July 4, 2016

Camera RAW Filter in Photoshop CC



Everyone knows that Photoshop includes some pretty incredible tools when it comes to fixing color and lighting, but on some images, I personally find it’s actually easier to use the sliders in the Basic panel of the Camera RAW plug-in or Camera RAW filter.  One of the best new features of Photoshop CC is the fact that we can now open our images in Camera RAW anytime we’d like.

If you shot your photograph in RAW format, Camera RAW opens automatically when you double-click the file. But did you know that you can open the plug-in as a filter in Photoshop on any file format? 



If you’re a Cloud member then you might know you have this option just by choosing Filter>Camera RAW filter. Personally I like the option of changing my mind after the fact and prefer to work on Smart Objects so I can do this non-destructively. So I will first duplicate my background layer and then convert that layer to a Smart Object before I choose the Camera RAW filter. This does double our file size and in the old days we tried to save space on our drives, but seriously, drive space is so cheap these days that my file size really isn’t all that important anymore. 





Now I’ll convert that layer by either right clicking next to the layers name in the layers panel and choosing Convert to Smart Object or using the Filter drop-down menu and choosing Convert to Smart Object. Then, when you want to open that layer in Camera RAW you go up to the Filter drop-down menu again and choose Camera RAW Filter. Pretty easy huh?   Try it for yourself, I think you’ll like it. 

And remember, as always, keep shooting and have some fun!
 
© D. Gould Photography