Today’s Question: With the addition of a “Clarity and Dehaze” adjustment layer in Photoshop, I’m wondering if you recommend applying these adjustments in Camera Raw [or Lightroom Classic] or using these adjustment layers?
Tim’s Quick Answer: In general, I recommend applying the Clarity and Dehaze adjustments when initially processing the original capture in Camera Raw or Lightroom Classic. However, I appreciate that the adjustment layers are available for situations where you want to add (or increase) the effect within Photoshop.
More Detail: A recent update to Photoshop added the “Clarity and Dehaze” adjustment layer, in addition to a Grain adjustment layer for adding a film grain effect. These are adjustments that had already been available in both Camera Raw and Lightroom Classic, so it might seem unnecessary to have them added to Photoshop. That’s particularly true when you consider that the same adjustments could be applied using the Camera Raw filter within Photoshop.
However, I’m still grateful that these new adjustment layers are available. For one thing, adding an adjustment layer offers a simpler approach than creating a duplicate image layer or converting a layer to a Smart Object to apply the filter nondestructively. Adjustment layers have minimal effect on file size and provide a convenient way to apply or refine adjustments.
In addition, adjustment layers enable you to leverage a layer mask so that the adjustment only affects a specific area of the image. For example, you may have a landscape photo where only the background area exhibits haze. Applying the Dehaze adjustment across the entire image may cause the foreground to have excessive contrast, for example. In this type of situation you can use a layer mask with the adjustment layer to only apply the adjustment where it is needed in the image.
To be sure, with the considerable updates to both Camera Raw and Lightroom Classic over the years, many photographers find that there is less work they need to do on the image once they bring it to Photoshop. However, I’m still glad that Adobe is continuing to put work into adding new and updated features to Photoshop for editing beyond Camera Raw and Lightroom Classic.
