Clarity?

Err ... well ... changing clarity?

I sometimes reduce clarity a little which can enhance misty scenes. Of the micro contrast sliders I tend to use dehaze more but often use them in combination to add a little more punch if I want a sharper look to a photo.
 
So it's a way of enhancing sharpness without using sharpening?

I know it might sound like a silly question but I just wondered in what circumstance you (one) would see an image and think "I'll use the clarity slider".

I don't have dehaze btw.

Thanks.
 
It adjusts edge/micro contrast. If you want a really hard, gritty, grubby Look then slide it to the right. It's useful for pictures taken using slightly soft or low-contrast lenses that way. Alternatively, if you find images from camera a bit too 'hard' as I often do, slide it to the left.

In lightroom I set myself a limit of +/- 30 units maximum except in very unusual circumstances where reality needs circumventing.
 
jerry12953 said:
So it's a way of enhancing sharpness without using sharpening?

I know it might sound like a silly question but I just wondered in what circumstance you (one) would see an image and think "I'll use the clarity slider".

I don't have dehaze btw.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

That's kind of it. My default import is +7 clarity, just for a little extra pop on pictures taken with a zoom. Shots with a prime usually get between -5 and -30.
 
Its one of those things i try a small amount of adjustment and sometimes it improves an image.

Too much or too little and it ruins an image in no time
 
Sometimes I use Clarity a lot, and sometimes not at all. Just play with it and see what happens!
 
jerry12953 said:
What do you use the clarity slider for? I never use it myself but it must be there for a reason.......
Click to expand...
I use it all the time in my motorsport photography, just to add a bit of pop to the image. My lens is rather old and doesn't render an image with amazing amounts of contrast or sharpness, so I use the Clarity and Texture sliders to add a bit of that in. The default I use on my generic import preset is +35 for both. If I had a better lens with better colour and contrast reproduction I could knock these down a bit. I rarely use Dehaze but it is useful for adding a bit of mood to scenes shot in the rain, or for getting back a bit of contrast when I've had to shoot through a debris fence in sunny weather.

For shots of people then I barely use Clarity at all as positive values don't tend to make people's skin look all that great.
 
Contrast, Texture, Clarity, Dehaze, Edge Sharpening (lower detail setting), and Deconvolution Sharpening (larger detail setting), are all just different forms of contrast adjustments. None of these actually create something that wasn't there.
 
jerry12953 said:
I see it adds contrast whereas sharpening doesn't (seem to......)
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AFAIK clarity, dehaze and texture are different forms of micro-contrast adjustments so yes they add contrast. The difference between global contrast and micro contrast is that micro-contrast compares lights and darks in small areas of an image and increases the differences whereas global contrast adjusts the full histogram. So consider a group of say 10x10 pixels, from a global point of view they might all fall within the mid-tones on the histogram but within the 10x10 there will be local light and darks and these will be made lighter and darker by micro-contrast tools.

Sharpening, again AFAIK, works on edges by reducing the mid-tones between areas of dark and light, so if there is a gradual transition from a dark area to a light area the gradation of the transition will be reduced
 
jerry12953 said:
Any thoughts on Clarity v Sharpening?
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Clarity and sharpening do largely the same job. Clarity increases local edge contrast but only on the midtones. Sharpening (which is often misunderstood as focussing) increase local edge contrast across the image
 
I don't know what software you are using, but I find using "Clarity" in On1Photo RAW helps to make clouds stand out.
 
Clarity has the greatest effect on the mid tones. And it increases the separation between them increasing detail and tonal differences. Unfortunately when used in combination with sharpening it can make an image look extremely over sharpened.
It is useful to improve muddy looking mid tones and make them look more defined.
 
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