Photo: CC BY-SA 4.0 - gallery.insaneworks.fi
I was about to throw this photo to the bin because it's unsharp, but decided to use it as an example.
How much clarity is enough?
Do you need it at all?
To save photos?
Just as an effect?
If I want to use a photo that for some reason isn't sharp although it should be, after sharpening it in the raw image format, I can also add some clarity to it. And after clarity, I can always add sharpening filter in jpg mode and resize the photo. Make it smaller with the settings Bicubic Sharper (best for reduction).
Here are the different options. Fist on the top left everything else adjusted to my liking but clarity left as it was: 0. Top right clarity +30 what is my selection. Bottom options have too little clarity or too much in my opinion, but I wanted to make the adjustments really visible. Clarity -60 on the bottom left and +60 on the right.
So my goal was to sharpen this picture. And usually I don't adjust clarity to either directions more than 10 steps. Sometimes 20, but in desperate cases like this, +30. And I think more clarity suits well in this photo. Concrete wall where you want to enhance the detail and point out the slight industrial look.
Is some cases, where you might want a more misty or dreamlike feel, reducing clarity might be a good option too. It all depends on what you want the photo to tell people.
You can open the images to a new tab so you see them in original size and perhaps see the difference better.
| Clarity 0 | Clarity +30 |
|---|---|
 |  |
 |  |
| Clarity -60 | Clarity +60 |
This last photo is reduced photo from the +30 clarity option. You can see that if a picture is ruined, not sharp when it needs to be, there's not much you can do to it, to make it look like it was sharp to begin with. But you can do something, and the best option is always combining several filters and gimmicks. Usually pretty simple things.
Which of these would be your selection? How much do you use sharpening and clarity adjustment in your photos?