Color grading panel from ACR as an Adjustment layer

[Ivan Zajats]

Can we have the Color grading panel from ACR as an Adjustment layer in PS?

Now if we want to use it not for the raw processing at the beginning, but for the final image after retouching, we have to merge the layers, make a Smart object (to adjust the settings later if needed), open it in ACR... an Adjustment layer would be handy & time-saving 🙂

[Stephen Marsh]

That would be the Camera Raw Filter, not Adobe Camera Raw?

[D Fosse]

As Stephen implies, you can already do this as a smart Camera Raw filter. You don't need to reopen the file in the ACR processor.

I fully agree that, as re-editable adjustments go, adjustment layers are simpler and more convenient than smart filters. But considering that the functionality in question is already available in a slightly different form, it's hard to see this getting high priority. Unless a lot of people vote for it.

[Ivan Zajats]

@Stephen Marsh, @D Fosse, what's the difference? it's a pity, you don't vote...

[D Fosse]

The difference is that the Camera Raw filter is accessed from the Photoshop Filter menu and used on RGB files in Photoshop. It uses only a small subset of the ACR code. It can't process raw files.

The Camera Raw filter works just like any other filter, and like other filters it can be used as a re-editable Smart Filter.

The ACR processor is the full plugin, primarily used on raw files from a camera, and you open the file into ACR directly from the browser.

[Ivan Zajats]

I open raws by dragging them into PS, so I see NO difference

[Stephen Marsh]

I didn't vote as I don't believe that this is technically possible in an adjustment layer, at least the same way as it works in the raw plug-in or in the filter. But hey, here's a vote! I'm not a programmer so I could be wrong. I haven't performed tests to see what benefits this would bring as an adjustment layer vs. existing adjustment options.

[Stephen Marsh]

The filter works on rendered gamma-encoded RGB data.

The plugin works on unrendered, linear raw sensor data.

[Ivan Zajats]

what's impossible here? to color grade the shadows & highlights? hope, it's a joke

we can do this with the Curves, but color circles are more intuitive and easier, especially for beginners & amateurs. thanks for voting 🙂 

[Stephen Marsh]

Edited... That can be done with say Color Balance, however, I agree that HSL may be more intuitive and that the GUI is more modern.

What I was saying is that the code base of ACR or the CR Filter may not work directly in an adjustment layer. I am not saying that the concept doesn't work or that a totally different code base couldn't work, with or without the exact same results.

One can't always transplant a feature from ACR and expect it to work the same elsewhere, exposure being a perfect example.

So, yes, even if not the same code or if it isn't "pixel perfect" an adjustment layer using such HSL controls would likely be welcomed by many.

[D Fosse]

I open raws by dragging them into PS, so I see NO difference

By @Ivan Zajats

Not a particularly good habit, for the simple reason that you don't know exactly what you're opening: it could be a thumbnail, a preview, a "proxy"/cache image kept by the application for fast access. Or it could be the full original file - but you don't know.

You just have to take our word for it: The ACR filter and the ACR processor are not the same thing.

And in any case Stephen hits the nail on the head: you can't just transfer a function from one codebase into another. They may not mean the same thing. It would have to be rewritten, so it's not necessarily a trivial task.

Don't get me wrong - I wouldn't mind the adjustment wheels in an adjustment layer. That would be nice. All I'm saying is to be realistic. It's not necessarily as simple as it sounds, and since the functionality is already available in another form, I'm not sure it will get high priority.

[Ivan Zajats]

I always know what I'm drinking opening! I go to the raw folder, select the files and drag them to PS

I have no other files there and there's always clearly visible file extension in the filenames (.cr2)

it's offtop, let's discuss the color grading 🙂

[jinmus73407915]

I would find a color grading adjustment layer to be super convenient. I spend a lot of time retouching renderings and there are often a lot of layers and adjustments stacked up. It's very cumbersome to have to bounce back and forth between your file and the camera raw filter interface or plugin. Sometimes it's useful to do the color grading after making a lot of other adjustments, and to do this non-destructively we're having to put all of our layers into a single smart object and apply the filter to that which is even more cumbersome, especially since our files are often very large. I often end up using curves instead, but that interface is not very easy to use and takes a lot of practice to be able to visualize results without tons of tweaking.