CS6 Camera Raw - How To Open Raw, JPEG And TIFF Files

CS6 Camera Raw – How To Open Raw, JPEG And TIFF Files

As we've learned so far in previous tutorials, Adobe Camera Raw is a plug-in for Photoshop that was initially designed for processing and editing photos captured in your camera's raw file format. Over fourth dimension, Adobe added the ability for Camera Raw to edit JPEG and TIFF images as well. In this tutorial, we'll learn how to open all three file types in Camera Raw.

Every bit nosotros'll meet, opening raw files in Camera Raw is simple and straightforward (as it should be), even so while that's generally true for opening JPEG and TIFF files, things tin get a trivial confusing if you're used to opening images merely past double-clicking on them. For that, we'll demand to take a wait at Camera Raw's Preferences to make certain things are set up the way that best fits your manner of working.

Opening Raw Files In Camera Raw

Permit'south showtime by learning how to open raw files in Photographic camera Raw. The all-time manner to open any blazon of image in Camera Raw (or in Photoshop) is with Adobe Bridge, and so that's what I'll be using in this tutorial. Hither, I have Adobe Span (CS6 in this case) open on my screen and I've navigated to a folder on my desktop containing three images. The image on the left is a raw file, the one in the middle is a JPEG, and on the right, nosotros accept a TIFF image:

Three images visible in Adobe Bridge CS6. Image © 2013 Steve Patterson, Photoshop Essentials.com

Adobe Bridge (CS6) showing three image thumbnails.

There's a few different means to open raw files in Camera Raw, and most of these methods can exist used to open up JPEG and TIFF files every bit well. First, start past clicking once on the thumbnail of the prototype y'all want to open. Here, I've clicked on my raw file on the left:

Selecting a raw file in Adobe Bridge CS6. Image © 2013 Steve Patterson, Photoshop Essentials.com

Clicking once on the raw file to select information technology.

With the paradigm selected, one way nosotros tin can open information technology in Camera Raw is by clicking on the Open in Camera Raw icon at the tiptop of the Span interface:

Clicking the Open in Camera Raw icon in Adobe Bridge CS6. Image © 2013 Steve Patterson, Photoshop Essentials.com

Method #i: Click the Open in Camera Raw icon.

We tin can likewise get up to the File menu in the Card Bar along the top of the screen and choose Open in Camera Raw:

Choosing Open in Camera Raw from the File menu in Adobe Bridge CS6. Image © 2013 Steve Patterson, Photoshop Essentials.com

Method #2: Go to File > Open in Photographic camera Raw.

Or, if dragging your mouse cursor all the mode to the meridian of the screen seems similar too much endeavour, you can Right-click (Win) / Command-click (Mac) direct on the paradigm thumbnail and choose Open in Camera Raw from the sub-menu that appears:

Choosing Open in Camera Raw from the sub-menu. Image © 2013 Steve Patterson, Photoshop Essentials.com

Method #iii: Right-click (Win) / Command-click (Mac) on the image thumbnail and choose "Open in Camera Raw".

Finally, the fastest and easiest fashion of all to open a raw file in Camera Raw is by simply double-clicking on its thumbnail:

Choosing Open in Camera Raw from the sub-menu. Image © 2013 Steve Patterson, Photoshop Essentials.com

Method #4: Double-click direct on the raw prototype thumbnail.

As we learned in the Working With Camera Raw In Adobe Bridge vs Photoshop tutorial, this volition open the raw file in Photographic camera Raw, and Camera Raw itself will be hosted either in Photoshop or in Adobe Bridge depending on how yous have things prepare in the Span Preferences:

The Camera Raw 8 dialog box in Photoshop CS6. Image © 2013 Steve Patterson, Photoshop Essentials.com

The raw file is now open within the Camera Raw dialog box.

Opening JPEG And TIFF Files

Most of the methods listed above for opening raw files in Camera Raw besides work with both JPEG and TIFF files. In one case you lot've clicked on the thumbnail of the JPEG or TIFF paradigm you want to open, you can click on the Open up in Camera Raw icon at the peak of the Bridge interface, yous can go up to the File carte and choose Open in Camera Raw, or yous can Right-click (Win) / Control-click (Mac) directly on the image thumbnail itself and choose Open in Camera Raw from the sub-menu:

Opening the JPEG image in Camera Raw from Adobe Bridge CS6. Image © 2013 Steve Patterson, Photoshop Essentials.com

Right-clicking (Win) / Control-clicking (Mac) on the JPEG thumbnail and choosing "Open in Photographic camera Raw".

Where things can get a niggling confusing, though, is if you try to open up a JPEG or TIFF image in Camera Raw by double-clicking on the paradigm thumbnail. Here, I'thousand double-clicking on the JPEG file in the eye:

Double-clicking on the JPEG image thumbnail in Adobe Bridge CS6. Image © 2013 Steve Patterson, Photoshop Essentials.com

Double-clicking on the JPEG epitome thumbnail.

And here'due south where the problem comes in. Even though Camera Raw fully supports JPEG files, my JPEG image doesn't open up in Camera Raw when I double-click on it in Bridge. Instead, it opens direct in Photoshop:

A JPEG image open in Photoshop CS6. Image © 2013 Steve Patterson, Photoshop Essentials.com

The JPEG opened in Photoshop, non Camera Raw.

I'll try the aforementioned thing with my TIFF prototype on the correct, double-clicking on its thumbnail in Bridge to open information technology:

Double-clicking on the TIFF image thumbnail in Adobe Bridge CS6. Image © 2013 Steve Patterson, Photoshop Essentials.com

Double-clicking on the TIFF image thumbnail.

And once again, we see the same trouble. Camera Raw fully supports TIFF files, yet instead of opening in Camera Raw, it opened in Photoshop:

A TIFF image open in Photoshop CS6. Image © 2013 Steve Patterson, Photoshop Essentials.com

The TIFF image likewise opened in Photoshop, not Camera Raw.

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The JPEG and TIFF Handling Options

So what happened? Why did the JPEG and TIFF images not open in Camera Raw when I double-clicked on them? To discover the answer, we need to take a quick look at a couple of options in the Photographic camera Raw Preferences. To get to them from Adobe Bridge, on a Windows PC, go up to the Edit menu at the top of the screen and cull Preferences. On a Mac, go up to the Adobe Bridge menu and choose Preferences:

Opening the Camera Raw Preferences from Adobe Bridge. Image © 2013 Steve Patterson, Photoshop Essentials.com

Become to Edit > Preferences (Win) / Adobe Span > Preferences (Mac).

This volition open the Photographic camera Raw Preferences dialog box, and if we look downward at the very bottom of the dialog box, we see a section called JPEG and TIFF Treatment, with separate options for JPEG and TIFF files. These options control what happens with JPEG and TIFF files when nosotros double-click on them in Adobe Span (they have no effect on any of the other ways we looked at for opening files in Photographic camera Raw):

The JPEG and TIFF Handling options in the Camera Raw Preferences. Image © 2013 Steve Patterson, Photoshop Essentials.com

The JPEG and TIFF Handling options in the Camera Raw Preferences.

By default, the JPEG option is set to Automatically open up JPEGs with settings, and the TIFF choice is set to the similar Automatically open TIFFs with settings. What this means is that a JPEG or TIFF file will merely open in Camera Raw (when we double-click on information technology in Bridge) if we had previously opened and made changes to it in Photographic camera Raw. In other words, if a JPEG or TIFF file has Camera Raw settings already applied to it, Bridge volition assume you want to re-open it in Photographic camera Raw for further editing. If no previous Camera Raw settings are institute, Span will skip Camera Raw and open the image in Photoshop.

If you lot click on the JPEG option, you'll see that we accept a couple of other behaviors nosotros can choose from. Disable JPEG support volition completely disable Camera Raw support for JPEG files (why you'd desire to do that, I don't know), while Automatically open all supported JPEGs will open all JPEGs in Camera Raw when nosotros double-click on them in Bridge whether we've worked on them previously in Camera Raw or not. You'll find similar choices for the TIFF selection. In my stance, it's best to leave the JPEG and TIFF options set to their defaults because you won't always have a need to open these types of files in Photographic camera Raw. This mode, if y'all do want to open a new JPEG or TIFF file in Photographic camera Raw (by "new", I mean a file with no Camera Raw settings associated with it), you tin easily do so using one of the other methods nosotros looked at earlier, and if you want to open it directly in Photoshop, y'all can simply double-click on it. Click OK when y'all're washed to close out of the Preferences dialog box:

The JPEG and TIFF Handling options in the Camera Raw Preferences. Image © 2013 Steve Patterson, Photoshop Essentials.com

The default setting for handling JPEG and TIFF files is usually the best choice.

So how do we know if a JPEG or TIFF epitome already has Camera Raw settings associated with it? To answer that question, I'll select my JPEG file in Bridge by clicking in one case on its thumbnail, then I'll click the Open in Camera Raw icon at the summit of the Bridge interface (just as we saw before). This opens my JPEG photo within the Camera Raw dialog box:

A JPEG photo open in Camera Raw. Image © 2013 Steve Patterson, Photoshop Essentials.com

The JPEG photo open in Camera Raw.

At the moment, my JPEG epitome does not have whatsoever Photographic camera Raw settings saved with it. This is the first time it'southward existence opened and edited in Camera Raw. I'll rapidly convert the image to grayscale, just for example purposes, by switching from the Bones panel on the right of the dialog box to the HSL / Grayscale console (quaternary console from the left - click the tabs forth the top to switch betwixt panels). With the HSL / Grayscale console open up, I'll select the Convert to Grayscale option at the top, and then I'll click the Auto selection to let Camera Raw take its all-time guess on what the black and white (grayscale) version of the photo should look similar:

The HSL / Grayscale panel in Camera Raw. Image © 2013 Steve Patterson, Photoshop Essentials.com

Using the HSL / Grayscale panel to catechumen the color photo to blackness and white.

Nosotros can run across the results in the preview area. I could tweak the image further on my own, but this is good enough for at present:

A color photo has been converted to grayscale in Camera Raw. Image © 2013 Steve Patterson, Photoshop Essentials.com

The preview expanse shows the results of the grayscale conversion.

I'll click the Done push in the lower right corner of the dialog box to apply my Photographic camera Raw settings to the image and shut out of information technology:

Clicking the Done button in Camera Raw. Image © 2013 Steve Patterson, Photoshop Essentials.com

Clicking the Done button.

See Too: Camera Raw Interface Essentials Tutorial

And now, if we look back in Bridge, we see that 2 things take happened. First, the image thumbnail has been updated to show the changes I made in Photographic camera Raw. Second, and more importantly for our give-and-take here, if nosotros await in the upper right corner of the thumbnail surface area, we now run into a trivial slider icon. This icon tells us that the JPEG image now has Photographic camera Raw settings associated with information technology:

A Camera Raw slider icon now appears with the image thumbnail in Adobe Bridge. Image © 2013 Steve Patterson, Photoshop Essentials.com

The round slider icon lets us know that the JPEG prototype has Camera Raw settings applied.

Since the JPEG does now have Camera Raw settings applied, if I double-click on it at this point in Bridge to open it, instead of opening in Photoshop, it re-opens in Camera Raw:

The JPEG image now opens in Camera Raw. Image © 2013 Steve Patterson, Photoshop Essentials.com

The JPEG image automatically re-opened for me in Camera Raw.

And there we have it! That's how to open all three supported file types - raw files, JPEGs and TIFFs - in Adobe Camera Raw! Check out our Photo Retouching department for more Photoshop image editing tutorials!