darktable ep 032 - The Levels module and the Color Picker

[@prashantbk4766]

Hi Bruce, Thank you for the detailed and structured tutorials I am one of your subscribers and new to darktable - only used Picasa earlier Regarding the levels module: (maybe you covered it as one of your other videos) I just discovered that you can slide the gray point color picker from the graph and adjust it to get better on the white & black points. You can also adjust black & white point after the gray point is adjusted to your satisfaction. This I think gives you complete control on the image. I continue learning a lot from your videos & thank you once again for your great efforts

[@audio2u]

Thanks Prashant! 😃

[@kaneddavis]

Thank you for all your efforts, you and Harry Durgin have educated me and made DT my 'go to' image editor. Keep up the great work!

[@JulesMoyaert_photo]

Bruce, I agree with you 100% for the bad behavior of the color picker in the second photograph. As an ex-product marketing manager for several software companies, I personally called it a BUG! 🤣

[@wido123123]

I've used the level modules myself a couple times. To me, is not about a one-click solution, but rather "just a notch to finish" to fine tune my base and tone curve. Love your videos and I'd like the full process image too, more like a demo than a full tutorial

[@RedErnest]

Clear and concise instructions! Thanks!

[@audio2u]

Thanks!

[@Micantropo78]

your darktables videos are so helpfull!! Thanks a lot!

[@Photoguy360]

I agree I just use levels in Gimp. Learned about the color picker though thanks. Nice to know it's not just me.

[@JillesvanGurp]

Great overview. I've also found the levels filter to be more or less useless; luckily there's no shortage of alternatives. It would be more useful if it actually did automatically what I normally try to do in a very fiddly way, which is to simply set the black and whitepoint such that there is no clipping. I usually do this with the exposure module. It seems that this should be easy to automate. Rather than clipping, I prefer to use s-curves or the zone filter (another of your awesome tutorials) to compress shadows and whites, without introducing clipping. A lot of filters seem to accidentally introduce clipping by default. If you are taking suggestions, one thing I struggle with is dealing with color casts and other subtle color and temperature issues. I can see something is wrong but fixing it seems challenging. Particularly the white balance and color balance tools seem very difficult to get right. I recently had some success using split toning. The color correction module is an obvious choice as well but I find I tend to get it wrong. The best advice I've seen on this front was Harry Durgin's very technical approach of measuring colors with the color picker and then introducing tiny tweaks using the color balance. That man is a wizard with Darktable. However, I've struggled with replicating that as well. It seems he has a lot of ratios and numbers stuck in his head. Somehow, I just don't see it and end up overdoing it one way or another. If you have any insights regarding this, that would be a great topic for one of your next videos. I think this is probably the hardest thing for me in Darktable. and my aging Canon 550D camera needs a lot of hand holding for this.

[@audio2u]

Thanks Jilles. Another topic to add to the list of future episodes! 😀

[@iremon]

Congrats on the new graphics!

[@audio2u]

Thanks! Just felt like the channel needed a bit more "life" to it. And I should have done episode-specific thumbnails from the start. Was a big job to go and produce 31 of the damned things in one go! :)

[@RicoResolves]

@@audio2u Great work Bruce, together with a new channel name (instead of audio2u) your channel is becoming better and more professional. Well done 👍!

[@audio2u]

Thanks Rico!

[@stefanosandolo4605]

Hi Bruce thanks for this video. I suppose the levels module works only on luminosity histogram, while the clipping indicator shows clipping of all RGB histogram channels

[@audio2u]

Ahh... good point! I should have worked that out!

[@FrauStaenki]

There is an interesting video by Unmesh, in which he explains that no one needs levels, with curves on hand. 😉

[@audio2u]

Sounds legit! 😃

[@KevinSaruwatari]

Hi Bruce, not sure if it's a bug but in 2.6.1 I notice the levels tool jumps in quite a bit on the black and white point on the first click on auto but if I give it a moment to adjust and then click it a 2nd time it seems to get it very close.

[@audio2u]

Interesting. I have not seen that. I'll have to check that out.

[@_rudolf.ganglbauer_]

Hi Bruce, Hi Kevin, regarding the clipping I think that the indicators are preset to 98%. So, if the value of the white point is set to 100% it is above the indicator. Maybe that's the reason and if I am right, than its no bug :-)

[@cosmo0080]

nice graphic

[@audio2u]

Thanks! Gotta make 'em hook viewers! :)