Lightroom clarity slider?

TangoTango Registered Users Posts: 4,592 Major grins
edited March 14, 2008 in Finishing School
is the clarity slider (develop tab) some type of USM?
if not, what is the photoshop equivalent?
Aaron Nelson

Comments

  • RichardRichard Administrators, Vanilla Admin Posts: 19,962 moderator
    edited March 13, 2008
    AaronNelson wrote:
    is the clarity slider (develop tab) some type of USM?
    if not, what is the photoshop equivalent?

    I don't know exactly what it is doing under the hood, but it appears to enhance local contrast, much like high radius, low amount USM.
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  • AnthonyAnthony Registered Users Posts: 149 Major grins
    edited March 13, 2008
    AaronNelson wrote:
    is the clarity slider (develop tab) some type of USM?
    if not, what is the photoshop equivalent?

    Err.. Clarity slider (in ACR :D )

    Anthony
  • zackerzacker Registered Users Posts: 451 Major grins
    edited March 13, 2008
    i always thought of it as a mid tones contrast... like the one in the shadow / highlight tool.
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  • TangoTango Registered Users Posts: 4,592 Major grins
    edited March 13, 2008
    Anthony wrote:
    Err.. Clarity slider (in ACR :D )

    Anthony

    headscratch.gif isnt that a camera raw slider? so yes the same thing...(maybe)

    is there acr in photoshop and ive been ignorant?


    and btw, what does acr stand for?
    Aaron Nelson
  • TangoTango Registered Users Posts: 4,592 Major grins
    edited March 13, 2008
    zacker wrote:
    i always thought of it as a mid tones contrast... like the one in the shadow / highlight tool.

    it does seem to move mid tone contrasts ..... but what am i losing in using clarity in LR?

    any print qual?
    Aaron Nelson
  • Tee WhyTee Why Registered Users Posts: 2,390 Major grins
    edited March 13, 2008
    To me, it seems to add contrast at edges selectively instead of adding contrast to the entire image.

    I feel that if you over do it, there are artifacts and noise around the edges.
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  • TangoTango Registered Users Posts: 4,592 Major grins
    edited March 13, 2008
    rsinmadrid wrote:
    I don't know exactly what it is doing under the hood, but it appears to enhance local contrast, much like high radius, low amount USM.

    if i know you, your reading into it as we speak:D

    i guess im more interested in how much damage this slider will do.....ne_nau.gif
    Aaron Nelson
  • pyrypyry Registered Users Posts: 1,733 Major grins
    edited March 13, 2008
    From the Lightroom help:

    "Clarity Adds depth to an image by increasing local contrast. When using this setting, it is best to zoom in to 100% or greater. To maximize the effect, increase the setting until you see halos near the edge details of the image, and then reduce the setting slightly."

    Which seems close enough for what's going on :D
    AaronNelson wrote:
    and btw, what does acr stand for?
    ACR = Adobe Camera Raw
    Creativity's hard.

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  • colourboxcolourbox Registered Users Posts: 2,095 Major grins
    edited March 13, 2008
    Tee Why wrote:
    To me, it seems to add contrast at edges selectively instead of adding contrast to the entire image.

    I feel that if you over do it, there are artifacts and noise around the edges.

    That's pretty much correct, local contrast near edges. For more info read this article.
  • arodneyarodney Registered Users Posts: 2,005 Major grins
    edited March 13, 2008
    AaronNelson wrote:
    if i know you, your reading into it as we speak:D

    i guess im more interested in how much damage this slider will do.....ne_nau.gif

    None unless we have some differences in opinion on damage. Its a rendering control that affects midtones, based on the work of Mac Holbert and Jeff Schewe (Mac's Midtone contrast adjustment upon which its based has been around for years, its very useful). Can you over do it? Sure although its subjective.
    Andrew Rodney
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  • TangoTango Registered Users Posts: 4,592 Major grins
    edited March 13, 2008
    all you dgrinners are great, thank you!
    Aaron Nelson
  • AnthonyAnthony Registered Users Posts: 149 Major grins
    edited March 14, 2008
    AaronNelson wrote:
    headscratch.gif isnt that a camera raw slider? so yes the same thing...(maybe)

    is there acr in photoshop and ive been ignorant?


    and btw, what does acr stand for?


    You are right: it's a camera raw slider and as I understand it, the same thing, as ACR and Lightroom now share the same conversion engine. ACR - Adobe Camera Raw in CS3 can handle Tif and Jpg files as well as RAW so the clarity slider is available for those three formats.

    I use it on most images to some degree and find it both useful and easy to control.

    Anthony.
  • billg71billg71 Registered Users Posts: 56 Big grins
    edited March 14, 2008
    Schewe calls it the "make my picture look better" slider and I couldn't agree more! IIRC, he describes it as a mid-tone contrast adjustment.

    I guess it can be overdone but it's pretty subjective, not at all like oversharpening. I routinely run it up to 50-60% on some images and don't see any artifacts.

    Bill
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