If you want to work in Camera Raw from Photoshop, it’s a great idea to convert the layer to a smart object first. Right-click on the layer in the Layers panel and choose Convert to Smart Object. Once it’s a smart object, you can choose Filter>Camera Raw Filter. After you’ve applied your adjustments, you can double-click on Camera Raw in the Layers panel to go back to Camera Raw at any time and edit the settings.
It gets even better if you open an image from Lightroom Classic into Photoshop. In Lightroom Classic, choose Photo>Edit In>Open as Smart Object in Photoshop. The smart object layer that appears in Photoshop is actually the RAW file. All you have to do is double-click the thumbnail of that smart object, and the RAW file will open in Camera Raw with the exact settings from Lightroom, where you can change them to your heart’s content.
This tip originally published in Colin Smith’s “Photoshop Tips” column in the December, 2022 issue of Photoshop User magazine.
