, however, they may no longer match the settings stored in the psd container file holding the embedded smart object.

If one then edits the previously editied smart object again, the previous edits are used, not the original ones in the container PSD file metadata (which no longer match).

@D Fosse  or others... I can't remember where it is getting these edited/updated settings from, as the original sidecar may no longer be accessible. It must be stored in the embedded raw file, which would make sense if a DNG, however with proprietary raw files I don't know...

Anyway, by saving the open/edited embedded raw file from within ACR, the latest CRS settings are embedded in metadata in a rendered file.

So, long story short - depending on where you look, it is possible to view the CRS settings used to process a file.

So, what does this mean?

One can use the CRS metadata to either manually "dial in" edited setting values, or extract the metadata and reformat it as an XMP sidecar file.

Personally, I wouldn't bother, but it is possible.