Dehaze Slider in Lightroom CC and ACR CC

[DanK]

I think this is going to be a huge help to some of us.

Scenes of distant mountains with no haze help make landscape images by Ansel Adams and other master photographers of his time and before him so attractive. That's partly because we experience so much more haze throughout the world now than the earlier photographers experienced.

Mike--yes, but it also reflects the fact that he worked in the mountains of the west, and you live in eastern Virginia. I lived a few miles away in MD for 25 years, so I know whereof I speak. In general, the east coast has vastly more humidity in the air than the west, particularly the mountain west, and your area is particularly bad in that respect. I spend a lot of time in the mountains of northern New England and upstate New York, and while they are not as bad as your area in this respect, it is a rare summer day that has really crisp, dry air. Right now, the relative humidity is about 80% both here and in your area. That's one reason why I am so happy about this new feature. I suspect I will use it often.

[Mike Buckley]

Dan,

My frame of reference about the amount of haze actually has to do with an experience I had in the early 1980s when I was exiting Yosemite, where Ansel Adams of course did so much of his photography. A truck driver told me that thirty years earlier, one could be on either side of the valley and see the mountains on the other side. That was rarely possible in the 1980s and is even less possible now due to the increased amount of haze.

As another example, I've seen scenes several times that Adams photographed and every time there has been significant haze, very much unlike in his photos. I realize that he used photo techniques to minimize the effect of haze, but he simply didn't have as much haze to deal with on an everyday basis as he would have today.

Very coincidentally, I will be in the Smoky Mountains this fall. If I encounter haze, which I expect to happen, I know now how to deal with it easier than ever before. That will be well worth the Adobe subscription.

[IzzieK]

Manfred...I have Camera RAw 9 in Photoshop CS6 and googgled Camera 9.1 and saw it and downloaded it after it says it is for CS6 and Lightroom. I had restarted my computer and I still cannot find it there. Is there another place where I can find it inside CS6? Thanks...

[Manfred M]

Manfred...I have Camera RAw 9 in Photoshop CS6 and googgled Camera 9.1 and saw it and downloaded it after it says it is for CS6 and Lightroom. I had restarted my computer and I still cannot find it there. Is there another place where I can find it inside CS6? Thanks...

I don't know about CS6; with CC 2015 it is in Camera Raw 9.1 under the Effects tab; the first item down. I would expect that it would be there because I can't see Adobe having two different versions of ACR. In CC 2015 I can also access it from the Camera Raw filter, under the filters pull-down menu.

[IzzieK]

I don't know about CS6; with CC 2015 it is in Camera Raw 9.1 under the Effects tab; the first item down. I would expect that it would be there because I can't see Adobe having two different versions of ACR. In CC 2015 I can also access it from the Camera Raw filter, under the filters pull-down menu.

Thanks for the response...I will not waste anymore on this personal question. I will try to find out why I don't have it despite that I saw that what I installed was also for PCS6.

[Cantab]

Thanks for the response...I will not waste anymore on this personal question. I will try to find out why I don't have it despite that I saw that what I installed was also for PCS6.

Izzie, please let everyone know if you find it. I have CS6 but do all my RAW work in Lightroom. But if the dehazer is available in ACR in CS6, I'll be sure to update my ACR.

[Rob Ekins]

You can stop looking Izzie.

Adobe Blogs
"updates to Camera Raw for Photoshop CS6 only include new camera support, lens profile support, and bug fixes. The new features listed in the release notes are only available in Photoshop CC"

[IzzieK]

Yep...that was where I went but too tired to read further...thanks for the link.

You can stop looking Izzie.

Adobe Blogs
"updates to Camera Raw for Photoshop CS6 only include new camera support, lens profile support, and bug fixes. The new features listed in the release notes are only available in Photoshop CC"

[Rob Ekins]

Yep...that was where I went but too tired to read further...thanks for the link.

No worries Izzie.

I noted that the function can be used to add haze/fog, has anyone here tried that creatively with any success? I use CS6 so can not access the function.

[davidedric]

Very coincidentally, I will be in the Smoky Mountains this fall. If I encounter haze, which I expect to happen, I know now how to deal with it easier than ever before

Hi Mike,

I think there will be some haze, they are the Smokies after all

However, this gave me the nudge to upgrade to CC 2015 (I had been sitting at 5.7 till the noise abated), so I am going to go back to my pictures of the Smokies and the Blue Ridge from last year to see what can be done. I may even go back and re-examine my discards.

Dave

[Mike Buckley]

I think there will be some haze, they are the Smokies after all

I have been accused at times of having a firm grasp of the obvious. Then there are times such as that one when such an accusation would be wrong.

[Fredbare]

You can stop looking Izzie.

Adobe Blogs
"updates to Camera Raw for Photoshop CS6 only include new camera support, lens profile support, and bug fixes. The new features listed in the release notes are only available in Photoshop CC"

There's a workaround to enable the Dehaze feature in CS6 apparently.
Refer Dr_Jon in the 'PC Talk' forum on DPR.
As posted elsewhere, also a workaround for LR6 standalone too under the same forum.

[Rob Ekins]

Thanks Mate.

Link is here.

Don't have time to try it right now but thought I would share the link.

[Fredbare]

Thanks Mate.

Link is here.

Don't have time to try it right now but thought I would share the link.

Hi Rob,

Pleasure.
Don't use this site often and wasn't sure if links were allowed or not.
I have LR6.1 Standalone and using the presets does work as it calls the 'Dehaze' function directly.
Nice of Adobe to use simple text in the presets, but maybe they'll use encryption next time around.
Cheers

[IzzieK]

Thanks for the link Rob...will surely read this one as soon as I can when daylight is a little bit more like, daylight...'appreciate it..

[Thlayle]

What you see with the dehaze tool took all of 2 seconds (click on the effects tab on ACR and crank the slider back and forth a bit).

FRankly, I'm quite impressed with it so far too.

I am trying out this new feature & find it does work easily & quickly. Speaking of speediness, however, I am finding this newest release of Lightroom to be a bit sluggish at times. This happened to me just now after applying the haze filter to a shot & then going back to make a few other adjustments. The de-hazing seems to impact the overall brightness/darkness of images & I am not sure but it seems to make color temperate look a little different as well.

A couple of other notes:

Julieanne Kost notes that it seems to work better to adjust color temperature before adjusting the haze.

Also, I am wondering it this works as well, or at least differently, with shots that appear hazy due to smoke, as opposed to other haze. An all too common problem I am encountering nowadays is haze from smoke generated by faraway forest fires.

[Mike Buckley]

Julieanne Kost notes that it seems to work better to adjust color temperature before adjusting the haze.

In so many cases it would be impossible to do that because the color temperature isn't revealed until the haze is removed. I haven't seen Kost's explanation, but I wonder if the order of adjustments should often be:

1. Dehaze
2. Adjust color temperature
3. Undo the dehaze
4. Dehaze after the color temperature adjustment

Also, I am wondering it this works as well, or at least differently, with shots that appear hazy due to smoke, as opposed to other haze. An all too common problem I am encountering nowadays is haze from smoke generated by faraway forest fires.

I think that's a matter of properly understanding the terminology and appreciating that particles of haze and smoke are different. Two other types of particles with perhaps similar photographic characteristics are fog and steam.

My hunch is that the dehaze capability will perhaps be effective though in different ways and to different degrees depending on the combination of the following factors:

• whether the particles are haze, smoke, fog or steam or a combination of them
• the distance of the subject from the camera
• the distance of the particles to be dehazed from the camera
• the direction of light
• the quality of light

[Thlayle]

In so many cases it would be impossible to do that because the color temperature isn't revealed until the haze is removed. I haven't seen Kost's explanation, but I wonder if the order of adjustments should often be:

1. Dehaze
2. Adjust color temperature
3. Undo the dehaze
4. Dehaze after the color temperature adjustment

I think that's a matter of properly understanding the terminology and appreciating that particles of haze and smoke are different. Two other types of particles with perhaps similar photographic characteristics are fog and steam.

My hunch is that the dehaze capability will perhaps be effective though in different ways and to different degrees depending on the combination of the following factors:

• whether the particles are haze, smoke, fog or steam or a combination of them
• the distance of the subject from the camera
• the distance of the particles to be dehazed from the camera
• the direction of light
• the quality of light

Hi Mike,

Julianne's blog addresses it here: http://blogs.adobe.com/jkost/2015/06...htroom-cc.html

I'm not sure if I am understanding your 'order of adjustments.' Is that a comparison, to see which works, doing the temp and then the dehaze or the other way around?

To be sure, there are many sources of haze and I think this effect in Lightroom will have a range of results, depending on the situation. Smoke interaction just happens to be one that I am encountering a lot. Some shots I took by Hell's Canyon last summer are quite obscured by smoke haze and the de-haze effect helps some, but I am experimenting...

[DanK]

Maybe the best option is to take one shot with a neutral card in hazy conditions so that you have at least an initial reference point for WB.

[Thlayle]

A screen shot of an image from Canyonlands that I have been trying out the dehaze effect:



Of course, as oft the case, there's many other issues with the original than just the presence of haze...