HDR Image Processing in darktable

[@artgodfrey242]

HDR in Darktable, I had no idea. I am always surprised with how powerful Darktable really is. Thank you for another great presentation Rico. Thank you...

[@RicoResolves]

Thank you for your kind words Art!

[@OneCameraOneLens]

Awesome video Rico. I'm shooting many more bracketed shots than ever before and I love the way Darktable handles HDR.

[@RicoResolves]

That's great! For some reason I find the HDR photos the most hardest kind to edit. As if I need to push them around way more. One of the hardest parts for me about darktable is to brighten images up and not let them be too dark. The tone equalizer is awesome for that but I'm going to try and edit similar photos in lightroom too

[@kayray7338]

Thank you so much for this Rico. I was waiting for it.

[@RicoResolves]

You're very welcome!

[@klarusch8314]

And learned something again. Many Thanks.

[@ArthurEmbleton]

I never noticed the HDR option before. Thanks

[@donnypodcast]

I'm going to do this tonight, just form the sake of learning it. Lots of good info.

[@RicoResolves]

How did it work out?

[@donnypodcast]

@@RicoResolves turns out I need a better tripod. HDRs turn out like paintings because the subtle vibration of the shutter is enough not move the camera a very tiny amount. It causes very small offsets

[@fiat-voluntas-tua]

Thank you 🙏 !

[@realrobbyrob]

Thanks for sharing Rico, particular for showing the tone equalizer it was new to me and I´m looking forward to try it. For bracketed shots I want to give a hint, if you do a regular 2 stop bracketing shot (3 images) it´s mostly enough to use the brightest and the darkest image. So you can minimize the amount of images stick together, useful for handheld shots in highspeed mode. You can bring back the shadows in the 2 image HDR without particular noise.

[@frankdusoswa9583]

Weer wat geleerd, bedankt :-)

[@balhallak]

That's good, thanks.

[@RicoResolves]

Thank you too!

[@shutterrecoil]

what is difference between input and output saturation?

[@RicoResolves]

Input is before edit, output is after.

[@Masiker31]

I followed all the steps but in Lighttable the errors message "exposure bracketing only works with raw files"appears. The files are CR2 files from a Canon. So not sure why it shouldn't work. Thoughts?

[@samn8309]

I've tried HDR in PS with jpg files and I thought it looked terrible as it was very artificial looking. I'll give it a try with RAW in Darktable. It's so nice to avoid Adobe products. Thanks Rico.

[@RicoResolves]

I'm sure you'll love the results! Please keep in mind that darktable does not have an auto align function. So you need a tripod for HDR shots that you plan to edit in darktable. Preferably by using a timer too to avoid unwanted shakes and movement

[@NeighborBones]

Hey Rico i had a problem when i took three fotos of the same image with my focus at different distances in this case the orchid was 4 feet away and in another 1.5 foot away i even tried different lens and different methods in manual. my problem was when looked at the image comparisons the object around the focal point moved..(got enlarged or moved further back so how does one do focus stacking using gimp or luminar? I expected everything to stay in place just the focus to change.

[@RicoResolves]

Good question Kurt. Did you touch the camera while taking the photos or did you use the timer?

[@NeighborBones]

@@RicoResolves no i was on a tripod. Im baffled. all i did was change the focus.. know have heard that photoshop as a align tool but i think that's for not tripod users.. i was hoping you can try this experiment. again using luminar or gimp .. or dt.

[@NeighborBones]

@@RicoResolves found this.. the 850 has away around the problem but here it explains what happening i need to try it out. www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-explore/a/tips-and-techniques/focus-shift-the-basics-stacking-focus.html

[@justXcallXitXtechno]

I suspect this to simply be caused by an optical effect called "focus breathing": normally it's an issue more known to videographers and is something cinema-lenses (try to) correct. optics and build of a lens, especially photo-lenses will basically cause you to "zoom" more.. or less, depending on lens-quality etc. even if you simply changed the focal point of your shot. even possible for prime-lenses. for still images it's a non-issue, for hdr or any sort of focus shifted stacking it sounds like it can also lead to problems, as you describe in your use-case and example. @@NeighborBones

[@brianw6645]

Rico, would you please do a video on how to use darktable to edit pictures of fall foliage? Thanks.

[@RicoResolves]

Sure man, send me your photo and I'll use it!

[@stewartlogie]

Is there a way to get Darktable to align the frames before merging? The first time I used the feature I got blurry results, probably due to tripod shake. Lightroom did a much better job on the same image set.

[@RicoResolves]

Unfortunately, darktable can't do that

[@sharshokpa]

I took 5 pictures of different exposures with my galaxy note 20, but the when i add all 5 images which are in dng format. The hdr image i get is a black image. How can i use the hdr function with pictures take with my smartphone? is it possible?

[@epedja]

Use manual mode on your phone camera application if you have ti. It is sometimes called expert or pro mode. It allows you to turn of automatic settings for ISO and exposure duration. Then make at least three photos with different level of exposure (at least one underexposed, one properly exposed and at least one overexposed). Use those images to create HDR. You should make sure that phone is not moved while making those multiple exposures - use tripod or fix it somehow and possibly use Bluetooth remote trigger so you are sure camera is not moved between shots. I cannot help using darktable. I also found this video looking for tutorial how HDR is done in darktable.

[@Sambam-01]

I create HDR in dark table also but upon creating an HDR image the final image always has a horrible green / yellow colour to it...? There are many settings that also apply to any photo I use in darktable, how do I cancel this? 😅

[@RicoResolves]

Some things are applied automatically. You can only get rid of the base curve by going to the orientation step and select "compress history stack". I'm not sure what the problem with the HDR is. Just keep in mind that darktable cannot auto align the image.

[@leomarcionetti1577]

@@RicoResolves I have the same issues...All my DNG files are green. I read that maybe is a problem of white balance but I still haven't found a solution. Thanky you very much for your help and your videos!

[@danielsmith5574]

@@leomarcionetti1577 I had the same problem. The solution I found was to change the White Balance to something other than "camera reference" and it has gone away. Hope this solves y'alls problem too.

[@leomarcionetti1577]

@@danielsmith5574 hey Thanks! I have no more the problem!:)

[@danielsmith5574]

@@leomarcionetti1577 Awesome, glad I was able to help.

[@belalang90]

Hi Rico, great video never knew Darktable could do HDR merge. A question, does darktable DNG file will retain all the information if export the file into TIFF and continue editing in other apps such Luminar? Thanks

[@RicoResolves]

As far as I know yes!

[@NSAwatchesME]

doesnt work all i get is an image even darker than the dark image darktable is garbage

[@RicoResolves]

Can you lay out the steps you're taking?

[@alangaughran]

Ghastly vignette especially in top corners. Crappy amateur image to start with. No attempt to explain the logic of the process. All voice, no competence.

[@RicoResolves]

Thank you for your wonderful insights, so glad to see you add value to the community