Hello everyone!
I’m on to use darktable and after launched the software and imported my first photo I realized that the colors are different. A lot. Purples have yellowish tint and other colors other tints. I reset all effects and everything and even the history but nothing has happened. I’ve tried it woth another photo and it was all the same. Is there a default nullified setting where nothing is changed upon importing.
What version of darktable, what operating system, and what camera is the raw file from?
Hello @Laci, and welcome!
I realized that the colors are different
As compared to what?
Have fun!
Claes in Lund, Sweden
Thanks for your quick response everyone.
Mac Monterey, Nikon NEF and compared to the Raw file. Latest Darktable, I’ve downloaded it yesterday. So when I import the file in lighttable and in the darkroom is all the same the colours are not the same as the raw file.
Either you, like many others before you, have fallen into this “trap”:
Or you need to offer more information. Show at least some screenshots, upload a raw file with one of your XMP, etc…
Sorry I don’t really understand. So if I want to process raw in darktable it converts the photo to jpeg? I mean the preview? But how will I get back to the original image look?
That original look is a (camera-generated) jpeg embedded in the raw file. If you want that exact look, the best solution is to shoot in raw+jpeg (for a while, until you feel at ease with raw processing).
The raw data in themselves aren’t a visible image, there’s quite a bit of processing involved to generate a decent image (but most of that is automatic).
To see if there is a problem in your case, follow @apostel338 's suggestion and upload a raw file (with a proper CC license in the text, so we can show versions here)
I shot raw all the time and used Camera raw with Photoshop. My laptop died and as it was an old-school machine with non-monthly paid version softwares I’ve no intention of paying a monthly fee for the same stuff. I’ve a kinda great used machine now as I wanted to support an open source software for a while I go with it. So I don’t know why Camera raw could give me the same look like when I open the photo with preview on Mac.
Later on today if I’ve time I upload a screenshot, a photo and xmp.
Camera raw uses a profile on your image…choose linear in CR and you will see it looks a bit like DT…
DT gives a very minimal image…just enough processing to display the raw. Additionally it opens in the LT with the embedded jpg display for reference and speed as many processors do but when you begin your edit then it applies a small set of key modules needed to display raw data… most other software is applying some elements that are similar to what your camera does… DT has a thing called the base curve you can apply that to recover some of that look. THis is a look closer to what you might see in CR or lightroom… So you have 2 things happening… preview is jpg and moves to the raw image data when you edit and the raw is minimally processed… It it fairly easy to come to a better image but DT makes no really concerted effort to look like mimic the jpg out of the gate…
Many thanks for your response! I look into it this evening again and will check on it again and get back what I’ve experienced.
Hi Laci, welcome to the forum and to darktable. I personally never want to just replicate the JPG when processing the RAW files. They are the manufacturer’s version of the image and are not necessarily right or wrong. But I understand they are are good starting point. Darktable by default uses the filmic module which tends to makes color dull even when they are the correct white balance. Another module used by default is color calibration module which can produce a different white balance to the cameras as its starting point.
My personal way of getting more pleasing results from the start, but not trying to match the JPG, is to in the processing preferences change the auto-apply pixel workflow defaults to sigmoid.
The second thing I do is change the color calibration module’s illuminant to as shot in camera.
If you try this I suspect you will be happier with the DT starting points.
BTW, DT is a great program and what I really love about it is the drawn and parametric masking capabilities. It is my #1 editing program for photos. There is another free program called Rawtherapee that when it opens an image it uses the embedded jpg to try and match the image as a starting point. While it is a great program and gives a good starting point close to the jpg it doesn’t match DT for masking. No program I am aware of matches DT for masking and that is the selling point that attracted me to DT over the other free and paid options.
Learning how to create styles and applying a style at the start of processing can be a huge time saver. I apply WB as shot in camera, exposure as shot in camera, denoised (profiled) and diffuse or sharpens preset for sharpen demosaicing. I have a fast computer, but if you have a slow computer you may prefer to denoise and sharpen at the end of the processing.
Good luck.
This may be true of the default filmic settings but it is just as easy to configure it such that personal defaults don’t produce this result so its not an absolute… might be important to clarify so that a new user doesn’t take this as an absolute…
Just a quick example here without filmic… recent playraw basic set of modules… quite dull
Filmic v5 with a couple of sliders changed… color pres no some contrast and wide latitude thats it… not even adding any saturation with the midtone slider… and not dull at all… likely even too much but a tweak of contrast and or latitude would attenuate it.
Using something like this I feel like I can get pretty much that same color boost that sigmoid offers without the loss of detail or at least as much that the sigmoid compression gives…
I still think it is likely the shift from the jpg preview to the raw edit that is what the OP is experiencing and calling a color shift…
So, yes, I’ve fallen into the trap what you guys told me about. I didn’t have too much time to immerse myself into DT yet but I’ve followed what you suggested and it was indeed that I compared the jpeg preview and the raw look and I also needed to make some changes in the settings to get a base, a starting point. DT seems pretty decent stuff to me and its response to changes is awesome. Many thanks again!
I agree Todd and thanks for the clarification. Personally I am using Sigmoid now as my default and on most holiday snaps ignoring the module. It just seems to work well as a starting point. However, some images such as sunsets can be very tricky images and exploring the options of filmic including V5 or adjusting the skew slider within sigmoid is worth exploring.
The beauty about DT is that users can decide their own editing choices and not be forced down a single pathway. One of the major choices users must make is to use filmic (and which version) or Sigmoid. Sigmoid seems to have the easiest learning curve for new users in my opinion. Hopefully the OP will become another dedicated DT user. There is certainly lots of helpful advice to be found here on the forum.
