# How to open Adobe Camera Raw



## Rick Dott (Mar 27, 2020)

I have a photo open in Lightroom and want to open ACR so I can modify the photo.  I have looked at several tutorials that tell me how wonderful ACR is or compares it to Photoshop but no one mentions how to open it.   I couldn't even find info in the Index in the Missing FAQ book.


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## Victoria Bampton (Mar 27, 2020)

It’s in the Photoshop chapter dottrr, it’s more frequently know as Adobe Camera Raw or Camera Raw.

Lightroom’s Develop module has all the same tools as ACR, so what are you trying to achieve by using the ACR dialog instead of Lightroom?


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## johnbeardy (Mar 27, 2020)

dottrr said:


> I have a photo open in Lightroom and want to open ACR so I can modify the photo.  I have looked at several tutorials that tell me how wonderful ACR is or compares it to Photoshop but no one mentions how to open it.   I couldn't even find info in the Index in the Missing FAQ book.



The simple answer is that if you are using Lightroom, you don't need to open ACR.  

ACR has the same sliders as Lightroom (those tutorials are probably by people who don't understand Lightroom) , and you might only see ACR when PS itself opens raw files. If you were starting in PS, you'd do a File > Open, point to the raw file, and that's when ACR would appear. Normally in Lightroom you just open a file in PS by right clicking and choosing Edit With Photoshop.


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## Samoreen (Mar 27, 2020)

Actually, ACR are not only similar : they share the very same RAW Engine. It's the *same code* with a different user interface. If you have both LR and PS on your system, whenever ACR is updated, it is updated for both (moreover, they share the same ACR folders).

There is one very special advantage of using ACR from PS though. Let's say you have already worked on a RAW file in LR and generated the corresponding XMP companion file. Quit LR, launch PS and load the RAW file. This will open the ACR interface and ACR will take the edits you made in LR into account. Let's assume you have nothing to change to your LR edits for the moment and just want to do some retouching work in PS (yes, I know, you can launch that PS task from LR but let's forget this for now).

Instead of clicking on the _Open Image _button, just depress the SHIFT key. The button label turns to _Open Object_. Click on it now. You can now do whatever you want in PS. But if you now change your mind about some setting in ACR, you just have to double-click the vignette on the left of the smart object layer created when opening the object. ACR will re-open. Change your ACR settings and click OK. You'll now work with a different base image.

This can only be done in PS.


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## Johan Elzenga (Mar 27, 2020)

Samoreen said:


> Instead of clicking on the _Open Image _button, just depress the SHIFT key. The button label turns to _Open Object_. Click on it now. You can now do whatever you want in PS. But if you now change your mind about some setting in ACR, you just have to double-click the vignette on the left of the smart object layer created when opening the object. ACR will re-open. Change your ACR settings and click OK. You'll now work with a different base image.


Yes, that is indeed a major advantage of using smart objects (and you can also send a raw file from Lightroom Classic to to Photoshop as smart object), but 'whatever you want' is unfortunately not quite true. If that were true, then you should _always_ open raw images as smart objects. There are limitations to what you can do with a smart object, however. Generally speaking, you can't replace individual pixels. You can't clone, heal or make content-aware edits, for example. You can clone into a new (normal) layer, but that kind of defeats the purpose of the smart object: Changing the raw settings of the smart object later will almost certainly create a mismatch in color and/or brightness between the base image and the cloned pixels in the new layer.


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## Hal P Anderson (Mar 27, 2020)

Samoreen said:


> If you have both LR and PS on your system, whenever ACR is updated, it is updated for both


Sorry, but that is ambiguous. Lightroom's ACR code is embedded in the Lightroom app itself and is only updated when you update Lightroom. It is usually true that when Adobe updates ACR, they also update Lightroom, but to get both, you have to download both. Many people seem to think that installing a new version of ACR will automatically update Lightroom, but things don't work that way.


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## johnbeardy (Mar 27, 2020)

It's ambiguous and superfluous. Let's help the user one step at a time.


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## Rick Dott (Mar 28, 2020)

Sorry.  I read something not long ago that gave me the distinct impression that ACR was similar to Photoshop, not as powerful, but a part of Lightroom and you could do nondestructive work before sending to Photoshop, and that ACR was a plugin to Photoshop, but  I see that's not true.  
The training videos I find make it appear that editing is so effortless and I'm sure it is once you  know a lot and feel comfortable running around in it.  There seems to be so many little thing to remember and juggle.  
FYI I do have Lr & Ps and I do update it and Camera Raw when ever Adobe tells me they are available,  so at least I'm doing that right.   I have opened photos in Ps and even with my limited knowledge I'm a bit blown away by it all.   
Does anyone have suggestions for what they think would be a good source of reliable tutorials.


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## johnbeardy (Mar 28, 2020)

Victoria's? And just ask questions - it'll click.

Think of ACR as being pretty-similar code to LR's Develop, except ACR's sitting inside PS _as a plugin_ (yes). So LR and ACR are separate, if similar, and they are developed in parallel. 

From the user's viewpoint, you can do nondestructive work on a file in LR and then send it to PS, or alternatively you might open the raw file in PS which will use its ACR plugin to open it. For now, stick to the first, LR method, and focus on learning PS's layers and adjustments and other tools.

When you are told to update them, you are doing the right thing by updating LR and its sibling ACR.


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## clee01l (Mar 28, 2020)

dottrr said:


> Sorry. I read something not long ago that gave me the distinct impression that ACR was similar to Photoshop, not as powerful, but a part of Lightroom and you could do nondestructive work before sending to Photoshop, and that ACR was a plugin to Photoshop, but I see that's not true.


Actually that is a pretty accurate statement , though I think your understanding of it and ACR is a little off.   ACR is a processing engine module.  It was initially developed as a front end plugin for Photoshop.  It has remained so in the Photoshop workflow.   When Lightroom came along, Adobe made the decision to include the module in the Lightroom code.   What is different is the user interface to use the ACR module either in PS or LR Classic.   The user interface in PS is pretty much the original user interface (sliders etc) that came from the plugin.    The user interface in LR.  Classic is called the Develop module.   ACR is necessary to access and convert RAW sensor data to RGB .   In doing this conversion, some processing is applied or the result would be a dark toneless noisy image view. Once the image is an RGB image, Photoshop can  do additional processing,  If the image file is already RGB (as in JPEGs, TIFFs, PSDs etc.) Photoshop can be used without the trip through the ACR plugin.  In Lightroom  Classic the same Develop module can be used for  RGB images that started as RAW sensor data or JPEGs or TIFFs etc. 

I believe (others can correct me) that you can access the ACR plugin in Photoshop by navigating the menu {Filter}{Camera RAW Filter...}. If you open a RAW file directly in Photoshop the Camera RAW Filter plugin will automatically get invoked to convert the RAW sensor data to RGB before passing the RGB image on tp Photoshop


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## Johan Elzenga (Mar 28, 2020)

Yes, you can use ACR as filter, but that is not exactly the same as using ACR or Lightroom to develop a raw file. When you use ACR as filter, you use it on a file that was already converted to RGB.


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## clee01l (Mar 28, 2020)

Johan Elzenga said:


> Yes, you can use ACR as filter, but that is not exactly the same as using ACR or Lightroom to develop a raw file. When you use ACR as filter, you use it on a file that was already converted to RGB.


Actually the only difference in the ACR Filter dialog  on initially opening a RAW file is the button to {Open Image} in Photoshop.   The same  {Camera RAW Filter...} dialog  opens  the same user interface dialog without the {Open Image} button.  Also (and you are correct in this interpretation) the Camera RAW Filter...} dialog  can only make further adjustments on the RGB image that was open.   You can not go back an readjust the RAW data and "undo" ACR conversion parameters.


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## Johan Elzenga (Mar 28, 2020)

clee01l said:


> Actually the only difference in the ACR Filter dialog on initially opening a RAW file is the button to {Open Image} in Photoshop.



No, there are quite a few more differences. If you open a raw file in Photoshop and so you get the ACR dialog first, then you can use raw profiles like 'Adobe Landscape' or 'Camera Portrait' and the Temperature slider shows the temperature in degrees K. If you use the 'Filter - Camera Raw filter' menu on a file that is already opened in Photoshop, then the profile is set to 'Color' and the only choices you have are Monochrome, or one of the 'creative' profiles. Raw profiles like 'Adobe Landscape' or 'Camera Landscape' will not be available. And if you look at the Temperature slider you will see that this slider now does not show degrees K (like 5500 K for daylight), but only a range from -100 to +100. You also do not have all the tools. For example, there is no Crop Tool in the Camera Raw filter. You also do not have the Film Strip on the left, because you cannot open more than one image in Camera Raw filter (and do not have options like Merge to Panorama or Merge to HDR). And at the bottom you do not have preferences to choose the icc-profile or to change the image size. Below first Camera Raw as raw editor and then Camera Raw filter invoked from within Photoshop.


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