PerfectlyClear
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Perfectly Clear migrates from iOS to Mac
I first got a look at Perfectly Clear when it came out for iOS. It was a nice, quick and easy, one-touch solution for improving photos without a lot of editing pain. Perfectly Clear now works on the Mac as a plug-in for Photoshop or Lightroom and maintains the same philosophy it did on iOS -- one click and your photo is improved. Now you might assume a Photoshop or Lightroom user wants more control, but the reality is that with Photoshop on a monthly subscription plan, a lot of new Photoshop users are coming on board. In addition, Perfectly Clear gives you the kind of micro-control advanced Photoshop users may want, so users can adjust photo quality automatically or to taste. Automatic corrections include many portrait features, like face slimming, blemish removal, eye enhancement, teeth whitening and more. For non-portrait photography, Perfectly Clear offers sharpening, noise reduction, vivid adjustments, fix dark images, fix tint, and more. If you don't like the one click fix, there are very in-depth adjustments available for each pre-set. Yes, you can accomplish many of these things with Photoshop adjustments, but Perfectly Clear is easier and faster, and the results can look as good. This version 2.0 of Perfectly Clear has optimized algorithms so it operates at about twice the speed as the pre-update version. Split views with zoom make seeing your changes very obvious, and your custom adjustments can be saved and even shared with other Perfectly Clear users. I consider myself a pretty experienced and advanced Photoshop user, having been enjoying it all the way back to version 1.0. I know enough about the Photoshop tools to get what I want out of almost any image, but Perfectly Clear really works well and with a minimum of hassle. In my testing I found that the enhancements were logical and never over the top. It's not hard to use, and the built-in app help links you both to the manual and video tutorials. It's definitely worth a look for both advanced and newer Photoshop or Lightroom users. You can learn more at the Perfectly Clear website. The Photoshop and Lightroom plugins are US$149.00 each or $199.00 as a bundle. There are free trial versions available. This software is available direct from the publisher and is not on the Mac App Store. Another similarly useful suite of tools is NIK Tools for Mac, now owned by Google. These tools are also priced at $149.00. NIK Tools are excellent and useful, and I find that with Perfectly Clear, I like using whichever package makes the most sense with a particular image. The NIK Tools don't have any portrait features, however. They do have an excellent ability to apply enhancements selectively in the image, something Perfectly Clear lacks. Perfectly Clear plug-ins requires either Photoshop or Lightroom to host them. You need Mac OS X Leopard (10.6) or later. The company is also in late beta for a standalone version that doesn't require any of the Adobe software. Recommended.
Perfectly Clear for iOS corrects your photos with a tap or two
Almost every owner of an iPhone is taking pictures all the time, but most of us won't take the time to improve them after the fact. Apple provides some rudimentary tools for editing, and there are tools ranging from quick-and-easy to almost Photoshop-like in their power and complexity. I'll put Perfectly Clear (US$2.99) in the quick-and-easy department, and add effective as well. You can take a photo from within the app, or open an image you have already taken. The app automatically applies some fixes, and gives you a sliding bar so you can see the before and after. Some additional features like "fix dark" and "fix tint" can be added, and there is a "beautify" button for faces. If you want to do even more, there's even a "tweak" control, that brings up additional fixes for things like sharpening, noise removal, eye enhance, teeth whiten and skin smoothing. There are complete explanations of the filters on the developer's website. I tried the app on a variety of photos, and in general the app improved upon the original unretouched images. Usually I added a few more enhancements, which takes away a bit from the "one touch" simplicity, but I appreciated the ability to make more changes. The app seems very careful to not overdo the editing. I couldn't drive exposure into clipping, and the sharpening controls were subtle without adding noise to the image. There was even a "de-purple" filter that removes the purple lens flare that occurs if you take a photo with the sun just off to one side. One thing missing from the app is the ability to undo the last change. You can go back and start again, but if you are doing multiple enhancements, you can't just take the last one off. That seems an odd thing to leave out given the overall power of the app. Perfectly Clear is a good app, and it gets good reviews from users. With a useful undo command, Pefectly Clear would be perfect. Perfectly Clear is a universal app, and it requires iOS 7 or later. It's optimized for the iPhone 5.
