Hi everyone!!!
Welcome to my another blog post.In my previous post I listed my favorite free softwares that are worth trying in 2019. You can read the post here. After using Darktable for more than a year, I realized how powerful it can be when combined with few techniques to achieve mind-blowing results.Since there are lack of tutorials in the internet, I planned to share my knowledge and experience through this blog in simple way as possible through series of small articles with detailed pictorial representation. Lets begin our new journey into the world of image-editing.
Now coming to the first tab, it shows all those tools applied to the image. Pressing the power icon will toggle the adjustment on and off. The second option is used to save presets for each tools. The Third option is to reset the tool to default values.
The Second tab indicated by Star Icon is for marking tools to our favorite list. All the favorite tools will be indicated in the tab as list which makes our work simpler as we don't need to search for tools in every module.
To the left of the screen, few addintional tools are there and my favorite is Color picker which helps in getting accurate white balance which I will make a separete tutorial.
History shows the list of actions applied to the image and undo can be done here in case if we want to go back to any particular step in the post processing. Snapshot helps in creating before and after snapshot for comparison.
Hope you like this Intro Post and meet you all in the next tutorial. Thanks
Welcome to my another blog post.In my previous post I listed my favorite free softwares that are worth trying in 2019. You can read the post here. After using Darktable for more than a year, I realized how powerful it can be when combined with few techniques to achieve mind-blowing results.Since there are lack of tutorials in the internet, I planned to share my knowledge and experience through this blog in simple way as possible through series of small articles with detailed pictorial representation. Lets begin our new journey into the world of image-editing.
A small Intro.....
It is a non-destructive RAW editor,very powerful enough to perform most of the work Adobe Lightroom is capable of performing. Modules tab are divided neatly for specific adjustments.All the modules are customizable for our specific liking. The initial layout maybe little confusing but the software can be very addictive.
My favorite modules are Equalizer Module - where we can de-noise the image, smoothen the skin etc, Retouch module - a specific module for skin retouching like blemish removal and Zone System - where image is divided into zones based on luminance value for better fine tuning.
As I said before, it is even powerful to perform some of the process that are commonly done in Adobe Photoshop like Portrait retouching such as Frequency Separation for blemish and scar removal, Skin smoothening, Dodging and Burning, Color Toning, Layer Adjustments through blending options etc. It is a must try software for growing photographers.
To Download from their Official Website:
Home Page Layout
This entire post is structured to get used to the layout and settings of the software. After installing the software and loading it, the initial startup look like this.This is the place where we load our images and export out final results.In the left side, we can see import option where we load specific images or we can import the entire folder to the software.After loading the images, the thumbnail of it will displayed in the middle portion and preview size of the thumbnail can be adjusted by scrolling the mouse wheel.It can also load HDR Image formats like OpenEXR etc.
In the right side, we can see the select option where we can create HDR using bracketed images, group the similar images for reference etc.
Export option is also available in the right side where can export our final finished image and various file formats are available.We can also set the quality,max size min size etc.
Darkroom Module
Darkroom Module can be activated either by clicking the darkroom option at the top or by pressing D which is a shortcut for it.Darkroom Module is further sub-divided into various tabs with relevant options for specific adjustments.The third tab in Darkroom Module is the Basic adjustments tab where we can find options for initial image corrections like
- Contrast Brightness Saturation - for adjusting contrast and saturation of the image
- Shadows and Highlights - for recovering highlights and shadows from the image for increasing the dynamic range of the image
- Crop and Rotate - for cropping and adjusting vertical and horizontal keystones
- Orientation - for rotating the images
- Exposure - for adjusting exposure of the image
- White balance - for correcting color cast issues and correcting white balance.
The next tab basically deals with options relating to Luminosity adjustments alone like
- Fill Light - where exposure compensation can be increased or decreased based on specific luminance value in the particular image
- Levels - where luminance value of the image is represented in graph similar to histogram and shadows, mid-tones and highlights can be adjusted
- Tone Curve - where image luminance value is represented in graph and more refined adjustments can be made to shadows, mid-tones and highlights
- Zone System - invented by Ansel Adams where image luminance value is divided into zones and targeted adjustment can be made to particular zones alone with affecting the other zone values which is very useful in creating HDR images.
- Local Contrast - where contrast of the image is adjusted without affecting its saturation.
This tab is dedicated to adjusting chroma values ( Color values) of the image like
- Channel Mixer - where Red Green Blue values of each color channel are adjusted to achieve specific color effects
- Color Correction - which is very useful for removing color cast in the image. Tutorial coming soon
- Monochrome - converts your image into Black and White. If combined with masking, specific color desaturation can be made to create dramatic effect.
- Color Zone - where colors of the image are divided into zones and each color zone's Hue, Saturation and Brightness Value can be adjusted for precise actions.
- Color Balance - where colors can be added to shadows , mid-tones and highlights individually which is a great tool for color grading our images
- Vibrance - it increases saturation value to all colors except Red and Orange which basically is a skin tone
- Velvia - just opposite of Vibrance where saturation value is added only to Red and Orange colors
This tools in this tab basically deals with lens adjustments like:
- Perspective correction - to straighten the distorted images
- Lens Correction - tons of lens profiles are included which makes the task of lens correction very simple
- Chromatic aberrations - to remove magenta and green edges in the contrasty areas
- Equalizer - a powerful tool which I use for skin retouching and noise removal
- Spot Removal - to remove dust in the sensor
This final tab consists of tools like:
- Split Toning - where colors can be added to shadows and highlights for color grading
- Vignetting - where vintage dark borders around the image can be created
- Soften - to create glowing bloom effect
- Graduated Density - similar to Graduated ND filters but in digital form.
And the tools does not end there. Those were my frequently used tools and not to forget each and every tool and layout is customizable. If we look at the bottom, we can see more modules where additional tools can be either added or unwanted tools can be removed to make our work-space neat and clean.
Now coming to the first tab, it shows all those tools applied to the image. Pressing the power icon will toggle the adjustment on and off. The second option is used to save presets for each tools. The Third option is to reset the tool to default values.
The Second tab indicated by Star Icon is for marking tools to our favorite list. All the favorite tools will be indicated in the tab as list which makes our work simpler as we don't need to search for tools in every module.
To the left of the screen, few addintional tools are there and my favorite is Color picker which helps in getting accurate white balance which I will make a separete tutorial.
History shows the list of actions applied to the image and undo can be done here in case if we want to go back to any particular step in the post processing. Snapshot helps in creating before and after snapshot for comparison.
Hope you like this Intro Post and meet you all in the next tutorial. Thanks
