Darktable 4.6 Beginners's Guide: Mastering Photo Editing for Beginners 📸

[@ThomasMcKaySmith]

Ah, this is good timing. New to darktable and was struggling to find a guide video which wasn't out of date.

[@RicoResolves]

Awesome man, hope to have welcomed you as a new subscriber!

[@thormusique]

This is brilliant, thank you! I'm just getting started with Darktable and wanted to get a decent overview of features and workflow. It's clearly an incredibly powerful tool. Cheers!

[@RicoResolves]

Much appreciated, glad you liked it!

[@davey820051]

Good video-thanks. I'm fairly experienced in photo editing (using Photoshop, Adobe Camera Raw -but not Lightroom -and GIMP), so I have an idea of what I think a given image needs, but didn't have a clue on getting started with darktable. This vid was a big help. I found that I got the most out of it by following along with an image of my own in darktable, stopping and starting the video (and sometimes replaying sections) so I could immediately try each action you showed. I have to agree that the module text in the video was a little hard to see-I watched fullscreen on a 24" monitor, and I had to get really close to the monitor to ready the text. I totally mean this as constructive feedback, and I appreciate the work you put into the video.

[@RicoResolves]

Thanks Dave, I'm glad you found this video helpful and appreciate the constructive feedback. Maybe I should record it on a FHD resolution the next time, rather than a 4k one. I think that will make a huge difference. Thanks!

[@MikeMyers00]

Just what I have been searching for. Good timing. Thank you for making this video!

[@RicoResolves]

Glad it helps Mike!

[@TheWillHargrave]

Thank you for the 30min overview! Great beginner resource.

[@RicoResolves]

Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment!

[@habafantja2029]

thanks Rico for this great video. I'm a new-by to darkroom and actually to most photo editing programs. So I felt a bit overwhelmed. Hope to see more of your tutorials they are very much appreciated!

[@RicoResolves]

Hi Habafantja! Thank you for your comment. Most of the videos on this channel are still relevant, and there are many more to come!

[@hansvanstraaten1640]

Thanks for your tutorial, learned a lot. Greats from the Netherlands.

[@RicoResolves]

Dank Hans!

[@flammesh]

thank you!

[@RicoResolves]

You're welcome!

[@Zuzzt]

Very good video. Suits me perfectly as I am thinking of begin using Darktable. I will subscribe in the hope of more to come.

[@RicoResolves]

Awesome, welcome to the channel! A new darktable video will be uploaded every Sunday. A lot of the existing videos are still relevant today. Feel free to browse the catalog!

[@seltonu]

I'm trying to follow along but imo some things are not explained well/at all for a 'beginner' guide, such as the CAT module or histograms and how to interpret them. I'm struggling to warm up my white balance with the CAT module, and the colorfulness section seems to have very little effect. This isn't a bad guide and I appreciate the rest of it, just maybe it's glossing over parts that really need more explanation

[@seltonu]

One specific example is 20:15 where to add more green to the image, we go to the green section but slide the 'R' component? Why does adding red in the green section give us more green, why not slide the 'G' component? This is something I don't understand and would love a clear explanation of

[@gamerdeepsingh4305]

amazing. thanks!

[@RicoResolves]

You're welcome gamerdeepsingh! Hope to have welcomed you as a subscriber!

[@realrobbyrob]

Great introduction, thanks! :)

[@RicoResolves]

Awesome man, thank you for your comment Rob. Hope to have welcomed you as a new subscriber!

[@realrobbyrob]

In fact I am a pretty old subsrciber :)@@RicoResolves

[@RicoResolves]

@@realrobbyrob oh that's amazing Rob, I'm glad there are still people around that have subscribed a long time ago!

[@MahmudHidayatullah257]

So happy to find your channel and thanks so much for the tutorials, really helpfull.. But I'm having a problem, I can't find my dng files at all. 😅 I'm currently on v 4.8

[@RicoResolves]

Add the destination first and you'll be able to

[@MahmudHidayatullah257]

@@RicoResolves Thanks for replying, I really do appreciate it. I'll work on it again later, bcause I still can't figure it out. 😂

[@RicoResolves]

No problem, thank you for commenting. Let me know if it works out. If not, I'll see if I can help you further.

[@MahmudHidayatullah257]

Alright I've got it! Now Imna need to continue to watch your tutorial and figure out how to use this software.

[@RicoResolves]

@MahmudHidayatullah257 awesome, what was the solution?

[@krism20]

Thx Rico

[@franj3628]

Very useful and well explained tutorial. Thanks!

[@RicoResolves]

Thank you for your kind words!

[@testval]

great video! what would you say are the main differences betwee darktable and lightroom? from i've seen lightroom is more user friendly which might be good for me as a beginner.

[@RicoResolves]

The main difference is that Lightroom requires the Adobe Suite and a monthly subscription whereas darktable is free and a bit more difficult to learn. But with the more than 150 videos on darktable on my channel you'll be able to create amazing photos!

[@chriskrook-magnuson4905]

Nice helpful video! I know darktable has great potential for getting the most out of my images. However, i struggle with getting the raw photos my sony a7iiis produces up to the level of the jpegs that are saved simultaneously. The in-body algorithms seem to do a better job with noise,exposure,sharpness than i can do. So i tend to just go with the jpegs, leaving a lot of potential untouched. Ive tried my share of videos but i feel like even after many DT steps inam merely approaching the in camera jpegs. Any tips/workflow/modules?

[@chriskrook-magnuson4905]

Ps, glad you're back to making DT videos!

[@RicoResolves]

Thank you for your question, and I appreciate your comment! Feel free to send me a photo and the jpg and I'll give it a go. What settings do you use on the A7iiis? I shoot standard on my Sony A7C so it gives me a bit of room to edit the JPG if I want to.

[@OKuusava]

Haha, love that "the first window" of 4.8 does not look like at all, and there is no settings anywhere "up here" ! ;-D

[@RicoResolves]

Guess I'll have to make a new one 😉

[@joshuahorn9906]

Just giving some honest feedback. I downloaded darktable today and am well versed with lightroom. A lot of the configurations here are brand new to me and the video plays really fast. Hard to keep up with towards the end when you talk about the masking and the snapshots. Maybe do some zoom-in's when clicking on differen't configuration icons? Other than that, pretty thorough.

[@RicoResolves]

Thanks Joshua, I'll keep it in mind

[@Barnaclebeard]

Why would you want to ever have more than one filmic module?

[@normtesch1126]

just downloaded darktable...how do you undo a change you have done

[@RicoResolves]

Control Z.

[@mannyluna7733]

Can i tether a sony camera to darktable

[@RicoResolves]

I think you can yes!

[@mannyluna7733]

@@RicoResolves thks

[@JCouv52]

I would have thought to see the folder view of your images as very important. For some reason you do not cover that. Looking at my the screen, I cannot see how to do that? Its a basic and essential need......

[@armanuki38911]

You should record at a lower resolution, everything is very small in this video.

[@RicoResolves]

Which device are you watching this on?

[@cosmo0080]

wondering if you know this , i am working with linux mint 5d 3, and i cannot tether? i can with ubuntu but not mint? yes the computer does see the camera not dt. thanks

[@RicoResolves]

Hi Cosmo, I have no idea. Personally I only use Windows, so I'm not experienced with Linux distributions. Sorry!

[@cosmo0080]

forgiven @@RicoResolves

[@attorianzo1]

Hi thanx for your video. At 29:28 you show a right side lighttable menu. I don't have it! How can I show it?

[@RicoResolves]

Do you see an arrow? Click it, see if it appears. Let me know if that works.

[@mariannerady1137]

this is not well explained. It feels like it's missing a big part, also he doesn't explain words specific to this software. . "this is there bc it is supposed to" - ok. If you're a beginner, maybe go watch another tutorial.

[@RicoResolves]

I'm sad to hear this video hasn't catered to your needs. Hopefully the other videos on my channel will and/or have

[@sedwards7428]

Why show writigns that we cannot see --- Zoom in so that we can actually see what is on the screen . Not complicated

[@RicoResolves]

Thank you for your contribution to the darktable ecosystem!

[@jjmummert]

Complicated. Not for a true beginner.

[@RicoResolves]

Can you explain what makes it complicated for you?

[@jjmummert]

I learned basics of photo editing on Photoscape, so I know the basics. I am finding that with most Darktable tutorials, presenters go very quickly, assume folks are familiar with Lightroom, and have their point arrows moving around as if one is using hand gestures. That is very distracting. Plus, print is very small. It's just hard to see, watch, and follow. Someone needs to do a slower paced tutorial that explains the general features and then slowlywalks beginners through common editing steps. Not all viewers are under 40 years old.

[@RicoResolves]

@@jjmummert you can change the speed a video plays at. Watch it on a computer, that helps too

[@jjmummert]

@@RicoResolves Thanks. I'll try that.

[@gnarkilleptic4871]

@@jjmummert Boomer moment