Great trick — I played with this technique after shooting a Parade where I had no choice but to shoot into the sun. When highlight recontruction failed, when grad density filter failed, this worked very well. Thanks!
Do you guys think we could have a common, shareable, easy to edit resource where we could put all these tricks? Something like a github repo (*), where we could organize all the tips/tricks in this thread, link to youtube tutorials for example, include screenshots etc?
I have a note on my computer with a number of these tips, recipes, notes from tutorials I watch, and I believe other people do the same. If we can collect all these bits of information together that would make a valuable addition to the excellent (but sometimes not up-to-date) online manual.
We have several shared resources in our github organization, but we don’t get man commits at all.
You’re totally free to put this in an article on the main website (also a git repo) or I can start a separate repo for it. I’d prefer the former, though.
When you’re using github for editing a guide in markdown you might take a look at Grav CMS. It’s a open-source lightweight (no database) flatfile CMS that uses markdown files for its pages.
There is an git-sync plug-in available that can connect to git and make a website out of git’s markup files.
Hey thanks everybody for the tips on how to make this markdown file a bit more easy to read.
The thing about adding it to DT’s official docs is that somebody need to approve it/publish it/etc… I mean I am trying to use github also for collaboration but it still work in progress for me and I’m not that good with pull requests etc.
Anyway, all of this will come later, first I need to at least clean up this first draft, add a few more tips etc.
And this is the draft I have compiled with the help of @Claes (we were debating about which format to write the tips, i.e. simple bullet points vs tables etc), I will gladly accept any sort of tips and meta-tips (=tip on how to write a tip)
After a first short view on pelican it seems that both do have a similar approach. File- and markdown based, both with a template system.
Pelican uses python, Grav uses PHP which makes it compatible with many webhosters.
Pelican seems to be more command-line oriented, while Grav does have own GUIs for editing pages and administration including updates, themes and plugins.
Thanks, @darix. I did now know about these repositories and possibilities for everybody to contribute.
As I see we’ve got the following resources:
Darktable Documentation
Darktable Blog
Pixls.us Blog
Pixls.us Article
All use gitlab repositories for storage. All use markdown format, except DT documentation which is in Docbook.
As @paperdigits mentioned, all of these resources could need more input. But for darktable-specific tricks or tutorials we would mix this content with other types. DT documentation contains explanations of the program, DT blog release notes and other info, Pixls.us got content for other programs than DT.
Moreover, we could need a repository of example RAW files for that. So everybody who reads a tutorial would be able to follow and reproduce. I suggest keeping the number of files as low as possible (preferably one image for multiple tutorials) and the image’s filesize too for easier handling (shoot the picture with lower resolution)
I agree. There should be a defined content structure. An example:
Metadata
– Tag(s): exposure, brightness
– Used module(s): exposure
Content
– Title: Increasing exposure with the exposure module
– Description: This tutorial shows how to increase a photograph’s exposure using the exposure module
– Procedure:
— Activate exposure module
— Move the ‘exposure’ slider right to a positive value until the image is bright enough for your taste. Watch out for overexposure, for this you can check the histogram and the over/under exposed indication
– Result: (small image with before/after comparison)
well my idea was just to make more manageable/readable instead of scrolling through an endless series of posts. What I did with my initial draft was to keep the links to the actual posts on this discussion thread (when applicable) as to provide more context.
If you want automated before and after images, that is a whole other level of complexity and you’ll likely need some build script. I think the simpler it is, the better.
I am sure you can have your own category with tips&tricks on pixls.us and your own RSS feed for them. and then people can also provide the same for RT or other relevant programs. Maybe we even manage 1 tip a day!
Hey community … 1 tip a day … do you accept the challenge?
The problem is that if the information is good, you get a series of posts anyway, because everyone chips in with their own little variation, thought, or comment.
There are wiki posts here on the forum, where anyone can edit a post. We can certainly do that. Or as @darix suggested, your own subcategory. The problem with all these approaches, and with crowd-sourced content in general, is finding what is good and what is not (and even that is subjective).
Content needs curiation. And that is a lot of work.