A VERY Timely Update to ACR with the 13.2 Update
Have you ever heard that your Raw Workflow should follow a Top to Bottom and Left to Right path when working in ACR and Lightroom? I think I heard that about a hundred times when I first learned how to edit RAW files. While that statement may be true, the panels’ order in ACR and Lightroom is a little bit off.
You see, there are some things in the RAW processing in ACR and Lightroom that take priority over others. That means that even though the panels’ order is set a certain way, that doesn’t mean ACR and Lightroom are prioritizing where those things actually happen in that way. It isn’t obvious, I know.
Think about it like a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich. There are two pieces of bread with jelly and peanut butter in between, right? Of course. But, that sandwich was not made in the order of the way you see it from a cross-section cut. It was more than likely made with the bread split open, the peanut butter on one side, and the other’s jelly. The result is a finished sandwich, but how it was built required certain steps to prioritize another for it to be complete.
The same is true for your RAW workflow. I talk about this in the video below. But I go into a LOT more detail with this concept in the IP² Profiles and Presets course.
For Blake, it's all about the art and process synergy. He dives deep into complex topics and makes them easy to understand through his outside-the-box thinking so that you can use these tricks in your workflow today!
Thank you so much Blake for these important and useful tip! It makes the successive steps in the workflow easier to follow and execute! I immediately changed the order of the panes in ACR…
Really glad for this ACR update, since you taught the ACR workflow exactly like this in your 30 Days to PS Mastery. Fortunately, I made notes that I still follow to get my ACR workflow right the first time! Now I get to move the panels to the proper order! Awesome!
I echo Robin’s comment above. Maybe Adobe was listening to you. Thanks again for keeping us on our toes.
Yes, Blake! I’ve been working this way and it feels so much more intuitive, at least for me. I’ve learn so much more on color theory and correction from you in the last few months, than I did in the 3 years I’ve been a photographer. You’re awesome. Thank you.
This panel reorder has been available in Lightroom Classic for a couple of years.
After making ACR look like LR recently they are now adding a useful LR feature.
It certainly makes it easier for us regular LR users to use ACR in our workflow. Love it ?
thank you Blake! Starting to get going with it…!!!
I think the geometry section should be even before basic. Geometry is the underlying structure that all the colors hang on. If you change the geometry after doing the color work, you have to redo the color work because of all the artifacts and aberrations straightening and perspective correction create.
As always, great insight. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
I appreciate you are re-ordering the panels for user image development but would Adobe render in a different sequence? I understand that “noise removal is more effective before chromatic aberration removal and sharpening should be performed after CA removal”. Thus to be pedantic DETAIL NR should precede OPTICS and DETAIL SHARPEN should follow. If this is accepted I was hoping Adobe did this automatically during rasterization. See the “Lens Correction” section at the end of the page https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/lens-corrections.htm
Great, very useful video! I just re-ordered the Camera Raw editing panels.
I bought the IP² – Intelligent Presets and Profiles for ACR and Lightroom and Filter Set a few weeks ago. ACR and Lightroom are now set up to get the best results possible, thanks to Blake.
Blake’s devotion to color theory in Photoshop has been of inmensurable help to thousands of photographers all over the world.
Thank you again.
(BTW, I also bought Palette Effects III. Again, wonderful instruction and you get a PS Plugin too!)