p.1 #1 · Practical application of Texture vs Clarity in LR
I am predominantly a wildlife photographer. I have been trying to understand when to use Texture, when to use Clarity and when to use Both. I did find reference on FM to this link:
it was helpful in that it explained that sharpening works at the pixel level and then it is Clarity, Texture and DeHaze in terms of working at progressively larger levels, in that order. I also gathered from comments here that Texture can be a powerful for smoothing skin in portrait photography when moved into negative numbers. Lastly, I have found an article that talks about how Texture is less adversely impactful on noise than Clarity.
My challenge is how to best use Texture, Clarity and even Sharpening together to best enhance the sharpness and pop of my wildlife photos. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
p.1 #2 · Practical application of Texture vs Clarity in LR
Since sharpening was included another interesting and not well documented adjustment. The Detail slider in the Detail window. 0-50 is for halo suppression. 50-100 is for deconvolution but you lose halo suppression. The adjustment is subtle. Noticeable at 100%.
p.1 #3 · Practical application of Texture vs Clarity in LR
Don, there is no right answer to your question. Texture and Clarity are complementary tools, and they can do (almost) the same thing in different ways. However, each targets different areas. Texture emphasize/de-emphasize small detail (high/mid frequency) w/o affecting much the overall look of the image.Texture was initially intended, and called, as a smoothing adjustment.
Clarity targets bigger edges (medium frequency) in the middle tones. It is much stronger than Texture and messes with the saturation and brightness of the image. Look at the Histogram while moving the Clarity slider and you will see the middle tones expanding which means it increases the contrast in the middle tone w/o affecting deep shadows and bright highlights.
The result you get from those adjustments depend on the image itself.
So, I would encourage you to practice. Try the different settings in your photos and see what you like the best.
Here is some excellent reading from the ACR Team on understanding how those sliders work. It helped me understanding their use.
p.1 #4 · Practical application of Texture vs Clarity in LR
Thanks for your thoughts Socrate, and that link. It was very good. Impossible to distill the article into three sentences, but if one was to try to, this is probably it (taken from the article):
"How can you tell when to use which one? Texture is best for making subtle adjustments to those mid-frequency features. Clarity is best for making stronger adjustments to a broader frequency range, including some lower frequencies."
I thought this was very helpful too:
"Here is an example when Clarity is a better choice. Texture only has an effect on the small area that is in focus, but positive Clarity can enhance this background"
I still need to experiment with it more, but at least I have a sense of general "direction" with it, so thanks!
p.1 #6 · Practical application of Texture vs Clarity in LR
It is all personal choice. Texture is great for smoothing but I also use it do squeeze out a little more detail. You have to be careful with it as adding too much will cause artifacts. I've always like the look of the clarity slider. I stared using DeHaze for all files since people talked about how great DXO's ClearView was. I had to take DeHaze to about 60-70 to match it during a test. Seems like CV is Dehaze on steroids at the default setting.
So for what I shoot Texture, Clarity and DeHaze are all around + 10 for my import preset. As ISO rises those values drop (except DeHaze). I achieve those settings by using my Adaptive ISO preset so each file is adjusted based on ISO at import.
p.1 #7 · Practical application of Texture vs Clarity in LR
Thanks for the post Zenon. I too have always liked the look of the clarity slider. I have made use of DeHaze from time to time, but moreso when it was obvious it was needed. I have never tried it on a photo without such apparent need. Yet another thing to play with.
p.1 #8 · Practical application of Texture vs Clarity in LR
New features are always appreciated when they are useful and usable. The texture and clarity adjustments do not feel like either to me. The standard detail sharpening controls and the dehaze slider all provide instant preview of the mask via the [Alt] key. This makes it far easier for me to visualize the effect. Not sure why the mask viewing is not available with the texture and clarity adjustments. Perhaps because they work on such small relative scales the mask is not easily displayed? I'm not finding much value in either of those adjustments.
