Hey all, I’m actually doing quite well when it comes to using Darktable. I feel like I’ve come a long way in a short space of time.
One thing I can’t figure out is masking and, specifically, how to remove from a mask. In this example, I’ve created a drawn/parametric mask of an oval so that I can highlight the base of the tree. I want to remove the masked areas of the tree, but I’ve no idea how to go about it.
Can anyone help?
Many thanks in advance.
Why not draw a polygon instead of an oval? You can hold down Ctrl while you click to make the lines straight instead of curved.
Otherwise you can change how the masks interact in the bottom of the mask module.
So, yep, I just threw the oval in for the example, as it was the closest approximation that I wanted to achieve.
But “you can change how the masks interact in the bottom of the mask module” is the bit I don’t understand. It’s the ‘how’ I’m looking for here.
Thanks.
The answer, is that a right click displays thus…
I created a parametric mask from the colour of a dress, with a drawn mask around the dress, to prevent it affecting other parts of the picture. That drawn mask is path 1.
I then wanted to exclude one element of the dress, so i made another drawn shape around that element. That is path 2. The unselected path at the top edge of the sari.
I then changed the mode of path 2 to exclusion.
This as far as I have got as yet. The other modes are explained in various videos, articles and maybe… the manual! I think one of our forum members wrote fully.
edit: Manual Page Link
NB… Expand the group in the list to access this possibility. That is where it is hiding,
yeah, sorry for the vagueness (sometimes it’ll get the job done) I was laying in bed when I wrote that 
You can find links to several masking tutorials here: How to Get Started with darktable, 2026 Edition — Nis' Notebook
Thanks for sharing. I can’t help but notice the advice to use default white balance settings is incomplete. It should say something like ‘unless the colors typically look like crap, in which case you need to use “as shot” or create a calibration preset from a natural light source or high quality 6500k light’.
If I used default WB settings I would need to channel mix every single image. It would be terrible.
Thanks all for the replies. Really helpful (again!), and I think I understand it now.
