Clarity: Which slider value do you find yourself typically using?

Typically, the value ranges from -100 to +100 depending on the picture. I individually set the clarity for each picture and it depends really on what is the subject.

People: use subtle adjustments. - romantic views use negative values however.

Nature: A tree gets more contrasted with clarity added. I love to show the structure of the bark.

Technology/Architecture: Use higher values for highly contrasted pictures.

I feel that it's not so much a question of what value - it's a matter of where. So rather than use the Basic panel Clarity to hype up the whole image, I increasingly apply Clarity via the Grad or Radial filters to those areas and features that I want to emphasize.

So in a scene containing a person, I might use Radial filter to draw attention to the face, or in a cloudy landscape I might add Clarity to the sky. The value can be from 10-100, and I often apply more than one local adjustment to an area.

John

That's what got me wondering what the typical value other people find themselves using.

I can't believe that there's such a thing as a "typical" value for any of the sliders. It depends on your judgment, and the scene you have photographed, and your camera, and maybe a few other things as well.

For what it's worth, I set Clarity to 40 on many of my photos. Not all. It's judgment.

Hi Paul,

For me it depends entirely on the subject. As has been mentioned a number of times by many people, you do not want to push Clarity on people's faces. In fact, using a mask and a negative Clarity can be a useful skin conditioner.

Overall, in my landscape images, I tend to push it a bit more and on presentation images (think advertising or product images) I tend to not use it at all--but that can vary by the subject. But the amount, like Theresa says, can vary from image to image.

Also, like setting sharpness, adjusting Clarity on 100% views is probably wise.

(However, when I'm photographing glass, I go crazy and push it a lot. Getting the nuances of glass is enhanced a lot with Clarity.0

Enjoy,

It really depends on the camera. I usually use more than +10 for my Canon 7D images. My Fuji X-T10 requires less. It also depends on the image subject and personal taste.