However, Adobe Camera Raw can be opened as a filter at any time during the editing process. In this tutorial, we will show you how you can creatively use Adobe Camera Raw as a smart object.
Why Use Adobe Camera Raw as a Smart Object?
Adobe Camera Raw has essentially all the editing power of Lightroom available as a filter option in Photoshop. It’s accessible after your images are imported into Photoshop by selecting Filter > Camera Raw Filter from the menu.
With Adobe Camera Raw, there’s nearly infinite editing power wrapped up in one filter without having to use layers. All edits are saved on the fly and can even be recorded as a snapshot to be applied to other images at a later time.
So, why use Adobe Camera Raw as a smart object? Because editing non-destructively is usually the preferred way that many professional photographers and graphic designers like to work.
If future adjustments are required, it’s easy to go back to a single layer in a Photoshop layer stack, and revisit what could be potentially dozens or even hundreds of single edits.
We will be using a simple method to accomplish this, one that can be repeated at any time during the editing process.
How to Convert Adobe Camera Raw Into a Smart Object
Use Ctrl + J to duplicate your existing layer. Alternatively, you can create a new blank layer, and press Shift + Ctrl + Alt + E to create a Stamp Visible layer if there are layer adjustments or folders in the layer stack. Right-click on the new layer, and select Convert to Smart Object. Go to Filter > Camera Raw Filter. Make edits in Adobe Camera Raw, and return to Photoshop by clicking OK.
If you need to access this layer at a future date, all you need to do is double-click on the layer, and Adobe Camera Raw will open back up. All of your past edits will be available to adjust as you see fit. Here are more detailed instructions on how to do that:
Double-click Camera Raw Filter. When Adobe Camera Raw opens, make any adjustments, and click OK. Changes are applied and reflected in Photoshop. You can now create new layer edits on top of this filter.
This strategy is useful for layer management, especially when editing complex images that contain many layers. It’s also convenient as a one-stop visit to any single grouping of layers in folders that could’ve potentially resulted in many more layers to accomplish the same thing in Photoshop.
This will make more sense when we go over it in the following examples. Let’s get started!
Using a Camera Raw/Smart Object Layer for Additional Basic Editing
Newcomers to Photoshop may question why anyone would want to return to Adobe Camera Raw to make edits that they could have made in the very beginning. There are many reasons, and here are but a few:
The photographer wanted to keep the file as-is to try out more advanced editing techniques before applying basic editing. This would save time if the editing didn’t go as planned. Compositing multiple images often require additional local and global adjustments later in the editing workflow. The photographer may have missed some simple edits or decided later to go a completely different way with editing. Clients or employers requested changes to the original image file.
The following is an example of adding an Adobe Camera Raw layer converted to a Smart Object.
Click on the top layer. Create a Stamp Visible Layer by clicking Shift + Ctrl + Alt + E. Right-click on the new layer, and select Convert to Smart Object. Go to Filter > Camera Raw Filter. Make edits in Adobe Camera Raw and return to Photoshop by clicking OK.
Using Adobe Camera Raw/Smart Object Layer for Color Grading
There are many different approaches to color grading an image. Sometimes, you only need a few additional touches, like hue/saturation and color balance adjustments. You could even add a simple lighting effect using overlay blend mode to complement the color grading.
For the times when you might want to add additional effects to complement your color grading, using Adobe Camera Raw as a smart object layer would be a great way to proceed.
Here’s an example of color grading with an added radial filter for lighting effects.
Click on the top layer. Create a Stamp Visible Layer by clicking Shift + Ctrl + Alt + E. Right-click on the new layer, and select Convert to Smart Object. Go to Filter > Camera Raw Filter. Make color grading edits in the Color Mixer menu (you can also use the Color Grading menu). To brighten the sunflower more, we created a Radial Filter by clicking the Radial Filter icon on the right vertical menu bar. Then, we made slider adjustments and clicked OK.
Using Graduated and Radial Filters in Adobe Camera Raw as a Smart Object Layer
One of the great things about applying gradients in Adobe Camera Raw is being able to control multiple variables for each graduated and radial filter. This allows for multiple gradients across the image to really hone in on the effect you want to achieve.
The following example makes use of a single radial filter and three graduated filters, along with a few basic adjustments.
Click on the top layer. Create a Stamp Visible Layer by clicking Shift + Ctrl + Alt + E. Right-click on the new layer, and select Convert to Smart Object. Go to Filter > Camera Raw Filter. Make initial adjustments in the Basic dropdown menu. Click on the Graduated Filter icon on the right vertical menu, and make your adjustments. In this example, we added three graduated filters to help showcase the infant. Click on the Radial Filter icon to make adjustments to draw attention even more to the infant. In this instance, we clicked on the Invert box to affect the parameters outside of the radial filter, creating a vignette-like effect around the infant. To finish, click OK.
Keeping Things Simple in Photoshop
There are two types of Adobe users out there. The first group tends to use Lightroom as their go-to Raw photo editor, as their workflows are largely handled in one place: Lightroom.
The other camp makes exclusive use of Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop as part of their workflow for more complex editing. Lightroom is never needed for editing alone because Adobe Camera Raw has the same set of editing features.
There’s nothing wrong with either way of doing things because every photographer has different needs. But for those of you who use Photoshop exclusively, using Adobe Camera Raw as a smart object makes perfect sense for multiple and diverse editing choices.
Image Credit: Kimon Maritz/Unsplash
