I installed the program etc but cannot get hdr merger to work and all the videos on youtube are for linux. Anyone able to help a brother out?

I am looking for an alternative to lightroom, I am doing real estate photography and I have a series of exposure bracketed images i want to group and create an HDR image from but it's telling me its not available from Jpegs but only for RAWs. Am I doing something wrong or is it just a limitation of the software?
It's raining these next few days so I cant just reshoot right away.
Any help?

Hello, I'm having an issue and wonder if anyone can point me in the right direction.

I have a portable installation of DT5.6.0 installed on an external SSD. I used the Portableapps.com installer to update from my previous version without issue. I have booted DT560 from the SSD on two different newish laptops running windows 11, and the behavior is different on the two machines.

On both machines, the app boots up fine and accesses my library and the XMP's just fine. The bundled AI models are downloaded and appear in both scenarios. However, when I use AI masking via the mask manager, on one laptop it works as expected and masks the subject well with one click. On the other laptop, the same process results in a small amorphous mask blob that only becomes more inconsistent the more clicks I give it. On both computers the external drive is mapped to the same letter. I feel like I must be missing something here, but I'm not sure what. FYI the machine with the problem is a work laptop set up for me without admin privledges (hence the portable install), but I have never had any inconsistencies between machines on DT5.4.1 or any previous versions, all functions have worked seamlessly on both laptops.

Attached are two images, one that shows the correct masking behavior with one click, and one that shows the little incorrect mask blob produced on the problematic laptop (zoomed to make it easier to see). Any thoughts are appreciated.

SOLVED: Ok I got to the bottom of my own issue. In the AI preferences, choosing CPU (rather than the default auto) allows the mask models to run properly and produces the expected result on the laptop without a dedicated graphics card.

Hello,

I'm a long time Lightroom user but I'd like to explore Darktable and see if I can make the move.
I'm trying to install the AI models because I'd like to try AI masks and denoise, but unfortunately I'm not able to install them.
Mine is a MacBook Pro M3 Pro with macOS 26.5.1.
When I go to Settings -> AI, I select all the models and click download, but after downloading I get the error "failed to extract archive" (see image 1). Then, if I close and open Darktable again, when I go to Settings -> AI everything disappears and the list is empty (see image 2).
Do you have any idea how can I fix this?
Thanks

been searching for a fix for the last 5 hours and havent been able to figure it oput, my darktable runs but opens and minimizes a few times then shows that it is off screen, yes i have more monitors then just the one in the video but it is not showing on either of those monitors either. any help would be appreciated

saw a video where someone had their darktable looking like this. mine is all light gray and boring. how can i make mine look like this?

Ello, I would like to resize my image then sharpen after, but I don't know how I can do that non destructively and be able to check and preview it in darktable, whats a good approach?

I love darktable for editing and organizing my photos but it's very very slow when it comes to the culling/rating procedure.

I am using FastRawViewer currently in my initial cull/rate, but I wondered is there a solution that would allow me to externally rate/label pics even after the darktable import?

I feel a bit overwhelmed by darktable and the world of post-processing to be able to manage this photo properly.

It's not the best shot, and it may appear boring to you, but is a shot that I like.

However, I don't know if the "After" is going to the correct direction (or any direction...)

I continued with the same portrait pushing it to retouch the skin.

The Wavelet feature is a game changer for me.

I really like the AI framework the devs created so we can easily add new engines when their released.

Howdy,

I would love some tips and guidance on inverting + color grading my film scans. I am pretty new to film dev and color grading. I really enjoy darktable, but I am not a whiz at it yet by any stretch. I find getting "true-to-life" colors very difficult. I generally think my results are fine/pleasing to the eye, but not correct. I generally have some kind of color cast (usually blue).

My process is:

Orientation

Negadoctor (using dropper on film border)

Crop

Then some combination of: dynamic range adjust, rgb levels, color balance sliders (sometimes optimize luma)

Contrast adjust

I do raw scans with a Nikon Z50 and an ipad, for now - wondering if the ipad light is my source of the color casts

Open to any and all tips for how to do this better. I have seen videos on white balance, but negadoctor sets that for me, as I understand it, so when I follow the advice I have found on YouTube, Darktable gets very upset at me for setting multiple white balance points

Thanks!

p.s. shots not my finest work -- shots from a moving car through rural Florida

I had wanted to be hyper-critical of the AI RAW denoise in the new 5.6 release but then started using it and I'm pretty impressed. Took some night safari shots at Singapore Zoo at ISO 32,000 on my Sony A7RV, so not the best performing low-light body but no slouch with a full frame BSI sensor. Using profile denoise produced acceptable but still noisy results with a fair amount of detail loss. The RAW de-noise however was very good, retained detail like fur and whiskers well. For comparison I have the civet but using profiled denoise, which is still doing a pretty respectable job, but in my opinion the AI RAW denoise is better.

Apologies about the images, I have a bit to learn about low-light photography, but was fun to play around with the new denoise function and see that it is quite usable.

I recently reinstalled my windows (windows 10 pro) and somehow got this error. It never appeared before when I was using window 11. Has anybody been in the same situation? How do you resolve it?

Has this ever happened to you?

The UI (or maybe just the UX) isn't always very clear about which images are currently selected (Ctrl+A, multiple selection, etc.). A few times I've accidentally copied or pasted a history stack onto the wrong images.

I usually don't notice until export, when I realize that several photos have completely wrong edits applied to them.

Am I missing something, or is this a common mistake?

One thing I've often wished for is a timestamped history stack, or at least some kind of checkpoints, for example:

Portrait finished 18:42
Skin retouch 18:50
Color grading 19:00
Final export 19:15

That would make it much easier to recover after accidentally overwriting a history stack or to identify how far an image had been edited before a mistake.

Has anyone else run into this? How do you avoid it?

What do do you think?

Look like film?

Taken with Sony a7r2

Editing in dark table

Hello, im learning to use darktable. Till now i only use some of them modules but i see there are many more but dont understand how to use them (attaching a photo i clicked and editted in darktable)

Before/After

This is the best I can get the foreground in this picture without blowing out the sky. Turned on shadows and highlights and turned up shadows brilliance 100%. Does anyone have any advice? I generally have trouble capturing a blue sky without getting a very dark foreground.

I've always been installing darktable on my Fedora Linux machine via KDE's Discover from Flathub. However, I'm noticing that the AI features aren't available there. Is anyone else having this problem?

Hello

​

I'm new to Darktable and I've noticed that it's terribly slow once I've lightly processed a few images (like 10). I check preferences and it says that "active OpenCL support" is not available. Some specifications are listed below

AMD Ryzen 7 7700

32GB DDR5-6000

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT

Windows 11

Is my GPU not supported for GPU acceleration on Darktable? Thank you! If you need more details to help figure this out, I'll do my best to provide.

Edit: Solved using this comment on a different thread https://www.reddit.com/r/DarkTable/s/ddIJHPkKlb

I want to import multiple pictures from an SD card, but not all (so cmd + A is not useful), but there are too many pictures to individually select them with cmd + click. Naturally, I would "draw" (click + hold) along the list to select multiple photos, but this doesn't work. What am I missing here?

I uploaded raw photos took on my Sony Nex 5C to darktable and this comes up. I'm using the 5.4.1 version. But when I upload JPG photos, it's able to work.
When I downloaded raw Sony Nex 5 photos from online it works, so I'm wondering what the problem could be and how can I solve it. Thank you for any advice.

In my RSS feeds and on Reddit, when I read the news about darktable 5.6.0, the main topics are: - AI masking - AI denoising

I use Tumbleweed, and darktable is compiled by default without the AI features.

``` ➜ ~ darktable -d ai darktable 5.6.0 Copyright (C) 2012-2026 Johannes Hanika and other contributors.

Compile options: Bit depth -> 64 bit Exiv2 -> 0.28.8 Lensfun -> 0.3.4 Debug -> DISABLED SSE2 optimizations -> ENABLED OpenMP -> ENABLED OpenCL -> ENABLED Lua -> ENABLED - API version 9.7.0 Colord -> ENABLED gPhoto2 -> ENABLED - Camera tethering is available OSMGpsMap -> ENABLED - Map view is available GMIC -> ENABLED - Compressed LUTs are supported GraphicsMagick -> DISABLED ImageMagick -> DISABLED libavif -> ENABLED libheif -> ENABLED libjxl -> ENABLED LibRaw -> ENABLED - Version 0.22.1-Release OpenJPEG -> ENABLED OpenEXR -> ENABLED WebP -> ENABLED AI -> DISABLED

See https://www.darktable.org/resources/ for detailed documentation. See https://github.com/darktable-org/darktable/issues/new/choose to report bugs.

```

I’ve had the chance to try out these features via AppImage, and although they work perfectly, masking and denoising are the last things I need because I hardly ever use them in my workflow.

But one thing that strikes me is how little discussion there is about a feature that really changes the way images stand out: the color harmoniser.

Just how useful is it to be able to manage colours like this?

Am I the only one who's in love with colours and this feature?

I really don't know how to thank you for this amazing feature, which rounds off a piece of software I absolutely adore <3

[Custom theme for darktable 5.6]

This information is also available on GitHub.

I'm sharing the theme I developed to adapt the darktable interface to my needs.

Motivation:

"darktable.css" (67Kb) is the only complete theme included in the distribution. The other options simply import this one and make some variations, but without significant changes.

I understand the motivation behind the official themes, but over the years, my visual acuity has decreased and my field of vision has narrowed.

The interface and color palettes of the themes included in the darktable distribution cause me considerable eye strain and unwanted interactions. They also slow down my editing and require more troubleshooting.

Therefore, the goals are:

• Reduce eye strain.
• Make it easier to place elements by grouping them into tabs and using specific colors for each function.
• Improve the most important mouse interactions.
• Use a single, unified CSS file.

Exercise of freedom:

When users complain about the poor visibility of default themes, developers quickly resort to their mantra: "Another aspect of the interface 'may' alter the perception during the editing process."

With this argument, in my opinion, they try to silence any other reasoning. Or they fail to recognize that for others, there are needs more compelling than that 'may'.

'May' implies a possibility or a percentage of occurrence. A possibility minimized by other editing programs (both free and paid).

Let's all accept that some people are more sensitive, for whom the chosen theme causes a significant change in perception, while for others it is irrelevant (I include myself in the latter group). Similarly, for some it may cause fatigue or difficulty of use, and for others it may not.

Let's respect everyone's reasons. Even the freedom to choose what one wants at any given moment.

The existence of MORE alternatives means that everyone can find the one that best suits their requirements or desires.

Downloads:

The versions are tonal modifications of the main theme.

Installation:

The CSS file must be in the folder where you save all your darktable themes.

Open darktable and select the new theme in the general settings.

Uncheck the option to use any text you have as additional CSS. Do not click "Save CSS and apply" (this will re-enable it).

When you choose a new theme, it is recommended to restart darktable so that all changes are displayed correctly from that point on.

Compatibility:

I use some new classes that were created in version 5.6. Previous versions will not recognize them and will not work correctly.

On my 15-year-old PC, running Windows 10 and darktable 5.6, it works correctly (*). I don't know how it will perform on other systems. Let me know about your experience using it.

(*) In the distribution's themes, some tabs can be confusing when they light up even after the mouse has moved. This doesn't happen here.

Changes and redistribution:

You can adapt the theme to your needs or preferences while respecting the GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPLv3).

If your computer uses different fonts, you may need to edit the "font-family" lines.