RGB to LAB in CS3

JT
Posted By
Jeanne_Tifft
Aug 10, 2008
Views
553
Replies
19
Status
Closed
I convert RGB images to LAB for some types of color correction (being a disciple of Margulis) and have done this often in CS2, without trouble. In CS3, however, when it converts an image to LAB, the entire image turns totally black. The header says it’s in LAB, though. What’s going on here and how do I fix it? Thanks.

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C
Curvemeister
Aug 10, 2008
This "black lab" bug has been reported by several people to be connected with various versions of ACR. I know it makes no sense. Try backing out to your previous version of ACR and see if the problem goes away.
JT
Jeanne_Tifft
Aug 12, 2008
How do I "back out" of my previous version of ACR??
C
Curvemeister
Aug 12, 2008
On Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:34:14 -0700, wrote:

How do I "back out" of my previous version of ACR??

ACR is Adobe Camera Raw. If you installed an upgrade to it, then re-install either your original version (from the install disk or image), or download an earlier version.

I can’t be more specific with versions numbers, other than to suggest you go back to your previous version.
JJ
John Joslin
Aug 12, 2008
That’s why they advise you keep the the previous plug-in file in a separate folder when you replace it with the newer!
JT
Jeanne_Tifft
Aug 12, 2008
These replies are disappointingly unhelpful. The ACR (yes, I KNOW it’s Adobe Camera Raw) I have is the one that "came with" CS2 two or three years ago when I installed it. I do not find any ACR in the entire folder/file hierarchy installed under PS2, including the plugins folder, yet when I open a RAW file within PS2, it opens with ACR. Similarly, the updated version of ACR emerges when I open a RAW file within PS3, and I can find no separate ACR in that hierarchy either. I did copy my Neat Image plugin to the CS3 plugins folder using Windows Explorer.

Since the archives reference calls the "black lab" problem a bug that others have reported, though respondents on other fora I’ve posted to about this problem say they go back and forth to LAB in CS3 with no problem, I think I’d better uninstall and reinstall PS3. I’ve already re-downloaded the latest version.
JT
Jeanne_Tifft
Aug 12, 2008
The install dialog for PS3 did not mention this. Who’s "they?"
JT
Jeanne_Tifft
Aug 12, 2008
Why should I go back to CS2 when I have bought and paid for CS3? ACR is not a separate installation as I have it, and does not appear in either Photoshop folder/file hierarchy, though it opens when I open a RAW file from within either program.
F
Freeagent
Aug 12, 2008
Why should I go back to CS2 when I have bought and paid for CS3

That’s not what Curvemeister meant. He meant a previous ACR version. The current one is 4.5, and if you have automatic updates enabled, that’s the one you have. In other words, go back to 4.4.1, which is the one before that.

There’s no uninstall needed. The plugin is located here:

Program Files > Common Files > Adobe > Plugins > CS3 > File Formats

Just download version 4.4.1 and replace it.

These replies are disappointingly unhelpful

Maybe so, but none of us can make any sense of why ACR should affect the Lab channels, either…it just does, apparently.
C
Curvemeister
Aug 12, 2008
Sorry I was not more helpful. Perhaps someone else will have a less disappointing suggestion.
JJ
John Joslin
Aug 12, 2008
Just download version 4.4.1 and replace it.

But make sure you move the plug-in file which is sitting there to a separate location before you drop in the 4.4.1 version!

"They" tell you that in the download instructions. 🙂
JT
Jeanne_Tifft
Aug 12, 2008
Thank you, Freeagent. Yours was the first really helpful response in that it told me where to LOOK for the dratted ACR file. However, the dowloadable version now available on Adobe’s support site is version 4.5.

A search on the Adobe site finds NO downloadable version ACR 4.4.1 . Can you please provide a URL that works where I can find it???

If you cannot, I’m going to ask for my $$ back from Adobe & revert to using CS2 which always worked fine for me. I’ve noticed before that upgrades often are more problem than improvement!!

Jeanne
B
Buko
Aug 13, 2008
A search on the Adobe site finds NO downloadable version ACR 4.4.1

Sorry you did not look.
The 4.4.1 update is right below the 4.5 update on the updates page.
JJ
John Joslin
Aug 13, 2008
You are one snotty customer Jeanne!rather ungrateful.

I reviewed all the answers, since you claimed they were so unhelpful, and saw only attempts by fellow users to cast some light on your problem.

And "There are none so blind as those who will not see".
F
Freeagent
Aug 13, 2008
Agreed, and I was about to post something along those lines, too.

But then I thought Curvemeister (# 9) wrapped it up nicely, for those who can appreciate the well-justified irony.
JT
Jeanne_Tifft
Aug 13, 2008
Your calling me a "snotty and ungrateful" customer does not, I hope, represent Adobe’s real customer service attitude. You assumed this user knew a lot more about Photoshop technical guts than I actually do, and gave offhand and condescending replies when it appeared that I don’t.

For example, it did not occur to me to look for ACR in the "Common files" directory. When Freeagent noted this path, I had an "aha", found it, and began to see what you were talking about. I thanked him for this, and he agrees that I’m snotty and ungrateful??

For example, using the search tool on the Adobe site for "ACR 4.4.1" did not bring up the download page. None of you told me where to find it. After Buko referred to "the updates page" I searched again on "ACR 4.4.1 updates" and it turned up. Since this is not the latest version, how can I be expected to think of "updates" in looking for it? Yet Buko tells me I didn’t look for it??
F
Freeagent
Aug 13, 2008
OK, let it go. Let’s all move on.
BL
Bob Levine
Aug 13, 2008
Your calling me a "snotty and ungrateful" customer does not, I hope, represent Adobe’s real customer service attitude.

You obviously missed the large "User to User" at the top of the page.

Nobody here works for Adobe. Just other Photoshop users trying to help other Photoshop users.

If you want to get help, I’d strongly suggest either losing the attitude or pay for Adobe support.

Bob
JT
John_T_Smith
Aug 13, 2008
Since the letters are a light grey and easily missed, I will help you… this is what it says at the top of every page at this forum

user to user

This is NOT Adobe support… this is a place provided BY Adobe for other users to try and help

Some help is good, some not so good (sometimes in direct relationship to the amount of information provided in the question) and some will say RTDM when the question has been asked dozens to hundreds of times before (I don’t know where your question falls in the spectrum, this is just a general observation)

Since I have not used the forum search function I don’t know if your question has been asked before… and your original question did not indicate that you had searched

If you want Adobe support, you’ll have to go to their support page (hint – click the word SUPPORT in the banner at the top of the page) and find the telephone number for your area
B
Buko
Aug 13, 2008
Jeanne Tifft, you come across as someone who wants answers with doing any research on your own. This is frowned upon around here.

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