Camera Raw 4.1 update

 

Here is some information about the new Camera Raw 4.1 update from Martin Evening

Photoshop CS3 for Photographers
Camera Raw 4.1 update

"Last month I wrote a series of feature stories for Lightroom-news.com about all the new changes to Lightroom 1.1. Although many of the changes that took place with the raw processing in the Lightroom 1.1 Develop module were identical to the changes that have taken place in Camera Raw, a lot of readers have asked if I could provide an equivalent Photoshop CS3 Adobe Camera Raw 4.1 update. What follows is a summary of what is new in the Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) interface, where I have taken the text from the Lightroom-news story and repackaged it for Photoshop users.

Clarity slider
Let’s start with the Clarity slider in the basic panel section of the Camera raw dialog. I believe Jeff Schewe campaigned hard to get this particular feature included, and as Jeff himself will tell you, Clarity is a hybrid based on two separate contrast enhancing techniques. One is a local contrast enhancement technique, devised by Thomas Knoll, using a low amount and high radius setting in the Photoshop Unsharp Mask filter. The other is a midtone contrast enhancement Photoshop technique that was originally devised by Mac Holbert of Nash Editions. Those who have bought my most recent book, Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Photographers, can read there the steps Mac used in Photoshop to create this effect. The Photoshop instructions are admittedly quite complex. However, Clarity is now available as a simple one shot slider control in the Basic panel section.

The Clarity adjustment is one that can usefully be applied to a great many kinds of photographs. Mac Holbert originally devised his technique in order to boost the midtone contrast and he found that it helped him to bring out crisper detail in his landscape prints. But I think most photographs can gain from adding a small clarity adjustment."

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