Just getting started in CS4. Is there an equivalent to Lightroom's Clarity adjustment now available in CS4, outside of the RAW conversion context? I'm aware we've been able to perform local contrast increases via USM for many PS versions, but I was hoping for Clarity as an adjustment layer with + and - values.

John-

No, not in CS4. You can use large-radius USM on a duplicate layer, set to luminosity mode with blend-if sliders split to taper off the effect in the shadows/highlights, and you'll get pretty much the same result as positive Clarity. I'm not sure there' any easy way to get the effect of negative Clarity, but then again I can't imagine wanting to so I've never pursued it.

At what point in your workflow do you want to use Clarity and what type of file are you using. If you are using CR2, JPEG or Tiff, why not open it in Camera Raw?

Here is link to a wonderful plug that will do more than USm can do with lots more control http://thepluginsite.com/products/photowiz/contrastmaster/

MDIJB

You can also try Image>Adjustments>Shadows/Highlights. Under more options is the Midtone Contrast slider.

Unfortunately this isn't available as an adjustment layer, but you can use it on a Smart Object as a work around.

Thanks for the comments everyone.

John-

Then there is something called perceptool-

http://www.georgedewolfe.com/perceptool.html

I do not know if that is about the same effect as clarity but if i see what it does it looks like it.

Thanx for the link - That plug-in reallly seems to be interesting!- Nice these fora..