Raw Processing: Introduction to darktable

As I mentioned in a recent post, I use the program darktable for the bulk of my raw file development (and I plan to use it for file management, when I get around to actually, y'know, managing my files). I thought I'd give a brief overview of the program for those who might be interested in getting a taste of it without committing to an installation, or those who have recently installed it and find themselves completely lost.

 

darktable for Windows: lighttable

This is something like what you'll see when you open darktable, provided you have imported files into the program already. This is the lighttable section of the program.

On the left panel, you have options to import files and folders, view imported images (filtered in a variety of ways depending upon user instructions), see recently used collections of images, and see the image information (such as EXIF data and file location) for the photo you have selected in the central panel.

In the centre panel, you'll see a variety of images. The particular images you will see will depend upon the selections you make in the left panel. You can further filter the displayed images with options at the top and bottom of the panel. Also in this centre area are display options and access to global preferences (click the wheel icon).

(Quick tip: if you hover your mouse over a photo in the centre panel and hold down z on your keyboard, the photo will be enlarged until you release z. If you hover your mouse over photo and hold ctrl+z, the photo will be enlarged with indications over all areas that darktable detects as being in focus.)

In the right panel you'll find a variety of functions, such as tagging options (for file management), styles (similar to Adobe Lightroom presets; these provide preconfigured edits to selected images), metadata editing, and export options (to convert edited raw files to image files).

The lighttable is used mainly for file management and export; you won't typically perform edits in this area except, perhaps, for batch processing with styles (but I don't recommend this approach).

If you want to edit an individual raw file, you have two options: you can double-click on it, or you can select it and then click on "darkroom" to the top right of window. Either way, you'll be taken to the darkroom.

darktable for Windows: darkroom

The darkroom is where the real magic happens. Here you can take control over the appearance of your final image through a seemingly endless (and, therefore, initially intimidating) choice of tool modules.

At the centre of the screen, you'll see the image you are editing. At the bottom of the screen, you'll see thumbnails of other images, which can be double-clicked for quick editing access. Between the main screen and the film strip of images is a narrow bar with several icons; these include, on the left, quick access to presets and styles, and on the right, over- and under-exposure warning toggles, and soft-proofing and gamut checking toggles (full disclosure: I have only the faintest idea what the latter two toggles are used for).

The left panel of the screen holds a number of drop-down modules. Snapshots allows you take a quick grab of your image at a given point in the editing process, and later compare that snapshot to the edited image as it currently stands. The history module shows all of the edits you have made to the raw file. These edits are stored in an XMP sidecar file--what this means, in simple terms, is that no edits are made to the original file itself; this is why darktable is described as a nondestructive editor. You will probably notice that even if you have opened a file for the very first time, there will be some items listed in the history module; this is because darktable applies certain basic adjustments automatically. Under the history module are a global colour picker module, a tagging module, an image information module, and a mask editor module. The mask editor module allows you to manage masks that you have used to apply local edits to particular areas of your image (versus applying the edits to the entire image).

The right panel of the darktable is where most of your work takes place. At the top of the panel, you'll see the histogram for your image, as well as some basic image information. There are various options for how the histogram is displayed, and if you wish, you can perform some very basic edits on your image by dragging either side of the histogram. Under the histogram are seven icons, linking you to various groups of editing modules. In the above example, you can see the basic group (accessed by clicking the plain circle icon), with the base curve module expanded. At the bottom of the panel you will see an area labeled 'more modules'; here you can control which modules are displayed for easy access, which modules are hidden, and which modules are included in your favourites section.

So that is a very basic overview of darktable, quite possibly using some incorrect terminology (the darktable user manual, for example, uses panels to refer to areas such as the history stack and the mask manager rather than to the different areas of the screen). Interested in learning more? Keep an eye on this site, or delve further into the manual by clicking here.

darktable is nondestructive, free, and open-source, and available for a variety of operating systems (chances are pretty good that yours is one of them). It was designed by photographers, for photographers--and in my experience, the photographers' influence is easily seen in all of its functions. Check it out if you like how it looks!