Is Camera Raw Corrupting My Files?

[donklaus]

Just learning Camera Raw function of Photoshop CS4. Have been going along fine, until for some reason, every RAW file (Canon CR2) I open in PS Camera Raw has bizarre effects going on - bringing up the blacks anywhere from absolute nothing turns them all cyan. Bringing up the temperature turns all the whites poster-paint red. Additionally, a CR2 file I edited in Camera Raw then opened in Photoshop, has retained all the edited qualities - when I open the original from my HDD, it comes up as-edited, even though I DIDN'T save any of those changes from Camera Raw. This same file looks normal (as -shot) in Coverflow view.

Any clues what I'm doing wrong, if anything? Thanks in advance.

 

[Bigtree]

Are using Lion OS?

 

[donklaus]

Yep, sure am. And this is Photoshop CS4.

 

[btbrossard]

Generally - if you open a raw file in Photoshop and make edits before opening the file, those edits are "saved" in a helper file (either a stand alone xml file or a database of files depending on your settings).

As such, when you open the same raw file again (which is exactly as shot, no edits are made by Photoshop to the raw file itself), all those edits you made previously are automatically set in camera raw dialog box.

You can delete that helper file and the dialog box would be reset to the same way as when you first opened the file. I believe you can also do a reset in the dialog box, but I don't use Photoshop for raw files (Aperture), so I don't know for sure.

 

[Designer Dale]

Just learning Camera Raw function of Photoshop CS4. Have been going along fine, until for some reason, every RAW file (Canon CR2) I open in PS Camera Raw has bizarre effects going on - bringing up the blacks anywhere from absolute nothing turns them all cyan. Bringing up the temperature turns all the whites poster-paint red. Additionally, a CR2 file I edited in Camera Raw then opened in Photoshop, has retained all the edited qualities - when I open the original from my HDD, it comes up as-edited, even though I DIDN'T save any of those changes from Camera Raw. This same file looks normal (as -shot) in Coverflow view.

Any clues what I'm doing wrong, if anything? Thanks in advance.

Have a look at the histogram window at the top right of the RAW editing screen. There are small button boxes in either top corner. These activate warnings that turn underexposed blacks and over exposed whites warning colors. On my CS3 blacks turn deep blue and blown out whites are turned red. Click these small arrows and see what happens.

Dale

 

[donklaus]

Dale - that fixed the cyan and red issue. Thanks a bunch - the exact kind of obscure issue that frustrates beginners terribly, when there is no one experienced nearby.

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BT -- Have no idea why the difference, but had conjectured that deleting the XMP file would reset the image. It didn't when I tried it before, but worked perfectly when I tried it just now. Many thanks for the tip.

 

[btbrossard]

Glad you got your issues worked out.

Once you figure out a workflow that works for you - I'm sure you'll like shooting in raw. It offers so much more flexibility for adjustments when you get home and process your files without sacrificing image quality.

 

[TheDrift-]

Generally - if you open a raw file in Photoshop and make edits before opening the file, those edits are "saved" in a helper file (either a stand alone xml file or a database of files depending on your settings).

As such, when you open the same raw file again (which is exactly as shot, no edits are made by Photoshop to the raw file itself), all those edits you made previously are automatically set in camera raw dialog box.

You can delete that helper file and the dialog box would be reset to the same way as when you first opened the file. I believe you can also do a reset in the dialog box, but I don't use Photoshop for raw files (Aperture), so I don't know for sure.

Yeah you can reset all your edits in raw and default to normal settings, there is a little button on the right hand side under the edit icons that looks a bit like:

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Took my ages to find that