You’re probably aware that you have a default profile used initially when any raw is opened for the first time. And that you can put what you like in this and save it in your “personal folder”. I have crop set on in my default, so when I need it, I can just drag the boundaries in from the edge, and the annoying cross lines are never present because they’re turned off in the default. And I haven’t had any trouble dragging them back to the boundary should I need to. Hope that helps.
When I first started using Rawtherapee I used quite a lot of the “PreSets” (especially the portrait one’s) and then worked my way through the settings to see how the look had been created.
Now I am more confident I start with neutral and work my way through the tabs…starting with exposure, wavelets, shadows and highlights and I really love the tone mapping.
Stick with it and you will start to love it.
You might want to use the Hald CLUT film emulation ‘plug ins’ they are truly awesome. @patdavid on here wrote a fabulous piece about how to use them. The monochrome film emulations are second to none.
I also use Darktable which is another superb editor and appears (in my opinion), to handle noise reduction and colour management better than Rawtherapee.
When I want to edit a RAW file now, I sort of decide what look I want from the finished shot and then decide whether Rawtherapee or Darktable will get me there. Well they will both get me there, but which one is easier 
…If that makes sense
Anyway stick with the editor it is a steep learning curve but well worth the climb. Check out videos on you tube and yes read the wiki pages. In fact I am probably unusual in that for both Rawtherapee and Darktable, I read the manuals first before editing !!!
1 Like
Hi I am new to RT as well and I don’t know if it’s there a possibility to generate film grain.
I haven’t found anything …Guys could you shed some light on this topic ? Thanks.
I don’t think there is a grain module. You can do it in gimp or with gmic.
Ok thanks thats what I expected 
it’s a pity, that souldn’t be so hard to implement,just some simple grain filters. They could be used to create real film look coupled with HaldClut film simulation because now I have to use aditional editor for this …
1 Like
It’s a bit more complex than you might think at first glance. (Hence @Morgan_Hardwood’s link).
For a long time now I’ve personally used a normalized scan of actual film grain set over my image in an “Overlay” (or “Soft Light”) blend mode. For instance, here’s a nice one I got from Petteri Sulonen ages ago that has served me well (11.5MB):
1 Like
Thanks for answer, Yes you are right to use a real film grain overlay is a little more complex…You have to scan different films structure etc … But wasnt’t there a plan for this in the future to actually implement this inside RT, becuse every major Raw converter has this feature so it would be nice to have it I am just asking . Thanks
Nobody is working on that.
The G’MIC project has a neat grain synthesis option using a grain sample as a seed. That might be worth investigating?
Thanks I will check it out
Sorry, I didn’t mean to be dismissive if I came across that way. For me, everything usually passes through GIMP for something before I’m done and I have used grain overlays for a long time in that fashion.
I agree that a grain module would be nice (and I’m positive the devs do as well), but it’s really a matter of getting competent programmers and maintainers on-board the project to implement those things. Unfortunately, those types of folks are in short supply - so things are prioritized differently.
It’s ok Thanks, I am actually a Junior C++/C# developer, but I don’t have much experience. I want to check out the sources just for my personal interest, maybe play with the issue a little bit (it’s distributed as an opensource sw under gpl if I am not mistaken).
Thanks for the info about the topic.
(I don’t want generally participate to hi-jacks but will still answer this one)
No. This new behavior has been introduced for a single reason : local editing, where users will have to be able to draw outside of the sheet. Yes, local editing is still planned, but delayed due to GUI problem. The core engine will also have to evolute strongly before anything good can be done on this front.
I don’t want to open new discussion for the topic, so using this old thread…
I was really missing grain on my photos, but don’t like Darktable way of doing it because it is removing details and the feel is somehow artificial and unsharp for me (+ I prefer using RawTherapee).
I’ve found workaround which works for me. I’m shooting on higher iso (800 - 6400, preferably closer to 6400) with my Fuji X100s. Demosaic it with 1-pass Markesteijn, set super high sharpening level, set super high local contrast, set contrast by detail higher for finest details, lower for coarsest details and lower the contrast in the exposure tab. Using that usually in combination with Ilford HP5 film simulation.
The photo is now containing sharp “grain” which is adding some randomness to the picture, so it don’t look so “sterile”, but still keeping details on the photo.
Some of you is using similar trick? Please, share your settings.
There isn’t any film grain modules, but use capture sharpening with lots of iterations and zero contrast threshold for some pleasant fine grained results, amplifying the noise that is already there in a decent and filmic like way.
Instead of using lots of unsharp mask, try using RL deconvolution or Capture sharpening in the raw tab with zero contrast threshold, and lots of iterations. Also, use the wavelet edge sharpening module. This will prevent oversharpening of the edges, while pleasingly increasing fine texture and inherent grain that is already present.
Wavelet tool looks a bit too magical for my taste. But Capture sharpening + higher local contrast seems to be good starting point.
Hi @maaca,
Even if this information is somewhat old by now, it might well be of good use to you:
Have fun!
Claes in Lund, Sweden
1 Like
Contrast by Detail Level does just a few things the Wavelet Levels tool does, so they are similar in concept, but wavelets gives you more power, such as control over lower frequency detail (big macro-gradients), residual image, and boost cut relative to the amplitude of the detail.
It also allows manipulation of the detail level chroma, and wavelet sharpening that can target either fine detail or edges, and more.