Why is the Camera Raw Filter greyed out in Photoshop CC 2015?
Asked 1/15/2016
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In Photoshop CC 2015, the Camera Raw Filter option is unavailable for a JPG I opened in the editor. I converted the layer to a Smart Object, but Filter > Camera Raw Filter is still greyed out. The document is currently set to CMYK Color, 8 bits per channel. Does Camera Raw require a specific color mode or bit depth?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
10y ago
2 Answers
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Camera Raw filter only works with 8/16-bit RGB images. Even if you're intending to print the image, I suggest you do your edits in RGB, then convert to CMYK in the final stages of editing. CMYK has a smaller colour space than RGB, so you'll have more colours out of gamut and shadows can be rather blocky.
Switch the image to RGB with
Image > Mode > RGB Color
you'll see the bit-depth lower down in the menu. If it's a jpg, switching it to 16-bit won't do anything useful as the information has already been lost in the 8-bit save.
Hope that
Originally by user47991. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user47991
10y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes — the most likely cause is that your document is in CMYK mode. In Photoshop, the Camera Raw Filter works with RGB images, not CMYK. Change the document to RGB via Image > Mode > RGB Color, then try again.
Your current 8 bits/channel setting is generally fine, since Camera Raw supports 8-bit and 16-bit RGB images. If the file is a JPG, converting it to 16-bit won’t restore any lost image data, so there’s usually no benefit.
A good workflow is to do your main edits in RGB, then convert to CMYK only at the final stage if needed for print. RGB preserves a wider color range and avoids some CMYK limitations.
Converting the file to PNG is not what enables Camera Raw — the key issue is the color mode, not the file format.
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