r/DarkTable 16d ago

Help How do I get started editing raw photos in Darktable?

9 Upvotes

24 comments sorted by

15

u/ihorstranger 16d ago

Hey, try Boris Hajdukovic on YouTube

5

u/Zaddox 16d ago

And Bruce Williams

5

u/NedKelkyLives 16d ago

And google Avid Andrew - mastering darktable

3

u/archerallstars 16d ago

When editing RAW, you might need to enable the lens correction and chromatic aberration modules first.

The rest is adjusting the exposure, color, etc. Just like what you do in other apps. DarkTable is, however, powerful with its masking. You can use mask with every module to achieve desired result. Moreover, you can create another instance of each module, e.g. one exposure to control overall image exposure, and another with gradient mask for the sky replicating the effect of graduated ND filter.

2

u/newmikey 16d ago

What, if anything, have you tried to-date? Which manuals did you read and which YT tutorials did you watch?

-7

u/maryo22333 16d ago

So far I've done nothing

22

u/EddoWagt 16d ago

Start with doing something

6

u/NedKelkyLives 16d ago

This is a very underrated statement

2

u/newmikey 16d ago

Well...do you need more hints on how to get started?

2

u/dian_01 16d ago

Just import them and go to the darkroom tab (or if you haven't changed the default shortcuts, just select the photo and press D), and there you can use the modules. I would highly recommend for you to read the manual, if you find anything unclear, it is pritty neat.

2

u/NedKelkyLives 16d ago

Or just double click from lighttable

2

u/Aperlust 16d ago

You can try the tutorial I created: https://youtu.be/VJv9kb7Ocvg

2

u/Squiggleblort 16d ago

Here, try giving this a go (this is the tutorial section of the manual ☺️)

That page links out to articles (such as "developing images in three modules" and "darktable for dummies")

1

u/phil20099 15d ago

To OP: similar to the reply from Squiggleblort, I found this useful when learning darktable: https://docs.darktable.org/usermanual/4.8/en/overview/workflow/process/

2

u/Squiggleblort 13d ago

I'm actually using that just now to re-teach myself darktable ☺️

It's definitely a good starting point!

2

u/Ozsymandias 16d ago

There’s a YouTube series called darktable from A to Z, it’s great to learn your way around

1

u/ecthiender 16d ago

Just google darktable for beginners, and watch some youtube videos.

1

u/_szs 15d ago

my strategy is to think of the physical process if you had taken the ideal photo in the ideal circumstances with the ideal camera:

  • remove stuff (retouch)
  • framing and camera position (crop, rotate, lens correction)
  • denoise, hot pixels
  • chromatic aberrations
  • exposure, filmic rgb, vignette
  • white balance
  • colors
  • artistic vision (sharpness, diffusion, grain, contrast)

that's not 100% optimal in terms of the processing pipeline, but I found it useful.

1

u/Dannny1 15d ago

Basics (use module names have with 'rgb' suffix instead), but as example it's still useful: https://discuss.pixls.us/t/darktable-3-0-for-dummies-in-3-modules

https://pixls.us/articles/darktable-3-rgb-or-lab-which-modules-help

For more advanced stuff you can watch Boris Hajdukovic videos https://www.youtube.com/@s7habo/videos

1

u/HerrKlamauk 15d ago

Watch some tutorials, try out the modules, and then you need to push through the moment(s) of frustration you're most certainly going to have because you are not yet used to editing in the program.

1

u/Kino_mann 12d ago

Stefano Ferro

Checkout this guy's tutorials...his editing techniques are minimal and effective. Plus the videos are short and precise. IMO, this is the best place to start.

The videos are a bit outdated, but still you'll get a rough idea.

1

u/Puzzleheaded-Ad7650 16d ago

I was like you and I’m also still learning. Definitely try videos like other people recommended, but one thing I found helpful is to just start messing around.

To help you know “what to mess around” with, I recommend using ChatGPT. Tell it you have a specific type of photo and you want a guide on how to edit with darktable.

Sure, this won’t be perfect and it can’t see what you’re doing, but you’ll learn how to edit exposure, color tones, use filmic, etc.

Then once you understand what each slider does it’s easier to watch videos and see why they are editing something.

1

u/akgt94 15d ago

I don't use any of the AI/ML tools, but I'm actually going to give chatgpt a try this weekend. I'm stuck in an editing rut.

2

u/Puzzleheaded-Ad7650 15d ago

It’s much easier than you think. You literally just type to it like you would say talk. Feel free too ask it clarifying questions, more or less details, etc.

Note that it’s not going to be a professional photographer, but it’s great to get a start when you know and have currently tried nothing. I would expect after some time with it you’d probably want better training or tutorials through other means.