thomasl.se Posted February 29, 2008 Share #1 Â Posted February 29, 2008 Advertisement (gone after registration) Has anyone completely replaced high radius USM with LR's Clarity? Â The latter of course, an in real time slider adjustment with none or little of the former's clipping tendencies. I plan to sort this out for myself this weekend; whether I should drop USM altogether or if it's actually still as useful as ever; more of a complement than harsher predecessor to LR's Clarity. Â Thomas Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted February 29, 2008 Posted February 29, 2008 Hi thomasl.se, Take a look here LR's Clarity vs high radius USM. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
thompsonkirk Posted February 29, 2008 Share #2 Â Posted February 29, 2008 IMO the problem with using Clarity (in LR or ACR) is that you build this adjustment into the file so early in your workflow. If there's PS work yet to do, you may be changing contrast considerably - either overall or in some areas of the image. For that reason I prefer to use USM in the "Local Contrast Enhancement" mode very late in my workflow, where I can go back just a step or 2 if I want to Fade its opacity a bit. Â But YMMV, especially if you tend to print from LR without much PS work. Â Kirk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomasl.se Posted March 3, 2008 Author Share #3 Â Posted March 3, 2008 Hi Kirk, Â That could be a problem, but it doesn't apply to my PP in which I apply Clarity in the final adjustment stage. As a last step before sizing and output sharepning, USM sends far highs and lows out of the picture, where those values could be retained if that punch was brought in before final adjustments. This is not a problem with Clarity, which works on midtones. Â I'm trying to sort of by trial and error is whether I want to drop the USM altogether and just stick to Clarity. Â Thomas Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stnami Posted March 4, 2008 Share #4 Â Posted March 4, 2008 ..if needed I may use clarity second or third time around in Lightroom after Photoshop or Raw Developer ...........I apply it with B&W not so much with colour Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomasl.se Posted March 4, 2008 Author Share #5  Posted March 4, 2008 ..if needed I may use clarity second or third time around in Lightroom after Photoshop or Raw Developer ...........I apply it with B&W not so much with colour  Do you usually punch any high radius USM at all? Personally I have kept those numbers below the old stand-by of 20/50/0, even without clarity applied. Having looked closer at USM vs clarity in the last week, the conclusion I'm reaching is that both stay; Clarity gets the slack and USM the short leash.  Thomas Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stnami Posted March 4, 2008 Share #6 Â Posted March 4, 2008 I use Photokit sharpener and curves in LAB ............... USM alone rarely Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stnami Posted March 4, 2008 Share #7 Â Posted March 4, 2008 Advertisement (gone after registration) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybarton Posted March 4, 2008 Share #8 Â Posted March 4, 2008 I only ever do sharpening via LAB mode in PS. Never in Lightroom. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest WPalank Posted March 4, 2008 Share #9 Â Posted March 4, 2008 From my experience and understanding, "clarity" boosts mid-tone contrast and therefore renders a perceived sharpening. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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