Exploring Darktable: Basic Importing Images & Module Presets for a ProPhotoRGB Raw Workflow

Exploring Darktable: Basic Importing Images & Module Presets for a ProPhotoRGB Raw Workflow
Basic importing of images into Darktable and how to make module presets and preset changes to favour a ProPhotoRGB workflow for your raw files.
My Membership Videos & Articles: bit.ly/2SwaSZ6
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
02:10 Adding Images from a targeted folder
04:20 Filmstrip 'dances'.....
04:55 Changing thumbnail source - cached thumbnail invalidation (if you want to do it)
06:39 Basic Processing Preferences
07:34 Two Basic Styles of Image Workflow
12:45 Setting Up the Individual Module Presets
13:22 The OUTPUT colour profile
15:36 Making a Custom Preset 'stick' to All Raw Files
16:40 The WORKING Profile
17:54 Switching to DUAL DEMOSAICING RCD-VNG4
20:05 If it doesn't work DON'T PANIC!
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[@Being_Joe]

Happy Birthday Andy. Thanks for the videos.

[@AndyAstbury]

Thanks 👍

[@iliush]

Thanks for the video, wait for the next. Happy birthday!

[@AndyAstbury]

Thanks! 😃

[@davidjustice9036]

Happy Birthday, thanks for another great video, very educational and useful.

[@AndyAstbury]

Thank you very much!

[@jhmnieuwenhuis]

Thanks and happy birthday

[@AndyAstbury]

Cheers Hans

[@Eigil_Skovgaard]

Now the wonderful chemicals are ready to be mixed ... and ignited! I am ready.

[@AndyAstbury]

You and me both!

[@IvoTichelaar]

Congratulations Andy!

[@AndyAstbury]

Thank you!

[@IvoTichelaar]

@@AndyAstbury so... Uh.... When is Rawtherapee 6.0 coming? ....... 🫣🤣

[@AndyAstbury]

Christ Ivo - ask the impossible question why don't you 😆😆😆

[@FrankEtchells]

Been keeping that quiet! Happy birthday matey 🎉 So... my 72nd is on the 27th making me 8 years older than you 😢😮😅 Where's the time go? Anyway... yett another very important and educational video Andy. Not sure if I'll be able to set it up for use with PS & LR as my laptop/s, apparently, no longer have the right updates for the nvidea & Intel graphics malarkey 😮

[@AndyAstbury]

No idea where time has been going since I hit 45 Frank! You can't 'set up' DT to interface with Ps - it just exports the file to your hard drive. So it'll open in your version of Ps Frank.

[@FrankEtchells]

@@AndyAstbury I meant continue to be using PS & LR because of the warning from Adobe about the graphics drivers and having to try to install manually - and maybe mess up the laptop totally. Adobe say to manually install the updated drivers - but backup. I see only troubles ahead. Can't afford a new laptop. Have yet to install DT on what I have.

[@emrg777]

Happy belated bd Andy. Nice video. One caveat with the modern workflow for WB is that it becomes a 2 step process. WB values for D65 are used for calculation made in CAT of the color calibration module. There are instances where these are not the best. The usual thing seems to be a bit of a red cast. It seems to be the case for certain cameras. The quick fix presented by Aurelie was taking a shot with your camera of your calibrated D65 screen displaying white. Make a preset as you demonstrated for that and it seems to offer a decent correction for the image. In general if those reference values are okay then as shot legacy and modern with CC module set also to as shot will be very very close. If not it could be the reference values so you can attempt the correction or just change that part of the workflow to legacy and use the traditional WB from the camera data. When using DT this is worth checking... of course taking it one last step and using the internal color Hecker calibration process in the color calibration module will also help to correct these sorts of deviations.. There has been a fair bit of discussion on pixls about this and Aurelien did demonstrate doing this in a video of his... just thought I would share that incase you had not come across it yet....

[@AndyAstbury]

Hi Todd, thank you 🍻🍻😎 I'm just begining to get my head around the colour calibration module (not 100% there yet!). If I were doing a job where colour was critical, then I'd do a shot with either a grey card or CCP in shot - that way there's no argument. With long lens wildlife etc, it's called 'know your subject', but then the creative side kicks in if the scene lighting is, let's say dramatic (backlit eagle/owl etc) so NOW WB becomes somewhat 'subjective'. Then we move on to those moddy and dramatic landscape/seascape shots - now WB becomes VERY subjective ie: 'augmented reality' shall we say! But, to start out the processing, it's always best to begin with a WB that's in the ball-park. In Lr,COP that's easy, in RT it's fairly easy, but not so obvious in DT. I find with a lot of my wildlife shots, turning OFF the colour calibration module then opening up the WB module and switching from camera reference to camera recorded (all my cameras shot at a manual cloudyB1 setting), then finding a suitable area in the shot to use the picker on, gives me the best results overall Todd. But I'll try Aureliens quick fix method on the CC panel - I know it'll work 'cos it's the cheats way of making a flat field frame for astro! I saw his video on the DT internal calibration process and was somewhat 'wowed' by the facility to say the least. There are SOOOOOO many toys to play with in DT Todd - my current obsession is the Tone Equaliser, what an awesome bit of kit - process your shot with your scroll-wheel - it's insane! Cheers for the info Todd - it helps greatly 😇

[@emrg777]

@@AndyAstbury Ya I just thought I would mention that incase you hadn't seen it... For the most part I think the pick approach in the modern or legacy should give the same results if the reference values are good. I think many were finding sony camera's and maybe panasonic were coming out with a red bias in the modern workflow. If you had a good neutral spot or a picker or a color card this is not too much of an issue. The use of the CC module with an internal optimizer for color correction by just creating a channel mixer matrix is really a neat idea and with the statistics it shows the improvement....it can avoid making you go the multiple icc route. The tone eq is really great. I am still no master of the masking. I often just use it with the mask set to optimize the range I want to address. One thing you might find is that it can be really beneficial to just target ligth or dark or a specific tone with one instance and use another for the next. In my experience people frustrated with the tone eq have tried to do it all in one instance and then I find its easy to "break" the image. You can sometimes get a halo but just a small change in the smoothing slider usually takes that away. I have as of late been messing with the filter diffusion and mask quant sliders... I don't have any consistent control with them but they can really improve the result at time and also mess it up... the messing up is on me as I have no control of them yet.... The relight preset is often really nice. You can shift the mask histogram a bit and drag down the extreme right side and really do a nice job on high DNR images. Or on really dark ones I have just used 2 instances of this back to back to gradually bring up the tone.... Its a great tool. Two other tips would be that if you shift to simple mode you can tweak a really narrow range ie one of the "zones" where as in the default its a broader curve applied. My final one was using a trick learned from Boris was to blend in colour channels ...so for a sky this is brilliant... want to tweak the blue then use the tone eq and blend in blue then move the the area you want the bump and add + curve. If you go negative it removes blue and introduces yellow... Some times even a small tone eq used this way can make a bland sky look nice. It can be strong so you might need to use opacity and or a mask to further restrict it ...usually though its only opacity... I find I use blue and green the most.... great way to make an adustment to foliage with green channel blending..... glad your exploring DT because that means you make videos about it and you are a great presenter.....

[@AndyAstbury]

Cheers Todd 😎 See what I mean - far too many nice toys when you start using multiple instances etc!

[@korhankumral3260]

Hi Andy, great tips like Rawtherapee. Thank you for myself. LMMSE demosaic mode seems to give better results with high ISO raw files. Have you had the opportunity to try and compare? Thanks. Happy birthday.

[@AndyAstbury]

Many Thanks 🍻🍻 LMMSE is good for high ISO, as you say, but with more modern sensors I find it's not needed quite so much any more. The caveat though, correct exposure is critical, so exposing highlights as highlights gives more exposure in the shadows, therefore reduces noise even at high ISO values.