How to punch up clarity in Photoshop?

Lightroom has a slider for clarity adjustment. How can you create the same effect in Photoshop? I thought maybe with curves but that isn't doing what I wanted. I'm going to save myself some frustration and just ask you guys. Thank you

Which PS version are you using? Do you shoot RAW? If you do, and have CS5, you'll find a clarity slider in ACR, which will not be quite as good as the one on LR4, but will work pretty well on a RAW file.

Clarity Modifies The Contrast Of Just The Midtones.

So you should be able to do that in Photoshop with curves by leaving the ends as they were and steepening or flattening just the mid section of the histogram.

John Landolfi wrote: Which PS version are you using? Do you shoot RAW? If you do, and have CS5, you'll find a clarity slider in ACR, which will not be quite as good as the one on LR4, but will work pretty well on a RAW file.

But they use exactly the same algorithms for the clarity slider (they both use Adobe Camera RAW underneath their GUI). What do you mean by "will not be quite as good"?

This, from Photshop Cafe:

Even though the Clarity slider has the same name as in previous versions of ACR, it has been completely rewritten and now does a significantly better job of increasing apparent detail in an image without bringing in the “haloing” artifacts possible in previous versions.

So, the slider in ACR7, which is what is used in LR4, would seem better, and different, from the one in ACR6, which is used in CS5. Unless, of course, Colin Smith is wrong. Do tell us the source of your opinion.

Oh, and this from Adobe:

The other control that has been enhanced in Lightroom 4 is the Clarity slider. This slider will control the amount of midtone contrast and can be found under the Presence section of the Basic panel. Moving the clarity slider to the left will reduce the midtone contrast and can create a smooth finish/dreamy effect (shown below, this can be effective on female portrait shots and can smooth out skin), to the right, will increase mid tone contrast and create a mock sharpened image.

Perhaps you were not aware that CS5 and LR4 use different versions of ACR?

John Landolfi wrote: This, from Photshop Cafe:

Even though the Clarity slider has the same name as in previous versions of ACR, it has been completely rewritten and now does a significantly better job of increasing apparent detail in an image without bringing in the “haloing” artifacts possible in previous versions.

So, the slider in ACR7, which is what is used in LR4, would seem better, and different, from the one in ACR6, which is used in CS5. Unless, of course, Colin Smith is wrong. Do tell us the source of your opinion.

Oh, and this from Adobe:

The other control that has been enhanced in Lightroom 4 is the Clarity slider. This slider will control the amount of midtone contrast and can be found under the Presence section of the Basic panel. Moving the clarity slider to the left will reduce the midtone contrast and can create a smooth finish/dreamy effect (shown below, this can be effective on female portrait shots and can smooth out skin), to the right, will increase mid tone contrast and create a mock sharpened image.

Perhaps you were not aware that CS5 and LR4 use different versions of ACR?

Thanks for the info. No I assumed it used ACR 7. I use CS6 you see so I have no idea what's going on in CS5

You're welcome.

John Landolfi wrote: This, from Photshop Cafe:

Even though the Clarity slider has the same name as in previous versions of ACR, it has been completely rewritten and now does a significantly better job of increasing apparent detail in an image without bringing in the “haloing” artifacts possible in previous versions.

So, the slider in ACR7, which is what is used in LR4, would seem better, and different, from the one in ACR6, which is used in CS5. Unless, of course, Colin Smith is wrong. Do tell us the source of your opinion.

Oh, and this from Adobe:

The other control that has been enhanced in Lightroom 4 is the Clarity slider. This slider will control the amount of midtone contrast and can be found under the Presence section of the Basic panel. Moving the clarity slider to the left will reduce the midtone contrast and can create a smooth finish/dreamy effect (shown below, this can be effective on female portrait shots and can smooth out skin), to the right, will increase mid tone contrast and create a mock sharpened image.

Perhaps you were not aware that CS5 and LR4 use different versions of ACR?

Adobe just had a new version of camera raw come out too didn't they?

Boydster wrote:

John Landolfi wrote: This, from Photshop Cafe:

Even though the Clarity slider has the same name as in previous versions of ACR, it has been completely rewritten and now does a significantly better job of increasing apparent detail in an image without bringing in the “haloing” artifacts possible in previous versions.

So, the slider in ACR7, which is what is used in LR4, would seem better, and different, from the one in ACR6, which is used in CS5. Unless, of course, Colin Smith is wrong. Do tell us the source of your opinion.

Oh, and this from Adobe:

The other control that has been enhanced in Lightroom 4 is the Clarity slider. This slider will control the amount of midtone contrast and can be found under the Presence section of the Basic panel. Moving the clarity slider to the left will reduce the midtone contrast and can create a smooth finish/dreamy effect (shown below, this can be effective on female portrait shots and can smooth out skin), to the right, will increase mid tone contrast and create a mock sharpened image.

Perhaps you were not aware that CS5 and LR4 use different versions of ACR?

Adobe just had a new version of camera raw come out too didn't they?

Yes, ACR7. It was first used in LR4, and is now used in CS6

Patrick Harkness wrote: Lightroom has a slider for clarity adjustment. How can you create the same effect in Photoshop?

The clarity slider adjusts local contrast (sometimes called micro-contrast) globally.

The old school way to do this in Photoshop was to use a low percentage/high radius unsharp mask. Make a copy layer of your photo. Set blend mode to luminosity. Apply USM to the copy layer. Try 20%, 30 radius, and 1 to 4 threshold to start. Adjust radius to see how that changes the image, then percentage. Use threshold to keep the USM from affecting noise. You can go overboard on the copy layer, and use the opacity slider to adjust the level of effect.

www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/loca...rast-enhancement.htm

Google "local contrast enhancement" for more techniques.

What version of Photoshop do you have? More recent versions have Adobe Camera Raw included, and at least by CS4 there was a clarity slider. You can open jpegs and tiffs in ACR too.

MajorMagee wrote: Clarity Modifies The Contrast Of Just The Midtones.

So you should be able to do that in Photoshop with curves by leaving the ends as they were and steepening or flattening just the mid section of the histogram.

But it occurs on a very local level. You can do it with curves, but you would have to select specific, small areas. The amount of midtone contrast adjustment in each little area (sometimes almost on a micro level) will probably need to be different. It can be done, but it would take a lot of time. I guess you might be able to use some sort of edge masking to make the selection?

I posted a good link (Cambridge in Colour) on Local Contrast above.