NOTE: Athentech, the makers of Perfectly Clear help support Photofocus.  The company also works closely with Photofocus as many of its new features and presets are designed by Photofocus authors.

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Athentech, makers of Perfectly Clear Complete just unveiled two new products and confirmed some big news.  We wanted to let you know about these changes as they’re great news for photographers.

  • A free version of their time-saving plugin
  • A streamlined version called Perfectly Clear Essentials for Landscape, Travel, and General photographers
  • The forthcoming standalone version

Perfectly Clear (Free Version)

Athentech is doing something different these days; they’ve made a free version of their popular plug-in that’s 100% free.  It never expires, it’s not a trial.  While the full version offers 37 different adjustments, the free version offers 10.  But these ten are quite useful to all photographers.

  • Image Ambulance. Serves as exposure compensation in post, and is useful for recovering over or underexposed images with just a small adjustment.
  • ND Filter. Knocks down areas that are too intense or oversaturated.
  • Exposure. Analyzes every pixel in a photo and sets the proper exposure.  This tech is amazing, and I use it all the time on every photo as a perfect finish. Can adjust exposure with no effect on color or saturation.
  • Face-Aware Exposure.  Calculates the correct exposure for the scene but auto recognizes faces and favors them in calculating the perfect balance to the background.  This makes the exposure adjustment incredibly useful.
  • Depth. Goes beyond Contrast and Clarity to give images a rich 3D depth.
  • Black Point. Controls where the shadows start to get richer.
  • Color Vibrancy. Adds richer color to your photo.
  • Tint Correction. Removes unwanted color casts automatically.  Great for mixed lighting situations or subtle color casts in areas like clouds.
  • Face Selection. Automatically recognizes faces, but lets you adjust control points or add faces that were missed (rare).

The company has also unlocked three of their Beauty adjustments which are great for portraits.

  • Dark Circles. Finds the eyes and instantly removes dark circles with no cloning or brushing.  This tech is incredible.
  • Teeth Whitening. Recognizes smiles and lets you whiten or brighten teeth.
  • Shine Removal. A super easy to use adjustment that removes sweat or oil shine from skin.

The product also offers a great collection of time-saving presets. These can be adjusted with the Strength slider which lets you increase more or less.  These seven presets are a sampler of the 56 including with Perfectly Clear Complete.

  • Perfect Exposure —Outdoor, Night, Fill Flash, and De-haze
  • Perfect Eyes — Racoon Eyes
  • Perfect Skin — Light Powder
  • Perfect Color —Rich Color

There are also 12 LOOKs which offer a unique way to stylize your image.  These are artistic ways to manipulate color or simulate film stocks and can be applied both subtly or dramatically to match your taste.  These are 12 sampled from the 42 included with Perfectly Clear Complete.

  • BW Film Stocks — Classic Black and White, Crisp Black and White, and Rough Sepia
  • Color Film Stocks — Pop Film, Simple Film, and Warm Film
  • Color Grades — Autumn, Candlelight, and Stonewashed
  • Stylized Color — Bronzer, Skylight, and Smoked

The free version of the software lets you batch process up to 5 photos at once in Lightroom (the full version is unlimited).  You also can’t make your own presets or import them, but Athentech offers several for sale (and even free) sets for download in their store that let you extend the functionality.

For example, you could buy Kristina Sherk’s great portrait presets, and all of those adjustments become usable.  You can apply presets and then refine them with the strength slider.  In other words, even though you don’t see full controls, all the power is under the hood, and you can unlock presets and functionality as you need it (presets cost between $9–$19 for sets).

Get the Free Version Here — https://www.athentech.com/get-perfectly-clear-free

Get a Free Set of LOOKS Here — http://sites.fastspring.com/athentech/instant/photofocuslooks?coupon=PFFREELOOKS

Get Free Fireworks Presets Here — http://www.athentech.com/apps/fabulous-fireworks-v3

Photo by Jason Hahn

Perfectly Clear Essentials

Athentech has released a new product called Perfectly Clear Essentials. This product contains all of the Tone, Color, and Details controls that can give you perfect exposure, great color, and sharp photos with no noise.  All of the preset functionality, as well as Creative LOOKs and Corrective Filters, are also unlocked.

  • 40+ useful adjustments for perfect exposure, color, and details
  • Includes 32 Useful Presets for fixing most photographic challenges
  • Includes 42 Creative LOOKs to stylize your images
  • Unlock more features by purchasing your favorite presets or LOOKs
  • Create your own presets and share with others

It is virtually identical to Perfectly Clear Complete except in two ways.

  • It removes controls for all of the Beautify technology.  These adjustments are helpful for portrait and wedding photographers, but not really useful to landscape and travel folks.
  • It removed the batch export module from Lightroom.

While both of the above are useful, they are designed for pros who need the most time-saving options for processing portraits.  If you do need portrait adjustments, you can easily add the Kristina Sherk preset packs or a new forthcoming one from Matthew Jordan Smith.

Here’s a special deal just for Photofocus readers.  Get Perfectly Clear Essentials plus a great pack of presets and LOOKs for travel and landscape photos.  The bundle is $49 USD (Save $29).


You can also create your own presets and exchange your favorite settings with other users.  This is a great deal if you want the time-saving features as well as advanced technology to unlock perfect exposure and sharper images.

Get the Special Bundle Here — https://athentech.evyy.net/c/361102/385220/4470

Get a Free Set of LOOKS Here — http://sites.fastspring.com/athentech/instant/photofocuslooks?coupon=PFFREELOOKS

Get Free Fireworks Presets Here — http://www.athentech.com/apps/fabulous-fireworks-v3

Perfectly Clear Standalone

All three Perfectly Clear plug-ins currently work with Photoshop, Lightroom, Photoshop Elements, Paintshop Pro as plugins.  They also work in Photos for Mac, Apple Aperture, and Capture One as external editors.  The big news is that a standalone of Perfectly Clear is expected really soon (and will be a free upgrade).  The company is adding support to open, save, crop and print images, as well as run the tool without the need for a host application.  This update is expected in Q3 of this year and is a welcome addition for those looking for an all-in one answer.