Extremely minor edits to fix the lights follow below:
Sometimes, when you have bright lights that arenât necessarily the same type of light as the surrounding area, they show up both blown out and saturated, and you get an effect like you see in your photo when using Filmic RGB. There are a few ways to fix this.
Option 1: If you donât want to change anything else, a good and simple method is to go to Filmicâs âReconstructâ tab and turn on âEnable highlight reconstructionâ. Thatâll usually do what you want right from the start, although you might need to adjust the threshold (depending on the image, although the mask mode (the square icon with a circle inside) will help you select mainly the light source, if just enabling it doesnât immediately fix it).
DSC_0359.NEF.xmp (11.4 KB)
Other methods with Filmic RGB, although these will affect the image:
Option 2: Adjust the âwhite relative exposureâ until the area looks correct. This will make your image lighter. But that might be what you want for some photos anyway.
DSC_0359_02.NEF.xmp (11.6 KB)
Option 3: Or adjust âExtreme luminance saturationâ in the âLookâ tab. But this will desaturate your photo. (Which might be what you want for some images anyway, or you might want to start with this and compensate with a boost of vibrance and/or chroma and/or saturation in âColor balance RGBâ.
DSC_0359_03.NEF.xmp (11.6 KB)
Option 4: Or turn down the chroma or saturation on the highlights, using a module that desaturates. Hereâs âColor balance RGBâ turning down highlights chroma with a slightly feathered mask to constrain it to the highlights.
DSC_0359_04.NEF.xmp (11.5 KB)
Option 5: Or even turn off Filmic RGB altogether and use Sigmoid. Some people prefer Sigmoid, but Iâve personally gotten used to Filmic RGB and use it almost exclusively. But itâs still worth pointing out using Sigmoid will negate this issue by default. Iâve seen people getting great results from both modules in playraws.
DSC_0359_05.NEF.xmp (11.5 KB)
Option 6: (Back to using Filmic RGB â I thought of this mehod later. Whoops!) Switch the mode in the âhighlight reconstructionâ module (not to be confused with Filmic RGBâs âhighlight reconstructionâ). In this case, I switched it from âinpaint opposedâ to âreconstruct in LCHâ. There are options and other modes, and different methods and values may work better in other photos.
DSC_0359_06.NEF.xmp (11.5 KB)
darktable can do similar things in so many ways. (Itâs both a strength and weakness.) Most people probably wouldnât notice any difference between the above photos. Some of us here will see a difference when we look at them side by side. Itâs quite subtle. Iâm pretty sure someone in this thread will even recommend other options as well.
There are probably dozens more ways to fix this, especially considering modules and masks.
Anyway, Iâd recommend turning on the highlight âreconstructionâ in filmic RGB âreconstruct tabâ versus the other options, as it changes your image the least and requires the least amount of work⌠although the other options are all basically valid methods too.