darktable 4.4. i have read the manual, there is no reset parameters button in the UI, compressing history stack does nothing, hell, even the ‘original’ state of the picture is NOT original (already altered). i am at loss what to do, please advise
Does this help?
Hi @mleczkomatik, and welcome!
I wonder if you might be helped by
Lighttable | ctrl-A | history stack → discard history?
Have fun!
Claes in Lund, Sweden
If, by ‘original’, you mean the same as your camera’s JPG or preview, then forget it. Your camera applies its own defaults, which only the manufacturer’s software can replicate. This has been discussed ad nauseam on this forum, for example just a few days ago: Simply view original photos without preset history stack..
Though not darktable, but this is well explained here: Editor - RawPedia
And for the details (you’ll have to click the missing thumbnails to display the images – it used to work): Developing a RAW photo file 'by hand' - Part 1
2 Likes
hi, thanks for reply
i am completely new to darktable and last night edited a bunch of pictures, just sort of trying things out. i found the option to discard the history and read article about the default stack applied to jpeg images. thing is i shoot in raw, and those stacks are not default ones, those are changes i made and can’t remove rn.
https://pic8.co/sh/jx3Ag4.png - screenshot to show the difference in pic on hdd and darktable
once again proper new to all this, sorry if i am being an idiot.
You are certainly not an idiot. Could you please show the processing history (on the left right side)?
This is a fairly standard processing stack applied by darktable:
Note that you can also upload raw files here, and can share your processing steps by uploading the XMP ‘sidecar’ file that darktable creates next to your image, too.
To start anew, click ‘0 - original’ and then ‘compress history stack’ in the darkroom; or create a new version (won’t duplicate the raw, just creates a new sidecar) by clicking ‘original’ (or click ‘duplicate’ to make a copy so you can experiment while keeping a previous state, too):
Alternatively, click ‘discard’ in the history stack group on the lighttable. That will remove your modifications, and re-apply darktable’s defaults.
2 Likes
What’s happening here, is that darktable is showing you it’s version of the raw file, with very minimal processing. The windows photo viewer is either (a) showing you the embedded JPG preview that the camera added to the raw file, or (b) showing you the raw file with some kind of default tone curve etc. applied.
1 Like
https://pic8.co/sh/MZKimm.png different pic with stack visible.
compressing and discarding does nothing, creating a copy gives me exact same altered picture
Yes, because raw files need to be developed.
Your image will look a lot better if you now enable either filmic rgb or sigmoid, and then raise exposure.
Please read the topics @Peter and I linked above.
3 Likes
What you see is the bare minimum that you will get with DT when processing a raw image…If you compress this you will get it again… if you discard the history stack then you will see the jpg preview embedded in your raw… The second you go back into darkroom view you will have the base level processing few if any raw processors show you these steps but all or similar are applied…
EDIT, Since so many commercial products open with a bunch of default processing this misconception seems to be that raw files look great out of the gate… so much so that with DT which hides nothing there seems to be constant confusion…
This post from Bruce Williams is now a permanent post on the DT Facebook page as the question gets answered over and over and over…
" I keep getting asked this, so I’m posting the reply here and will make it sticky.
Why does darktable show me a great looking image when I first import it, but then when I open it in the darkroom, it goes all washed-out and desaturated?
This has always been the case when dealing with RAW files in darktable, and I have actually addressed this a couple of times in some of my videos.
What happens is this… your camera has an image processor. It’s a dedicated chip which has the functional equivalent of darktable embedded on it. When you shoot RAW, the image processor generates a jpeg which is used as the thumbnail for the RAW file while it’s on your memory card, so that if you want to preview that image in-camera, the jpeg is what you see. Remember, a RAW file is NOT an image. It’s raw data.
So then you import the RAW file into darktable… While you are in the lighttable view, you are seeing the embedded jpeg thumbnail… But the moment you open that RAW file in the darkroom view, darktable discards the jpeg thumbnail and shows you the RAW data with only the processing steps which are required to show you an image onscreen (input colour space, white balance, output colour space etc).
The idea here is that you have opened the RAW data in the darkroom view because you wish to process the image. So darktable makes the assumption that you want to start from a completely unprocessed file. Now, before you say “but I want the jpeg look as a starting point”, it’s not that simple.
Every camera manufacturer has their own “secret sauce” which is hardcoded into that image processing chip. And try as they might (and Aurélien has done some amazing stuff with Filmic RGB), the developers of darktable will never be able to PERFECTLY match the in-camera jpeg using darktable’s various processing modules… Remember, those in-camera jpegs are all produced with that particular manufacturer’s secret sauce.
Hope this helps.
3 Likes
omg i didn’t realise this, i thought i was going mad!
thanks!!
1 Like
this helps indeed, thank you so much
Don’t worry, you’re not alone! 
2 Likes
Most software will use the jpg preview for thumb’s in the gallery view or equivalent…If you go into preferences you can choose to use a reduced resolution raw for this but there is a performance hit. If you have a fast PC you could do that…
DT also have workflows… the newer ones are based on the concept of scene referred editing. You can however use a module called the basecurve and this could land you closer out of the gate to your jpg…otherwise it takes some time to develop your style and preferred module use. You will end up with great edits and be able to handle some of the dynamic range challenges that shooting things like sunsets introduce but its a process… Look up and follow the editing series on the YT channel “Editing moments in darktable” this will give you a sense of less traditional workflow used with the more modern modules in DT and how to look at images and apply a scene referred mind set…
1 Like
An early section in the manual has a couple of paragraphs with the topic why doesn’t my image look like my jpeg…
https://darktable-org.github.io/dtdocs/en/overview/workflow/process/
1 Like
There is a icon which is a circle with a vertical line in it.
A relatively new DT user (last few months), I thought it was a circle with an i in it. So I thought it might give me information, and kept resetting things! (in fact, the tooltip says “reset”)
I guess it is meant to represent an “off” button. You’ll see it in lots of places, eg, on the title bar of every module. You’ll also find one at the top of the History module.
/aside
I did know that a “straight-out-of-camera” raw file is a bunch of data, not a viewable image. It occurs to me that a raw raw file is about as viewable as a film negative — held at arm’s length 
2 Likes
one more question, how do i get rid of jaundiced (for lack of better word) halo around the sun?
It always depends on the image. Post it in the PlayRaw category, and people will show you many different treatments in several applications.
2 Likes