# open in ACR?



## I Simonius (Jun 16, 2008)

Is there a way to get LR to open an image in ACR before opening in Photoshop?
Sometimes I just can't get the effect I wnat oin LR and want to open in Ps but want to set it up in ACR first.. can I do this ?.


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## rcannonp (Jun 16, 2008)

I set up an Automator action that exports a DNG to a folder, opens that DNG file in Photoshop, and then trashes the exported DNG. I keep PS set to open raw files as smart objects. It's a little awkward, but it was the best that I could figure out. I set a key command so that I can press it and the file opens up into PS from LR. The one problem with this is that it doesn't remember the originating folder. 

You could also reveal the file in the Finder and double click it. If PS is set as the  default application for that file type, then it would open into PS. You can also add PS to your Finder tool bar and drag files to that if PS isn't your default app for such files and you don't want to change it.


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## I Simonius (Jun 16, 2008)

rcannonp said:


> You could also reveal the file in the Finder and double click it. If PS is set as the  default application for that file type, then it would open into PS. You can also add PS to your Finder tool bar and drag files to that if PS isn't your default app for such files and you don't want to change it.



thanks - yeah that's pretty much what I do now

I have given up on Bridge a long time ago ( due to the Shift/Command+click feature problems) otherwise I could use that but often I just need  a good browser to open things in Ps, as it is, I find the image in LR then note the file No and open that from photoshp, a bit messy but not a big deal 

It would just be nice to be able to do it in a cleaner fashion


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## rcannonp (Jun 16, 2008)

You know, you can right click the file in LR and choose Reveal in Finder and open it from there. You may already know that, but from the wording of your post it sounds like you are searching for the file in the PS open dialog.

Version 2 should make this all a lot easier.


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## Ian Farlow (Jun 16, 2008)

I'm curious what you find you can only do in ACR/Photoshop that you can't do in LR.


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## rcannonp (Jun 16, 2008)

If you open a raw file into PS as a smart object, you have the flexibility to make changes to the raw settings after you've started working on the file. As for processing directly in ACR as opposed to LR, the only real advantage that I can think of is that ACR has is the ability to manipulate the point curves. That's generally not enough to make me use ACR over LR, though. When I want to open a file as a smart object, I usually make all of the adjustments in LR. The way that it's set up in the LR2 beta pretty much fixes all of the issues that I have with this.


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## I Simonius (Jun 16, 2008)

rcannonp said:


> You know, you can right click the file in LR and choose Reveal in Finder and open it from there. You may already know that, but from the wording of your post it sounds like you are searching for the file in the PS open dialog.
> 
> Version 2 should make this all a lot easier.


yeah I knew and occasionallywnat mor than a few files open - it but sometimes forget which is the best way - thanks for the reminder


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## I Simonius (Jun 16, 2008)

Ian Farlow said:


> I'm curious what you find you can only do in ACR/Photoshop that you can't do in LR.



nothing in ACR only but want often to open a file as CR2 files to start again
e/g/ when I see the need for an adjustment layer or two and masks - often I feel there is something I can do in P but am not getting there in LR

Mostly though for local changes rather than global changes , you know, usual Ps stuff


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## I Simonius (Jun 16, 2008)

rcannonp said:


> If you open a raw file into PS as a smart object, you have the flexibility to make changes to the raw settings after you've started working on the file. As for processing directly in ACR as opposed to LR, the only real advantage that I can think of is that ACR has is the ability to manipulate the point curves. That's generally not enough to make me use ACR over LR, though. When I want to open a file as a smart object, I usually make all of the adjustments in LR. The way that it's set up in the LR2 beta pretty much fixes all of the issues that I have with this.



haven't tried the beta yet - I guess the time is coming when I'll hav e to get to grips with it


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## Victoria Bampton (Jun 18, 2008)

I Simonius said:


> nothing in ACR only but want often to open a file as CR2 files to start again



I hate to say it Simon, but that's a complete contradiction in terms!!! :lol:  When you open it in PS, it's no longer a raw CR2 file, it's been converted using ACR.... so exactly the same as it would in Lightroom!


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## I Simonius (Jun 18, 2008)

Victoria Bampton;159'6 said:
			
		

> I hate to say it Simon, but that's a complete contradiction in terms!!! :lol:  When you open it in PS, it's no longer a raw CR2 file, it's been converted using ACR.... so exactly the same as it would in Lightroom!



Doh!:roll:

- well ya loins sumting every day Olive:lol:


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## I Simonius (Jun 19, 2008)

Ian Farlow said:


> I'm curious what you find you can only do in ACR/Photoshop that you can't do in LR.



TO be more precise, 
now that I have asked myself the same question:

Here's an example
There is details in the apparently blown whites bottom RHS but to get it I have to drop exposure beyond a point where I can reasonably get the rest of the image to look good. Here the highlight recover ius set to maximum, but doesn't pull detail back into the apperently blown area

I only know how to do this in Ps although I now understand it is not neccessary to go via ACR

Is there another way and does this answr the question?


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## I Simonius (Jun 19, 2008)

highlights redeemed using exposure
As we can see there is plenty of detail there - just not recoverable in LR without losing the rest of the image


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## Victoria Bampton (Jun 19, 2008)

Aaaaaah, HDR is the term you're looking for Simon.


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## I Simonius (Jun 19, 2008)

using max highlight recovery and dropping exposure just enough to get the highlight detail won't retrieve the rest of the image even with max fill light

No doubt there's asensible way to do this in LR that I have completely missed?:shock:


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## I Simonius (Jun 19, 2008)

Victoria Bampton said:


> Aaaaaah, HDR is the term you're looking for Simon.



Is it?

Not really sure about that - I would have just used masks to paint the two versin s together

(which I think I may even do this very imminent)

I had always thought of HDR as defining the blending of _different exposures  taken at different frames _- although I realise it is a bit of a loose term

FUNNILY enough when I opened this image in PS via ACR I noticed there actually IS detail available in the areas that were blown out in LR - making it easier to do this (hmmm looked better before I changed it to sRGB)

Interesting...


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## Photographe (Mar 30, 2011)

Ian Farlow said:


> I'm curious what you find you can only do in ACR/Photoshop that you can't do in LR.



Cropping.  I can't get used to the LR crop Window.  Also to get away from the panels and the black background.


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## sizzlingbadger (Mar 30, 2011)

Right click on the background and you have the option to change the colour. Shift -Tab will toggle the panels on and off.


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