Darktable's Filmic RGB defaults render this desaturated

Processing Play Raw
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#1

I’m sharing this photo as a subject of Darktable Filmic RGB module discussion here: Redirecting...

Here’s the raw:
P1200988.RW2 (18.9 MB)

Here’s the SOOC JPEG (Lumix GX80)

P1200988
P12009884592×3448 3.47 MB

And here’s the Darktable sidecar file (that’s how I developed the photo similarly to the JPEG):
P1200988.RW2.xmp (7.2 KB)

TL;DR the default Filmic RGB settings make the image look very desaturated and I’m curious if it’s normal or if it’s somehow caused by the raw format or whatever. This is what it looks like (+2 EV):

P1200988
P12009884610×3464 4.37 MB

All files licensed Creative Commons, By-Attribution, Share-Alike.

#2

To my eyes the JPEG from the camera looks oversaturated.

4 Likes
#3

To my eye, your jpg which will have bumped up saturation is not nearly as well exposed…its much darker esp in the shadows so your picture might also seem more saturated…

I did nothing here but add 3EV, and use the filmic auto picker settings and then add the relight preset in the tone eq with no tweak…color seems okay…of course you could grade and edit it…

image
image1572×829 325 KB

P1200988.RW2.xmp (7.1 KB)

#4

These are my settings on the camera. I wouldn’t expect any heavy oversaturation from this:

image
image2552×1914 575 KB

#5

Just normal JPG processing wrt raw…but yes it looks like you are not applying a profile that makes anything other than what the standard jpg recipe for you camera is…you can turn the vectorscope on …you can see that filmic is not desaturating to any great extent…from what I can see…it is set to do some in the shadows and highlights …you could bump the latitude and shift it to tweak this

To me a lot of what you see in your example above is that the jpg is maybe more contrasted but for sure not exposed that same…

How did you feel about the color in the screenshot I posted?? still not saturated enough?

#6

Saturation. The Panasonic GX85 produces images with slightly muted colors compared to most cameras at default settings. Mean saturation is 107.8% (7.8% oversaturated) at the base ISO of 200, which gradually falls to a minimum of 103.3% at ISO 25,600. The Lumix GX85 pushes dark red and dark blues moderately and some other colors slightly, but undersaturates yellow moderately, and aqua and cyan slightly.

3 Likes
#7

You could resort to the base curve if you cannot settle on a filmic edit…

Same basic steps…exposure 2.68 modern WB relight preset on tone eq with no tweaks and panasonic basecurve

image
image1704×884 416 KB

EDIT:
I had my display profile set wrong as I had been previously experimenting with some clipping stuff…so the EV mentioned here would not make sense… too high…

#8

Your edit is quite OK. I know the JPEGs aren’t always truthful. Maybe I’ve chosen a bad reference image because nobody but me was there on the scene and even the JPEGs tend to be right, sometimes.

However… everybody knows what a person looks like. :slight_smile:
P1210174.RW2 (18.9 MB)
My fast render (looks human enough to me):

P1210174
P12101743464×4610 2.65 MB

P1210174.RW2.xmp (7.2 KB)

Filmic RGB defaults (looks like it’s about to die soon):

P1210174
P12101743464×4610 3.64 MB

CAM, UCS, perceptual, and other color spaces black magic
#9

On top of this I guess I need to calibrate my monitor…when I open with the OP xmp I get this…

I need closer to 3 ev to lighten it up…

image
image1613×892 272 KB

Help, cannot get white balance right
#10

That’s weird. :open_mouth:

#11

I’ll take a look but for sure there is some desaturation in filmic …intention is to add back in rbg cb…try the preset for that first and maybe you can tweak that to come up with a default correction to your taste

#12

Which preset for color preservation did you use in your photo of that lovely smile and adorable dog…no in this case kills the color a bit…

#13

For me the OP’s images look fine. Are you sure your profile settings are fine? E.g., is your display profile set properly (not to linear Rec2020 or similar)?

1 Like
#14

I like the edit you’ve accomplished, and personally prefer it to the ooc rendering:

image
image1357×701 205 KB

At right, the ooc, left, your edit.

In my opinion you applied the correct basic scene referred workflow. That’s what I do to the majority of the images I edit.

2 Likes
#15

Both look pretty OK to me running my usual basic tweaks (Filmic, Exposure, Color balance RGB, levels) and sometimes a bit of Tone equalizer to bring up the shadows.

P1200988-dt
P1200988-dt4609×3463 4.07 MB

P1200988.RW2.xmp (11.6 KB)
P1210174-dt
P1210174-dt3464×4610 4.42 MB

P1210174.RW2.xmp (11.2 KB)

#16

Ha no…I was messing around with those overexposed play raw files yesterday and had left it on rec2020…thanks for reminding me…

#17

My apologies, I had been messing around with another playraw and set my display profile to rec2020…even so switching back and using your xmp…the result was not quite as muted as yours…at least to my eyes…

image
image740×821 150 KB

#18

P1210174_02.RW2.xmp (11.7 KB)
P1200988_01.RW2.xmp (5.9 KB)

P1200988
P12009881438×1080 949 KB

P1210174
P1210174812×1080 445 KB

I raised the auto-detected white for the portrait, as there’s nothing really white in that photo. I raised the latitude, too, to avoid / lessen desaturation of highlights. White balance I had set (in color calibration) from the plastic clasp(?) on the backpack’s shoulder strap. I’m not happy about her skin complexion (looks oversaturated to me, but only someone who knows her could tell for sure), and there’s something wrong about the brighter cheek (yellow tinge?). Could be due to the mixed lighting (my WB source was in the shade, while her cheek is more directly lit, even if it’s obviously not a brigh, sunny day).

A bit of local contrast could have been added, perhaps.

#19

Hi, it was pretty easy to achieve same look as OOC jpeg. I think that OOC file is slightly greenish.

P1200988
P12009882048×1539 691 KB

P1200988.RW2.xmp (9 KB)

#20

Hello, yes this is normal behavior. OOC jpgs are “saturation boosted” compared to RAWs. Filmic RGB doesn’t deal too much with saturation so your image will be “desaturated” (but actually its just non-“saturation boosted”) if you only use Filmic RGB. To add a bit of saturation you can/have to use the “color balance RGB” module. you can first try the preset “add basic colorfulness” (with the three horizontal bars on top-right of the module). I usually just use this preset, as i dont like too saturated images, but still want a bit of it

3 Likes