@ Mark D Segal
Totally agree about the reversibility issue. But my understanding is that sooner or later Photoshop sends every image file through CIELab, even with RGB>RGB conversions, so you could apply LAB-adjustments to the file (not the preview) at that later stage, for example together with conversion to output color space.
@ digitaldog
CIELab probably isn’t even close to perceptually uniform, but that CIELab_to_UPLab.icc by Bruce Lindbloom doesn’t seem to be such a bad workaround. I think RPP is using this file, and to good success. I don’t think adjustments in RGB don’t work at all, and maybe its construction has a lot of advantages, but I am a little more comfortable with a clear separation of L* and a*/b* curves. Furthermore blending modes in RGB do not seem to work to the same effect (see also posts by Schewe and jrp) – which is funny since to my understanding under the hood Photoshop is somehow going back to something LAB-ish anyway. I also like the effect of color separation.
@ BartvanderWolf
Thanks for suggesting Topaz Adjust. I will have a look at the trial version.
@ tlooknbill
I am more of a Capture One guy and never got used to LR/ACR. Nothing based on facts, just personal liking.
@ JeffKohn
Thanks for your posts.
"and then adjust the blend-if sliders of the layer properties to feather out the effect on the more saturated colors"
Didn’t try that before but works like a charm. Again thanks a lot!
@ Vladimirovich
Thanks for the link. I will have a look at that tool. (And I really don’t care whether it’s connected to "DM" or not since I’m too young to remember when those LAB/RGB wars took place).