Slippy sliders Can you explain the differences between the Clarity, Vibrance and Saturation sliders in Adobe Camera Raw?

It is pretty straightforward, Brian – and for anyone else using Lightroom rather than ACR for your processing, it’s also pretty much exactly the same across both programs.

There are times when you will want to use only one of these settings, and times when a combination is appropriate. You can only make this judgment on individual images.

Let’s start with the Clarity slider. Basically it adds contrast, mainly to the midtones in an image. Clarity is quite an aggressive slider, so you always want to go easy on it.

When you push the Vibrance slider to the positive side, you will see it has a strong affect on colour saturation. The effect is targeted to some extent: it has more impact on the less answerePAhdovtiosor your questions d saturated colours in an image, and less on those colours that are already highly saturated. It is also less aggressive on skin tones. This is handy to know if you shoot a lot of portraits.

The Saturation slider simply increases (or decreases) saturation across all of the colours at an equal level. It does not discriminate in any way. If you take a look at my example images above, you’ll see this in action. I’ve pushed each slider to +100, just as a demonstration of the difference. You’d rarely, if ever, want to be this aggressive with the controls.

This example is overdone, but it should help you see that Clarity and Saturation are best handled carefully, while Vibrance is a useful slider, particularly if you want to add a little colour boost to a portrait.

–

It’s great to hear that you were inspired to go out shooting by this feature, and it looks like you found a great subject to practise your skills on. I love the symmetry of the composition, which works well in black and white. This