HOW to USE the TONE EQUALIZER in darktable

[@emrg777]

Nice edit Rico.....one thing I would comment on was in the way you presented it (wording) it might seem like the three panels of the tone equalizer were somehow independent approaches when in fact they use the same mask....I would add that the histogram that is in that module is the mask not the image that is one key and the simple interface is actually the one I prefer as you can move individual bars and not be tied to crafting a curve. This is not something you can do in the advanced tab and as you noted you have to be careful with the curve however both tabs use the same mask the one you create in the masking tab....two last comments would be often a good starting point are the pickers in the mask tab...ie the exposure and contrast ones ...they will spread the histogram automatically and you can then tweak if needed...one last thing would be it may not be worth it for every image but actually turning on the mask to have a look and playing as you said with the parameters for feathering and edges toproduce a mask with smoother transitions and less banding will produce much nicer changes to the image when you start to edit the exposure ranges.....so there is the expansion for dynamic range of the mask but also you can work it for those zones to be smoother....likely too much work for every single image but worth it for a tough one or big edit for print or display....Thanks for walking through that .....

[@tyik]

Though this tutorial is three years old, it is still a great one for beginners like me to understand. Thanks Rico.

[@RicoResolves]

Great to see it's still valuable after all those years! Hope to have welcomed you as a new subscriber!

[@KingLiongWong]

Thanks for your clear explanation, you are always the best teacher.

[@RicoResolves]

That's very kind of you man!

[@danielspenner3683]

Despite of its age, still a great, compact introduction to this intimidatingly complex module.

[@RicoResolves]

Thank you Daniel!

[@NaviSim101]

Thanks for this Rico. Nicely explained. ~Rm😉

[@RicoResolves]

Thanks man!

[@Photoguy360]

Thanks very much! Very helpful. Editing my son's senior picture and have not touched Darktable in over a year.😃

[@RicoResolves]

Awesome man! Glad it helps and I hope it will turn out awesome!

[@abruenin236]

I have been looking for an Open Source alternative for ACDSee's Light-EQ, which I love. Thanks for showing, that the Tone Equalizer does the job.

[@RicoResolves]

Awesome, good to hear!

[@brianw6645]

Such a powerful video for Darktable. This has really opened things up for me (I hope). Thanks for another great one Rico.

[@RicoResolves]

Thanks Brian, and happy new year!

[@frankdusoswa9583]

Geweldige video, duidelijke uitleg. Bedankt hiervoor Rico.

[@RicoResolves]

Hey Frank! Leuk je weer te zien hier! Hopelijk alles goed daar!

[@fcuquet]

That was very instructive and useful, thank you!

[@RicoResolves]

Awesome!!

[@deechiluiza9526]

Thank you, such a great video.

[@RicoResolves]

Thank you for your feedback! I'm really glad these videos continue to provide value!

[@devfriction]

What a great way to start the video. That was insane and I mean it in a good way. Thanks for cheering up everyone during this time of crisis. Great video and very informative too. Was actually looking forward for a video on the same topic.

[@RicoResolves]

Awesome seeing you here again Deepak. You're very welcome. Hope you and your loved ones are safe!

[@brownboy0004]

Great great tutorial thank you for explaining

[@ludovicbernot]

Brillant demo Guy! Many thanks for your work

[@RicoResolves]

You're welcome and thank you for commenting!

[@CarloPiana]

The low pass is cool. I'm doing the same on gimp with contrast mask.

[@CyberDocUSA]

Man, there's so much to this program and I really appreciate your help learning it. I've been going out shooting photos and videos in spite of the lock down and have no plans on stopping. :-) Take care.

[@RicoResolves]

Yeah it's a perfect time for that because it's very quiet everywhere. It'll probably stay like this for quite some time.

[@CyberDocUSA]

@@RicoResolves, well, I'm thinking things might loosen up for a little bit, then all of a sudden it will be announced that there's been a 'resurgence' and we'll get locked down again for longer. I really hope I'm wrong because things might get a bit nasty otherwise. Stay strong.

[@RicoResolves]

@@CyberDocUSA could be man, could very well be. Take care!

[@EricCosner]

Audio sounds very good, man. I am testing my new headphones. I love the transitions. Sick!

[@RicoResolves]

Thanks man! I absolutely love the Blue Yeti microphone, it has a sound like a podcast. Much more clearer than the lavalier which sounds a bit more dull. Glad you like it too! The transitions come from the transitions pack I've reviewed a while back.

[@syteanric]

Great work as always!

[@RicoResolves]

Thank you!

[@naaamo2004]

Great video, Rico. Learned a lot, thank you.

[@RicoResolves]

Awesome Claude!

[@andrek.y.7472]

Excellent tutorial!

[@RicoResolves]

Thank you Andre!

[@OneCameraOneLens]

Great video Rico. Explained really well. Thank you!

[@RicoResolves]

Thanks Mark! I appreciate you and your community supporting me!

[@bofrost11]

Very interesting! Thank for that.

[@guanacastelandtours]

Great video!!

[@RicoResolves]

Thanks!!

[@joaovtaveira]

Great video, as usual, but you missed talking about some options in tone equalizer. "display exposure mask" in all tabs, "curve smoothing" in "advanced" tab and "luminance estimator", "preserve details" and filter diffusion" in "masking" tab.

[@joaovtaveira]

That technique in "lowpass" module is al so great, I didn't know about it. I learned a lot in this video, thanks.

[@RicoResolves]

I didn't address those on purpose Joao but you are right. The reason I didn't talk about those is because I haven't quite figured out what they do and you get great results by just following these steps. For a thorough explanation on the module you can watch Aurelien his video. I try to stay away from very long lasting videos and try to make quick and to the point videos for my audience. For an in depth explanation there are other videos.

[@emrg777]

@@joaovtaveira FYI www.darktable.org/2012/02/using-lowpass-filter-to-recover-shadows/ I would go back through the blog posts on the DT website there are some good ones in there...many techniques are still quite valid from older versions as well

[@emrg777]

@@RicoResolves Good call....even in AP's videos he can be a bit ambiguous about the exact use of parameters....esp for the TE mask....the model used can dramatically impact the mask that gets generated....I think there are about 6...

[@UV-NIR-Thermal]

Thanks for the video Rico, helps a bunch. I have noticed darkable doesn't open sometimes when I right click, open with-> a pic file in a folder, so need to open darktable first, then open file from there 3.0.1 version. I think these little bugs are very minor compared to the power of darktable 👍📷

[@RicoResolves]

That's strange. Do you use Linux or Windows? I haven't encountered this issue yet. Do you get this problem with RAW files only?

[@UV-NIR-Thermal]

@@RicoResolves I'm using windows 10, everything up to date even graphics driver. Just tried a jpeg, tiff, and cr.2(raw) worked the first time, then wouldn't open pic if darktable was closed. Kind of annoying, but not a serious issue. Just need to open pic file through darktable. Thanks

[@RicoResolves]

@@UV-NIR-Thermal that's pretty strange though. Have you reported it as a bug?

[@UV-NIR-Thermal]

@@RicoResolves I'm going to do a re installation, to see if that fixes it

[@RicoResolves]

@@UV-NIR-Thermal good call, get the Github release. That one works flawless for me. Haven't had any crashes. The only issue is the histogram one in the tone equalizer. Haven't tried extensive parametric masks yet though. Might do that this weekend. It's such a lovely weather outside, can't bring myself to stay indoors and film/edit lol. So I'm working around the house to get things done

[@Cerlienkus]

Hallo and thanks for your tutorials. Is it possibile to see how to remove spots or unwanted objects from pictures?

[@RicoResolves]

You're welcome Maurizio! You can use this module: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m2GVhoqOlNtpgtE Or, you can use the spot removal module. Another option is to use GIMP. I've got a tutorial on that too.

[@Cerlienkus]

@@RicoResolves Thanks! That was very helpful!

[@telebruce221]

Your videos are always instructive! thanks for including the link to the RAW image so I could follow along. Worked very well on linux system. One question though, I would like to have retained some of the contrast in the clouds of the original image. How could I have done that?

[@RicoResolves]

Thank you for your feedback and question! You could use a mask for that!

[@LabGecko]

To add a little detail (maybe it will help even a year later) to what Rico said - you can use the same options to adjust contrast and detail in the clouds, but add 1) a gradient mask or 2) a drawn mask >> add path The gradient is simple and fast and simulates what we are used to seeing in life but if you do a lot of work on the clouds it may make areas where the horizon meets the clouds look odd. The Drawn Mask >> Add Path lets you draw points to add a curved object around the clouds to get more control over where the changes are applied.

[@stulora3172]

Hello, great video! Please help me understand: Why does overlaying a low pass filtered version of the image make it sharper? I cannot wrap my head around this....

[@RicoResolves]

Yeah sorry, I ment to say that lowpass is a good tool to work on shadows and highlights!

[@stulora3172]

@@RicoResolves Ah, ok, thanks! That makes much more sense :) I guess, that you *could* use the low pass module to sharpen if you chose "subtract", though. I will play around with that idea later.

[@Chinoiro]

How is that different from adjusting shadows and highlights? Can you achieve the same results?

[@RicoResolves]

This works differently and is more precise in the different tonal values. It also prevents halo

[@joaovtaveira]

13:59 what about "soften with", do you think that it would make any difference, if you would change it to the "bilateral filter" option?

[@benzene1637]

I don't understand the use of lowpass filter for sharpening. All I see is it changing the tones, e.g. shadows brighten and highlights darken. I've only seen high pass for sharpening, which makes more sense as it 'lets pass' the fine details, affects them with more contrast and overlays on the original. Thats how sharpening works right? Basically it's just enhanced contrast on fine edges. All low pass is doing is blurring the tones so the spread into eachother?

[@RicoResolves]

Yeah what I ment to say was that the low pass is a great tool to work on the shadows.

[@benzene1637]

@@RicoResolves Ah I see, that makes more sense now 👍 keep up the great vids!

[@joaovtaveira]

3:03 what about "Shift"?