| Author | Thread |
|
|
01/03/2008 12:57:03 PM · #1 |
 Melethia was inquiring about my use of the clarify tool in Paintshop Pro to do this effect:
Original:  Clarified: 
There is not a lot I could find on precisely what this adjustment does, Corel seems to make a trade secret out of it, but here is the best description I could find:
One unique and valuable photo enhancement tool is âClarify.â Ever since it first appeared in version 7, the PSP documentation has been rather taciturn about what âClarifyâ actually does. It seems to redistribute brightness and contrast throughout an image to improve the subjective and intangible properties of âsnap,â âclarity,â or âimpact.â The effect is similar to the local contrast enhancement technique that uses Unsharp Masking with a large radius, but thereâs more to it than that. With some images, it can almost miraculously improve shadow detail while toning down overly bright highlights. Other images turn garish and blotchy, with odd halos and hidden noise glaringly revealed; this is particularly a problem with outdoor scenes that include sky. You can often avoid these problems by selecting the sky in the picture and inverting the selection before trying âClarify.â Although PSP X improved the flexibility and performance of this tool with a wider range of settingsâ and also introduced a troublesome bugâ thereâs no way to predict what youâll get. âClarifyâ is worth trying on every image after youâve finished adjusting the color balance and histogram. The result will either delight or horrify. Corel describes âClarifyâ as an alternative to other sharpening effects, but I find itâs still necessary to sharpen the final image.
Here is where I found that at tedsimages.com
Message edited by author 2008-01-03 13:17:45. |
|
|
|
01/03/2008 01:02:18 PM · #2 |
| I love clarify. I use it on many, many of my photos. |
|
|
|
01/03/2008 01:06:04 PM · #3 |
| On all of my photos that I use clarify on, I just thought it was a sort of sharpening tool. I don't usually get the affect that you did with your car. I'm going to have to play around with it a little more I guess. |
|
|
|
01/03/2008 01:09:31 PM · #4 |
I find it can improve contrast more subtly than the "contrast" tool, but you are right, sometimes it just makes things blotchy.
|
|
|
|
01/03/2008 01:12:38 PM · #5 |
| Ok, I know I only played with it for a couple of minutes, but I realized this too. It's almost as if when I use clarify, it's like a subtle histogram adjustment. I don't know why I'm so interested in this all of a sudden, but I guess I'm the type that has to know how things work. |
|
|
|
01/03/2008 01:18:34 PM · #6 |
| Thanks for this, Steve! I'd asked Steve about the processing and if he'd post the original. I took it into Photoshop and couldn't get anything even close to what he got. In particular, that tool seemed to add blacks and do cool stuff to the windshield that I couldn't begin to figure out how to replicate in Photoshop. So it seems you PSP folks have a pretty darn nifty tool! (I like how it says the results will either horrify or delight.) |
|
|
|
01/03/2008 01:19:30 PM · #7 |
I got the extreme effect by applying it at a value of 20 two or three times over. I found it could do that by accident, when I ran a value of 20 on a panorama view and it came out with what looked like a colorized image from an old postcard.
This one used a lesser application of clarify, in conjunction with some selections:
I actually use it on most of my images, as a last step prior to resizing and sharpening, though normally I only use a value of 1 to 3.
Message edited by author 2008-01-03 13:29:38. |
|
|
|
01/03/2008 01:51:33 PM · #8 |
I searched the forums prior to my Beauty In The Everyday challenge entry and found this thread. My image would not have ribboned without a strong (+20) clarify action.
Tim |
|
|
|
01/03/2008 01:54:47 PM · #9 |
Originally posted by yospiff:
I actually use it on most of my images, as a last step prior to resizing and sharpening, though normally I only use a value of 1 to 3. |
Steve - Sent you a PM. |
|
|
|
01/03/2008 02:18:19 PM · #10 |
I use it on a lot of my photos too, it works wonders.
|
|
|
|
01/03/2008 02:42:59 PM · #11 |
Ah yes the PSP secret weapon... I touch all my shots with it sometimes twice (not at the extreme as some of the shots in the thread)... 5-7 to start and then another 5 at the end.
I tried to figure out what the equivalent would be in PS to explain it and best I can tell, it is close to compressing the levels. Bring the lows way up, highs way down and find a happy medium with the mids. Then hit it with a nice hard Highpass Sharpen. It will get you in the ball park...but nothing replaces the ease of use of the Clarify adjustment in psp...
|
|
Home -
Challenges -
Community -
League -
Photos -
Cameras -
Lenses -
Learn -
Help -
Terms of Use -
Privacy -
Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2025 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 08/28/2025 04:15:14 PM EDT.
