LR4: Difference between clarity and sharpening

Can somebody help me to understand the difference between the clarity slider and input sharpening in LR 4? Both emphasize the contrast in the picture -isn't it?

That's a good question, and I look forward to answers from people who know "stuff"

For me, I tweak Clarity for some global adjustment that make the overall photo "look good". I tweak sharpness to get "fine detail" to come out "crisp".

Clarity is kinda sorta like a wide-radius, low-strength unsharp mask, it's there to enhance global contrast. What happens is that it finds dark areas and darkens them, and lightens light areas, USM does the same thing on a really small scale.

Basically, if we were to think of images as groups of large, medium and small-scale detail, than Clarity would be the large-scale sharpening, Structure (available in some programs & plugs) enhances mid-level detail, and sharpening is for micro-detail.

Different programs and plugins use their own "secret sauce" behind how any of these methods work.

Glow control?

I disagree, at least partially, in regard to Lightroom. Clarity works primarily in the midtones, it is as if in PS you applied a sharpening layer with the limiting qualifiers "Blend if ..." set to keep it reduce it significantly in the shadows and highlights. The actual method of increasing contrast across high frequency edges was changed from LR3 to LR4 and is today based on some extremely complex computations that are summarized thus:

"We characterize edges with a simple threshold on pixel values that allows us to differentiate large-scale edges from small-scale details. Building upon this result, we propose a set of image filters to achieve edge-preserving smoothing, detail enhancement, tone mapping, and inverse tone mapping. The advantage of our approach is its simplicity and flexibility, relying only on simple point-wise nonlinearities and small Gaussian convolutions; no optimization or post-processing is required. As we demonstrate, our method produces consistently high-quality results, without degrading edges or introducing halos."

If you understood that and want more information follow the link in this LR blog,
http://blogs.adobe.com …al-laplacian-filters.html
LR's input (capture) sharpening is an entirely different critter and its nature depends on the positions of the sliders. In terms of image luminosity it is global, from light to dark, but the masking slider will control the frequency of edges to which it is applied - at 0 it is global and as the slider is moved to the right the sharpening is increasingly limited to higher frequencies. Moreover, it is a blend of two types of sharpening with the percentages controlled by the Detail slider - 0 is straight USM and 100 is deconvolution (Smart) sharpening, which because it enhances detail is more akin to Clarity. Deconvolution, however, also has the effect of reducing haloing caused by the USM component while in LR3 halos were often produced by strong Clarity, but in LR4 this rarely happens.

Clarity is adds mid-tone contrast.

http://www.beyondmegap​ixels.com …-sharpening-in-lightroom/

Thanks for adding more clarity to my life. Can not claim that I already understood all details - need some more time to process the answers more carefully.

It's really difficult to get some good info on sharpening and clarity. There is a lot of 'just do it until it looks good' advice. Nothing wrong with that, but sometimes I get the urge just to tackle things a little bit more systematic.

How to recreate Clarity in PS - http://forums.adobe.co​m/message/4881024 by Andrew Rodney.

PHughes wrote in post #15579310
Clarity is adds mid-tone contrast.

http://www.beyondmegap​ixels.com …-sharpening-in-lightroom/

I agree. I believe that is its main purpose.

Interesting sidelight; Eric Chan once remarked that some LR mask computations are done in La*b* space, but did not elucidate further. I imagine this is done in order to isolate the luminosity and create luminosity masks that are independent of color. Clarity might be one of the places where this is done.

Clarity is like a preset, in that certain adjustments are made to a variety of slides. What sliders, not totally sure, but as others have said, perhaps to mid tones, so perhaps those adjusments is focused on midtones. I dont know for sure, but perhaps if you ask adobe, if they can expain what sliders are used to achevie clarity slider.

Sharpening is when you have detail items that need to be sharpened. It doesnt make the image sharper, just details.

I know this is the opposite of what clarity is intended for but I have a preset I sometimes use for brides which smoothens out skin and hides defects. I also am always looking to match Adobe to DPP skin tones. I may have gotten this info at POTN. I can't remember.

This includes setting Camera Profile to faithful. After I go through the basic pallet for further editing. I'm aways searching for other methods. Hint, hint.

It has it's negative side so I don't always use it.

Clarity -10
Vibrance + 10
Saturation -10

What I do know is that "a little goes a long way" when it comes to the Clarity slider. Too much of it gives an almost "scaly" look to the image. I try to keep it down below +15 on most images, if I use it.

digital paradise wrote in post #15587061
I know this is the opposite of what clarity is intended for but I have a preset I sometimes use for brides which smoothens out skin and hides defects.

It has it's negative side so I don't always use it.

There's probably a lot of techniques discovered from playing around and may not be what the original intent was. By using negative clarity you're just removing a little mid-tone contrast instead of adding. I'll use or brush in a little negative clarity from time to time, though it seems you can reach the too much negative fairly quick.

digital paradise wrote in post #15587061
I know this is the opposite of what clarity is intended for but I have a preset I sometimes use for brides which smoothens out skin and hides defects. I also am always looking to match Adobe to DPP skin tones. I may have gotten this info at POTN. I can't remember.

This includes setting Camera Profile to faithful. After I go through the basic pallet for further editing. I'm aways searching for other methods. Hint, hint.

It has it's negative side so I don't always use it.

Clarity -10
Vibrance + 10
Saturation -10

Yeah, I've used negative clarity a handful of times to slightly soften the edges of an image that was a little too sharp to be pleasing.