The appearance of a material is determined by gloss, color and transparency.
Essential for transparency are the four values total transmission, haze, clarity and contrast.
High haze, high clarity No haze, high clarity No haze, low clarity
  
The total transmission is the ratio of the overall amount of light going through the material to the incident quantity of light. It is reduced by reflexion and absorption. |  |
 | Haze is the percentage of transmitted light which deviates more than 2.5° from the incident beam. With high angle scattering, the diffused light is spread evenly in all directions. In doing so there is only a small intensity of scattering on every solid angle. This causes a decrease of contrast and a milky and hazy appearance but it does not mean that the sharpness of an object, observed through a hazy specimen, is lessened. |
The sharpness is only influenced by the clarity
of a transparent material. It is the percentage of transmitted light which deviates less than 2.5°
from the incident beam. As the light is only
deflected in small angles there is a high amount
of diffused light concentrated in a very narrow band. Thereby the outlines become blurred and seem less sharp. |  |
The difference between haze and contrast
 | Haze
The sample is not in direct contact with the observed specimen!
The higher the haze value the lower the transparency. |
 | Contrast
The sample is in direct contact with the observed specimen!
Higher contrast means higher transparency. |
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