Darktable nailing color

I read so much about DT not able to come close to OOC jpeg colors and I never really compare the two myself actually. I know what color I want regardless of what the camera jpeg engine decided it would do but today I really had to look twice to be sure which was which. The giveaway is the detail sharpness and slightly better clarity of the DT converted raw but other than that…the camera jpeg engine managed pretty well against my outcome. I did add some processing in Gimp, notably a sharpening layer with a mask but that’s about it.

Here’s a screenshot, side by side:

Zoomed in:

DT modules and settings:
EMG12940-Irix150mm-ISO100.PEF.xmp (8.3 KB)

And original raw file:
EMG12940-Irix150mm-ISO100.PEF (28.3 MB)
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I have made use of the color match script. It basically uses argyllcms with a raw JPG pair and creates an ICC for matching…it’s a bit like the darktable chart approach. I’ll have to dig up a link but it should come up here or on google

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The whole point is that I actually never try to match the converted raw to the jpeg - if I wanted jpeg color, I’d shoot jpeg. In this case it just happened to be uncannily close so I decided to post.

I do it with my phone…may be shocking but there are nuances in the pixel JPG files I don’t like despite how good it is supposed to be. I find mainly I get nicer skin tones and the exposure starts at a nice spot. As the image pair is from a color chart it also help with color in general…so my goal is not a really close match but rather a means to provide a better option.

Yes, that was close :smile: . I have never understood the desire to compare the two. I have been shooting RAW exclusively for nine years now, and only in the very beginning I might have wondered some times what the JPG looked like. But I never bothered to shoot RAW+JPG, so I couldn’t compare much anyway. If I like my edit, then it’s good. If not, I edit it again or leave it. It’s not the end of the world, and a JPG is never any kind of final answer.

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But most RAW files contain a decent embedded JPEG, so you could still compare :wink: .

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I prefer a little more orange in the center. Great shot!


EMG12940-Irix150mm-ISO100.PEF.xmp (8.9 KB)

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I know, but I don’t. Once the image is opened in darkroom I never look at the JPG again.

I like it but having the diffusion module do its thing 3 times slows down my poor laptop to a crawl so I won’t be using it any time soon I’m afraid. Thanks for posting the XMP - I have learnt some new tricks!

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