Hola everyone, I’m new here.
I’m (slowly) learning darktable (4.0.1).
I know it’s possible to make custom module presets (for developing), and to import and export them.
I thought, it would be really helpful if I could try out a good module preset that someone else is using. Would anyone be willing to export and share their favourite custom one with me?
Thanks both for the replies. @Claes I had a look, but didn’t have much success. I guess I’ll just gradually make my own (once I “know” all the different modules). @kofa What I meant is the different arrangements of all the modules, not presets for a single module.
OK, then those are called styles. There is an old site, https://dtstyle.net/, which I think you’d best avoid. Try a search on the forum for darktable style.
Also, check out the PlayRaw section for ideas and examples (from darktable, as well as from other software).
He might even actually be talking more about UI layout and setting up module grouping ie what modules and how do people organize them… from his reply that could be the actual question…
What you will find is you can likely cut down the number of module that you choose to make available by a considerable number and of that number you might only use 12 or so depending on the image and often maybe less but what is a strength of DT and it takes some people a while to discover are 3 key things at least for me… Masking, blend modes and using multiple instances of the same module, sometimes as many as 3 or 4 or more… this doesn’t come natural to people coming from some raw editors as you can’t use more than one instance … if you stick with DT you will see this and likely leverage this a lot…
That’s for the legacy workflow (using the base curve). You may find that the scene-referred workflow is worth learning. You’ll never have to worry about clipping again. I find it a great relief.
This is more applicable as you get more familiar with darktable, but …
Once you get an idea of the modules you use most often, you can (if you want) create a new module group and include those only so there’s no need to move from group to group (or search) in the darkroom UI. I made a group of favorites and it shows up to the right of the others. It’s fairly large (I’ll probably whittle it down over time) but my point was to avoid UI jumping.
Click the hamburger menu
Select manage presets
That will open this dialog.
Click the + button by module groups
Give your new module group a name
Click the + button and select the modules you need
They’ll appear in a specific order, which is their order in the pixel pipeline, bottom to top. It’s technically possible to reorder the modules in the group, but in doing so you’re changing their processing order in the pipe, which is something you should do only with understanding of potential consequences.
However, all that being said I advise getting familiar with what the modules do and how to use them first. You definitely want to be setup for a scene-referred workflow. Verify these are set in preferences:
Hi Todd, could you provide some example instances of where blend modes help you. Masking and multiple instances of modules I use all the time and agree that is one of the great strengths. I rarely use blend modes, so I would be interested in learning from your experience.
Have to head off to bed for now but for sure subtract and multiply for contrast… reverse blend modes and also be interesting… and one I am using a lot is the single color channels with the tone eq to tweak colors in the sky and foliage…just the small tonal tweak of green or blue most often. Dehaze I will blend in lightness so I can crank it up if needed and avoid strong color shifts. One that I sometimes use is a simple tone curve blended in subtract at about 10%… can crank up to 20% or go a bit lower and tweak that if need be but usually I just leave it and use that as one of my dehaze/contrast/color boosters…if you go too high of course it will go to black… I will try to think of some others… I think Boris did a nice little series on blend modes…
That is the one and you pick up more examples if you follow him… I would say the contribution made through his series of videos is massive. There are many videos that walk through the modules and demonstrate the intent and you need this but injecting some vision analysis and excellent demonstration edits to show what is possible is what actually got me to stick with DT and strive to make it work as I could see it should. Bruce Williams dragged me through the nuts and bolts so I could figure out where to go and what to do and Boris revealed the power and results that could be obtained by putting it all together … One other key point you see with Boris is the decision and skill to move the modules as he edits to build up the image. If you leave the modules in the pipeline sometimes you are pushing and pulling a bit to get where you want to go when you need not…
I have seen many (but not all) of his videos. I’m a big fan of his artistic choices and especially his “little tricks”, like getting some soft contrast in a forest setting or the contrast by channel mixer in multiply mode, …
But I think the technical side is the easier one to learn. More difficult to achieve, is the experience to recognize, what steps are needed to, err, implement your vision (or even to have a vision).
So, I also absolutely recommend his channel as one of the best to learn about “the darktable”
If you happen to speak German, there are even some parts with German voice over - which is actually a bit more elaborate.
I just needed to write this statement, because I’m really happy, that I could learn so much from the videos of @s7habo. Very much appreciated.
