darktable ep 094 - The Contrast Fulcrum slider

[@bernym4047]

Another clear video clarifying some rather technical points. Thanks.

[@audio2u]

Cheers Berny!

[@wido123123]

I feel partially responsible for this video, as I was one of the ones "explaining" how fulcrum works....except that I got it totally wrong. Thanks a lot for clearing this up, now it makes ohhh su much more sense to me!

[@audio2u]

Haha! Mate, I'm learning as I go! 😃

[@christianfandel6963]

One Tool more to tune complex situations. Thx 4 for the background - the simulation makes it more catchy

[@audio2u]

Cheers!

[@rrstites]

Thank you for putting this together.

[@audio2u]

No problem! :)

[@jnrickards]

Yup, really good, gotta play with this, thanks

[@audio2u]

No worries!

[@emrg777]

One further thing and you may have pointed it out but it also defines the boundry for contrast between the shadows and highlights ie what gets darkened and what gets lightened so as you slide it the range of tones that get darker vs lighter as a result of the contrast boost is shifted.....

[@audio2u]

Cool. Thanks Todd!

[@emrg777]

@@audio2u Funny it seems like a powerful tool and I used it often with contrast but they have chosen to hide it away on the mask tab of the new module. Its a nice tool to get the darks to more or less of your image or to pull back the whites if they get blown out a bit when you add contrast or to brighten the highlights...I think both the contrast and fulcrum will be on my quick access panel

[@audio2u]

I haven't looked at the QAP yet.... Need to update my dev build this week.

[@julibito2328]

Well done. Tanks for explanation. In the past, i asked myself for the function of this slider several times. And you gave me the answer.

[@audio2u]

Cheers!

[@FairMiles]

Both explanations and animation are clear. However I see it from a different (though complementary) practical angle. You (first) adjust the fulcrum to the point within your tonal range that YOU DON'T WANT to be impacted by changes in contrast [that's why it defaults to the mystical mid gray @ 18%] [and the white point will be remapped closer or farther from the original as a consequence of the applied function, which was your main take]

[@audio2u]

Oh yeah, that makes sense! 😃 cheers!

[@GrahamSchroder]

Hey Bruce, be been meaning let you know how much I got out of this video. Your explanation was crystal clear and I can't believe I've never used that slider before. It gives me so much more control over controlling contrast. Thanks heaps for all your vids. I really don't tell you that enough.

[@audio2u]

Thanks Graham, glad it helped! 😃

[@TheTechRancher]

Thank you Bruce. That cleared up a lot for me.

[@audio2u]

Cheers!

[@metalmick99]

Thanks for another wonderful and informative clip, Bruce. I had no idea what these tools were for till now, and you explained their function quite clearly. I had a play with them on a B&W image I'm working with and thought it gave me some rather pleasing results. There is so much depth to DT, that I'm wondering how many ways there are to achieve a desired goal in the application.

[@audio2u]

Yup, it's like opening a can of worms! 😃

[@TimurDavletshin]

Thanks a lot! I could never have guessed it from popup tooltip 😄

[@audio2u]

Cheers!

[@joaovtaveira]

I was one of those that questioned you about that.

[@audio2u]

Cheers!

[@cosmo0080]

very interesting thanks

[@audio2u]

Cheers!

[@janvangastel6763]

I am just starting to use DT and use DT 4.0. I could not find the color balance module in the lists. I had to type the name of the module in the 'search' line to find it. Is it not used any more?

[@audio2u]

Yes, but if you click the hamburger icon on the list of icons below the histogram, you'll see the option for the modules manager. In there, you will find predefined sets of modules which are visible.

[@janvangastel6763]

Thank you

[@knownas6217]

Nice explanation. Now wondering why the contrast fulcrum is above the contrast slider. As, even if it is a little illogical, I for one use it to tweak rather than set a white point for contrast.

[@audio2u]

Right. As long as you get a result you're happy with, that's the main thing! 😃

[@mickehog76]

So awesome explanation :). Is it your dog? So adorable 😍.

[@audio2u]

Thanks. Yes, our dog... Aztec. He's very old now... About 13.

[@joaovtaveira]

5:31 what about negative contrast values?

[@audio2u]

Haha. I didn't even think you check that!

[@joaovtaveira]

@@audio2u but I think it is important.

[@embeddedbastler6406]

Very nice explanation with the graph. But when should this slider be used? Clipping the bright pixels to white is not something that one would want very often.

[@audio2u]

No, I think the idea is to use the contrast fulcrum to increase the intensity of the contrast value. That's my take on it, anyway.

[@audytor111]

👍👍👍

[@audio2u]

Cheers!

[@sparkysteele]

Can it open Canon cr3 files yet

[@audio2u]

I don't think so, but I have heard rumblings that the external library which handles that, IS close to cr3 super, and as soon as that happens, it will flow through to darktable.

[@SebastianMarelli]

Be honest: You're from the future and you recorded all these episodes on the same day. Your hair never changes😅 Many thanks for the explanation! Keep it up

[@audio2u]

Bwahaha!