*Updated December 2020*
I recently wrote an introduction to Camera Raw in Photoshop, briefly outlining what Camera Raw is, and what the raw file format is. In this follow-up tutorial, we’ll take a look at how to open images in Camera Raw.
We can work with Raw, JPEG and TIFF files in Camera Raw. This gives us access to very powerful and rapid tools for image editing.
You can change anything from improving exposure to making colour adjustments to converting your picture to Black and White. You can remove haze in your photos or sharpen a picture and so much more.
All of this with just a few clicks of the mouse and a drag of a slider.
The best thing about using Camera Raw is that we can edit photographs non-destructively. The edits you make are saved as a series of instructions.
The edits are not applied permanently to your photograph, so you can come back at any time to edit and re-edit your images.
Opening Files In The Camera Raw Interface
Before we can do any of this cool editing though, we need to get our image files INTO Camera Raw.
You can open a raw file in Photoshop, in much the same way as you would open any other type of image file. The difference is, the raw file opens in the Camera Raw interface instead of the main Photoshop workspace.
If you need it you can Download a Photoshop Free 7 Day Trial which includes Camera Raw.
How To Open Raw Files From The File Browser
To open a raw file from your Windows File Explorer, or Mac Finder, you can do any of the following:
- Double-click the file’s icon. If Photoshop isn’t already open, your computer will launch it and then open the Camera Raw window.
In the example below, the .ORF files are raw files from my Olympus camera in the Windows File Explorer.
Or
- Ctrl + Click (Mac) or Right-Click (Windows) on the file and then choose Open With > Adobe Photoshop. This will open Photoshop if it’s not already open and then open the Camera Raw window.
As Camera Raw was originally made to process photos taken in raw format, if you double-click on a raw image on your computer it SHOULD automatically launch Photoshop and open the image within Camera Raw.
If the raw file doesn’t open, check that you have the latest version of Camera Raw from Adobe’s Creative Cloud if you’re using Photoshop CC. Or check the Adobe website for updates if you’re using an older version of Photoshop.
How To Open Images in Camera Raw From Bridge
It’s simple to open Raw, JPEG and TIFF files from Adobe Bridge.
Here are three different ways to get your photo from Bridge to Camera Raw:
- Double-click a raw file thumbnail image in the Content panel. The image opens in Camera Raw.
Or
- Click once on any thumbnail image of a Raw, JPEG or TIFF file, then press Ctrl + R (Windows) or Cmd + R (Mac).
Or
- Click once on any thumbnail image in the Content panel and then choose File > “Open in Camera Raw.”
How To Open JPEG or TIFF images in Camera Raw
You can open JPEG or TIFF files from Bridge (as mentioned above). You can also open a JPEG or TIFF from Photoshop, directly into Camera Raw, by doing the following:
- In Windows: From Photoshop’s File menu, choose Open As. Browse through your folders to find the JPEG or TIFF image you want. Click on the file you’re interested in, then change the pop-up menu at the bottom right to Camera Raw, then click Open.
- On a Mac: From Photoshop’s File menu, choose Open. The Open dialog appears. Browse through your folders to find the JPEG or TIFF image you want. Click on the file you want. In the Format pop-up menu at the bottom it will say JPEG (or TIFF if you chose a TIFF file), now click on that menu, then choose Camera Raw. Then click the Open button and your image will open in Camera Raw.
How to Make JPEGs and TIFFs Always Open In Camera Raw
If you’d like to set up so that every time you open a JPEG or TIFF, it opens directly in Camera Raw, you can do that in the Camera Raw preferences.
Note: This might be useful for photographers, but I don’t recommend it for designers. It could get pretty annoying if all your design files automatically opened in Camera Raw.
1. Go to Photoshop > Preferences > Camera Raw (Mac) or Edit > Preferences > Camera Raw (Windows)
2. Click on the File Handling section on the left-hand side.
Under JPEG and TIFF Handling, set both JPEG and TIFF to Automatically Open All Supported JPEGs and Automatically Open all Supported TIFFs, respectively.
3. Click OK. Note that this change won’t kick in until the next time you start Photoshop.
How To Open Multiple Files At A Time In Camera Raw Using Adobe Bridge
You can open multiple files in Camera Raw from Bridge. You can then apply the same edits to multiple files simultaneously.
This can be really handy if you have a pile of images that were all taken in the same environment and require the same sort of adjustments, such as creating more contrast or removing colour casts.
To open multiple files from Bridge, into Camera Raw, do the following:
1. In Bridge, open the folder holding your photos.
2. Shift + Click all of the images you want.
3. Choose File > Open In Camera Raw.
Your images open in Camera Raw.
Notice the film strip of thumbnail images along the bottom.
How To Edit Multiple Images Simultaneously In Camera Raw
1. Choose any photo to edit by simply clicking on the thumbnail. Or choose more than one photo by holding down Shift and clicking on the thumbnails of the pictures you want to edit.
In the example below, I selected all of the thumbnails, then applied a Black and White preset to convert them. All four images are converted to Black and White using the same settings simultaneously.
We’ll talk about Camera Raw presets in a future tutorial.
And that’s how you can open images in Camera Raw in Photoshop. Now you can start to have fun editing your Raw, JPEG and TIFF files.
I hope you found this post helpful. Please share it. Thank you! 🙂
Download Photoshop Free 7 Day Trial
Pin This For Later
