I opened a few dng files in Photoshop from Lightroom, then used HDR Efex Pro 2 to merge them into an HDR image. When I was done with HDR Efex Pro 2, I saved it as a smart object so I could modify the HDR Efex Pro 2 settings at a later time. I'd like to add a Brightness / Contrast adjustment layer, but that option, along with several others on the Adjustment Layers menu, is grayed out. I've dug around in the documentation, the forums, and various website, but haven't been able to figure out whether it's possible to adjust brightness on this image, or if there's a way around the limitation.
I'm new to smart objects, and competent but by no means expert with Photoshop. If anyone can explain this to me I would be very grateful.
I read an article that tries to make the point that working on the 32bit file is not unique to Photoshop CC2014 and newer versions, but is the same with Photomatix, HDR Efex Pro 2 and other HDR software, but it left out the ability to use the local adjustment features of ACR since CC2014. To be fair, I never looked at Photomatix again after that, so I don't know how improved it might be, but unless the alternatives also have that same ability, they are dead in the water as far as I am concerned. On the down side, it doesn't take long to overwhelm your system resources making multiple local adjustments to the 32 bit file, but by heck it is a powerful tool, and worth putting up with a little bit of lag.
If you convert your 32-bit document into smart object you can then go to Image -Mode - 16 bits per channel (Ignore the suggestion to Merge layers) . This will convert your overall document to 16 bit and allow you to apply adjustment layers and filters. However if you double click on the smart object and open it - you will see the psb document within it is still 32 bit and you can readjust accordingly.
In short - it is possible to have a 32 bit image contained in a smart object within the 16 bit image
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