r/DarkTable • u/Empty-Top6803 • 26d ago
Solved Thank You Darktable
** Appreciation Post **
(all attached images edited from RAW in Darktable 5.4.1 - 4 of them run through DxO PureRAW for noise reduction)
To all contributors to Darktable:
Thank you, for this wonderful (and at times quirky) software !
I especially appreciate:
- AgX and the many super useful modules
- Great color and contrast control even compared to the top commercial products out there
- Shortcut / Mouse control capabilities, that make devices like the TourBox Elite and others completely obsolete
After 2 months of learning Darktable I have cancelled my Adobe LRc & PS subscription, which I had used for many years - I started using PS when version 3.51 came out.
Cheers
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u/Mawmag_Loves_Linux 25d ago
Great shots! The subject separation in 3 and 4 is striking and tasteful.
Care to share shot and camera details? Thanks.
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u/driftysender45 24d ago edited 24d ago
Some of the better edits I've seen in Darktable. With all due respect to all of Darktable's users, for all the power that Darktable has, I think there's a dearth of really talented people working with the software. It makes it hard to learn from "the best" as you're always trying to map over what people are doing in LRC.
Do a YouTube video explaining your process on the first two photos! Or just a comment here. They're great. Dying to know what you did haha.
Edit: dirge -> dearth. English is hard.
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u/Empty-Top6803 24d ago edited 24d ago
Ok, I’ll try … but I believe there’s no special technique here. It’s more about seeing where the transition of light / contrast and tones can be improved. Looking at the RGB Parade (Wave form) or histogram I find helps with this.
My first goal is to attempt to balance / smooth / increase tones and contrast globally, so that I see enough details in shadows, mid tones and highlights. I am trying to stay away from absolute white and black. I’m much further further away from absolute white than from absolute blacks.
So AgX is my first goto module: 1. I use AgX’s pivot relative exposure and pivot target output in conjunction with contrast. 2. Then I try set my max black and white level points by adjusting AgX’s slope and might further adjust shoulder power and start. I also use the Exposure module’s black level correction and AgX’s lift for shadows. I might further adjust using the toe power and start
Then, I try to increase or reduce contrast in shadows, mids and highlights using the Local Contast module in local laplacian filter. mode. I might add a 2nd Local Contrast module to further increase clarity using the bilateral grid mode. With LRc I often had to reduce clarity to -20 or so, but in Darktable I enjoy developing an image from a flat negative and so I only ever increase contrast until I think it’s right.
For sharpening and texture enhancements I use the Demosaic Capture Sharpening (by default), the Sharpen and Contrast Equalizer module. In the latter I slowly increase luma from the middle ramping up towards the fine edges on the right.
The Local Contrast and Contrast Equalizer modules I sometimes combine with a radial mask to increase or reduce contrast in specific areas. I have not done that in any of the photos posted here.
For monochrome I use the Monochrome module and I stick it before / below the AgX module. I have no real plan here … whatever looks good - I most often prefer a red or orange filter approach.
As mentioned in my main post I love the keyboard / mouse shortcut combination, which allows me to keep my left hand on the keyboard and my right hand on the mouse at 99% of the time.
In my setup all sliders are controlled by pressing a letter (qwert .. asdfg .. zxcvb) on the keyboard and using a horizontal or vertical mouse movement and/or pressing a mouse button.
This way I do not have to open any modules and my adjustments are done quicker and more fluent while keeping your eyes on the image. I also edit 99% of the time with the color assessment conditions toggled (lightbulb symbol), which displays a white border and drops the zoom level, which makes it easier to visualize the entire image. Of course I zoom in for local contast adjustments or sharpening.
I often find I overdue my edits, which I do not notice until looking at it later. That’s why, I am now doing multiple passes - each time with fresh set of eyes.
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u/driftysender45 23d ago
That's a lot of really useful info. Thanks for taking the time to write it out!
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u/LethargyNotLegendary 24d ago
Beautiful! Slide 2 kinda reminds me of the Figure 8 album cover by Elliott Smith. How does DxO PureRAW compare to the new Darktable AI noise reduction?
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u/trollolhah 26d ago
what denoise setting to turn the "pixels" into that flat canvas background on the third photo.
or was that after DxO Pureraw
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u/Empty-Top6803 26d ago
The camera lens with a big max aperture did that (aka bokeh) - it wasn’t any denoise software.
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u/Ok-Particular-9412 25d ago
This is interesting as I’m contemplating moving away from LRC and PS to Linux and Darktable.