Julieanne Kost's Blog

If you are going to need to resize a photograph significantly larger or smaller than it was originally captured, it is better (in theory) to use the Crop tool and the Workflow options in Adobe Camera Raw to interpolate up (resample) the photo as oppose to opening the file in Photoshop and then using the Image Size command to interpolate. This is because ACR does its resampling adaptively, based on the difference in size between the original image size (e.g., 5616) and the target image size (e.g., 2096). So, although there will be slight differences between the two images,  (one from ACR, the other from PS) in many cases, it would be very hard to see the difference to the naked eye. The main difference, then, in practice, is the convenience and the workflow. (Thank you Eric Chan for this information!)

By default, the Crop tool in the Adobe Camera Raw dialog box is designed to crop to a chosen aspect ratio rather than a specific size.   To define a specific size select “Custom…” from the Crop tool drop down menu and choose from Pixels, Inches or Centimeters. To define the resolution, click on the  Workflow Options at the bottom of the ACR dialog box and enter the desired resolution. Now you can open a file that is a specific height, width and resolution as oppose to simply an aspect ratio.

PSCS5 -With the Point Curve panel active in the Camera Raw dialog, Option (Mac)/ Alt (Win) -click to set a point on the curve. Use the up, down, left, right arrow keys to precisely reposition the point as necessary. Control (on both Mac and Win) + Tab moves from one point to the next along the curve.

In this episode of The Complete Picture, Julieanne Kost will show you the advantage of working with and archiving to the DNG raw file format over proprietary raw file formats. You’ll also discover ‘how” and “when” it makes the most sense to convert your files as you move through your workflow. http://bit.ly/dB2E3o

Panorama Stitching
PSCS5 – When using the Auto-Align Layers command Photoshop now leverages lens correction profiles (if applied).

Holding the Shift key in Adobe Camera Raw with the majority of tools selected (Zoom, Hand, Color Sampler, Targeted Adjustment, Straighten, Spot Removal Red Eye Removal) will temporarily activate the White Balance tool.

Command (Mac) / Control (Win) with the Crop Tool selected, will temporarily switch to Straighten tool in Adobe Camera Raw

PSCS5 – You can create your own lens correction profiles to use with Adobe Photoshop CS5 and Adobe Lightroom (for less common camera and lens combinations) using the free Adobe Lens Profile Creator utility available on the Adobe Labs site: http://bit.ly/ceIz7A
Specifically, Lens Profile Creator characterizes three common types of lens aberrations, namely the geometric distortion, the lateral chromatic aberration and the vignette. The general process of creating a custom lens profile for your lens involves capturing a set of checkerboard images using your specific camera and lens, converting the set of raw format images into the standard Digital Negative (DNG) file format using the Adobe Camera Raw processor, and importing the raw DNG images (or the JPEG/TIFF images if you prefer creating lens profiles for the non-raw workflow) in the Lens Profile Creator to generate the custom lens profile. You could also submit the lens profiles that you have created for your lens from inside the Lens Profile Creator to share with the rest of the user community.

The old standbys that you use in Photoshop proper work in Adobe Camera Raw:
• Command (Mac) / Control (Win) “+” (plus) to zoom in
• Command (Mac) / Control (Win) “-” (minus) to zoom out
• Command Option (Mac) / Control Alt (Win) + 0 (zero) to Fit in Window
However, since Command Option (Mac) / Control Alt (Win) + 1 doesn’t go to 100% (Actual pixels) its good to know that:
• Command Option (Mac) / Control Alt (Win) + 0 (zero) will zoom to 100% (Actual Pixels) (this also works in Photoshop proper).

When using the keyboard shortcuts to select a tool in Adobe Camera Raw, ( “C” to access the Crop tool for example) tapping it again will take you back to the previously selected tool.

When in Adobe Camera Raw, clicking the link at the bottom of the dialog displays the workflow options where you can check/uncheck the option to “Open in Photoshop as Smart Objects”. However, to quickly toggle this option on/off, without displaying the workflow options, simply hold the Shift key and the “Open Image” button will toggle to “Open Object” and vice versa.

Tapping the “V” key in Adobe Camer Raw 6.1, will toggle a grid overlay while in the Lens Correction panel – making it much easier to correct an image using the Manual / Transform options.

In this episode of The Complete Picture (New Camera Raw Features in Photoshop CS5), Julieanne Kost goes over all the new refinements and enhancements you’ll find in the latest version of Adobe Camera RAW including Noise Reduction and Image Sharpening

Any preset created with Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), can be applied to a raw image (or JPEG) in Bridge without having to launch ACR by Control (Mac) / Right Mouse (Win) -clicking on the image, selecting Develop Presets, and choosing the desired option from the list.

Tap the spacebar to enter Full Screen Preview or use Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + B to enter Review Mode and preview images without having to open them in Photoshop. While reviewing images in either of these view:
• The left/right arrow takes you to the previous/next image
• 0-9 labels and rates images
• Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + “[" or "]” rotates the image
• Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + R launches Camera Raw allowing you to make edits – all without ever leaving the Full Screen Preview or Review Mode.
• The Escape key exits both modes.
Note: I believe that there are 2 main advantages of using Review Mode: 1) it allows you to use the down arrow key to remove images from your selection and 2) it provides the ability to create Collections from your edited selection (icon appears in lower right). However in the carrousel view, the images are smaller.