Hello my fellow photoshop users. This is a follow up to a question asked about opening dng files directly in ACR.

The simple answer is that you are not editing the dng file in Photoshop. Once you open the ACR editor there is a menu drop down that gives you an option to open as or save as "Tiff or Jpeg" Once you select open image it converts to a "JPEG or TIFF" allowing you to edit directly in CS3. Its the same effect as "saving the image" like we discussed. The difference will be work flow, convenience, image control, naming and location management.

Optionally you can open as a smart object (use the drop down box selecting color profiles) This option gives you a direct connection to the DNG file while editing and without degrading the image. At a later time I can post a detailed tutorial on the "smart object" selection.

Further reading and documentation: Understanding DNG

Adobe Camera Raw Info

add-on tool for "LR and Bridge" Camera Profiles