With the release of Perfectly Clear Complete V3, Athentech Imaging introduces a major upgrade to the program that not only adds valuable new features but also enhances the look and functionality of the plug-in. The Version 3 bundle includes the Perfectly Clear Essentials, Perfect Eyes, Perfect Skin, Perfect Detail, Perfect Color and Perfect Exposure modules. With this release of the collection, only Perfectly Clear Exposure is available separately from the collection and it remains a free download.

Version 3 functions as a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop (CS 6 or newer), Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (LR 5 or newer), Adobe Photoshop Elements (version 11 or newer) and Corel PaintShop Pro (X5 or newer). It can also be used as an external editor for Apple Photos, Aperture and Capture One. When used in Photoshop, the plug-in functions as a Smart Filter. It can be incorporated into a Photoshop Action for batch processing, although I found batch processing much easier using Lightroom. At $129 for new users, it’s $20 less expensive than the previous version. You can install it on two computers and they can be two Macs, two Windows or one of each. I tested both Mac and Windows installations of version 3.0.3.

What’s New

Updates are found throughout V3, from the interface to the new Perfect Details and Perfect Color modules, to new sliders providing manual adjustments, to previously available functions that were only handled automatically. And there is a new Looks function with prebuilt, one-click styles, including black-and-white and color film stocks, color grades and stylized colors.

The Perfectly Clear Complete presets of the previous version are incorporated into the Perfectly Clear Essentials module in V3. The modules and their sub-modules are available in the Presets panel to the left of the main preview window along with the new navigator window. The sub-modules are also represented with icons in the toolbar above the preview. To the right of the preview, the Control panel holds sliders for manual adjustments to the presets. There’s also a new histogram with clipping indicators.

New features are available for both landscape images and portraits. Image Ambulance in the new Preprocessing subpanel allows +/- 5 EV of adjustment for both landscapes and portraits, although I found the extreme ends of the adjustment tended to introduce artifacts. For landscapes, there are new sky and foliage enhancers as well as vibrancy, black point and color fidelity controls.

For portraits you can now manually add a face if it is not automatically selected and adjust control points. The light-diffusion and lip-sharpening adjustments have sliders added for user control. The skin-softening tool has three new modes for additional control. New features include vibrancy, 12 popular blush colors in the Makeup subpanel and a face-aware exposure adjustment that allows adjustment of the face’s exposure separate from the photo’s background.

User Friendliness

While I was impressed with the interface changes found in the previous version, V3 takes user-friendliness even further. Users of older versions will feel right at home with the new interface while new users should become comfortable very quickly. With a large number of videos available through the Learn button in the toolbar, it’s easy to get up to speed quickly.

With presets in the left panel and controls in the right, you no longer need to toggle between the Presets and Adjust tabs as you did in version 2. You can close each of these panels separately for a larger preview or use the backquote key (unshifted tilde key) to close both panels simultaneously. Unfortunately, when you revert back to the program with panels, you must maximize it again.

When working on a portrait, it is possible to turn off controls that you would use to adjust landscape images and vice versa to save scrolling through a long list in the control panel. The inclusion of new sliders gives greater control over functions that were previously available only automatically.

What We Liked

I am a photographer who enjoys spending time perfecting a single image, but I admit there are times when I just want to quickly process an entire shoot and have it available for review by myself or by a client. Perfectly Clear V3 is an excellent vehicle for this second need. As the plug-in matures, I find myself tempted to work longer in it to perfect a batch of selects to complete an assignment, both for clients and for my personal work. I like the ability to batch-process files using Lightroom as a front end, particularly for a portrait session or event. The revised interface makes this even quicker.

Version 3 gives me most everything on my wish list from my version 2 review: the program opens full screen without dragging corners; a full screen preview is available quickly; there is now a histogram with clipping points; and a black point slider is available (although I’m still waiting for those highlight and shadows sliders). And having the adjustments saved as a Smart Filter when you access Perfectly Clear through Photoshop is always an advantage should you change your mind later.

The addition of Looks adds another dimension to Perfectly Clear Complete. The four that ship with the program are only a taste of what are sure to be additional sets. There are already a few available for purchase through Athentech along with additional Preset Packs.

What We Didn’t Like

I honestly find very little to criticize in Perfectly Clear Complete V3. From the new look of the interface to the range of built-in presets, the ability to create your own presets, the new Looks, the portrait and landscape adjustment options, it seems to have all come together. Where Perfectly Clear originally started out as a one-click solution to improve an image, it is now a fairly complete adjustment program on its own. Yes, you still need other software for it to plug into, but I’m wondering why— with the addition of a white balance tool, a raw file processor of its own and a few other tools—it shouldn’t be a standalone application. As it stands, other than highlight and shadow sliders to adjust the presets and the addition of a solo mode to further lessen the need for scrolling through the controls panel, there is very little that V3 lacks in its role as a plug-in.

However, I’m not a fan of the installation process. The program and its updates are installed through the Athentech App Manager. So far, each of the two updates have required the download and installation of a new version of the 74 MB App Manager, then the download and installation of the Perfectly Clear plug-in. This two-step process is one process too many for me.

How It Compares

To my knowledge, there is no other program on the market that offers the full range of presets available in V3. Others offer bits of the automation found, but Athentech keeps upping the bounty with additional features such as the new Looks and new presets, as well as improving existing preset controls. Perfectly Clear Complete V3 provides a wide range of tools for portrait photographers wanting to quickly and painlessly process a single image or large group of similar images with a minimum amount of time and effort involved.

Stan Sholik is a commercial/advertising photographer in Santa Ana, CA, specializing in still life and macro photography.

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