Hi, I slowly trying darktable as alternative for lightroom editor. For now I am quite excited. I am not a fan of too artististic editing of photos. I am interested to see what can you do from this photo
A quick edit in Photoflow: exposure increase (+1), wb adjustment (spot on the white wall + small increase in temp), tone mapping, curves in multiply blend mode (75%), local contrast (amount:10), colorspace conversion (sRGB).
Very beautiful idyllic landscape shot!
My version is a bit darker and softer in texture. I wanted to enhance the depth of the scene by playing with light and emphasizing the lighting:
Pretty standard edit from me here. More “filmesque” style vibe as that tends to be what I find pleasing to look at. Apologies if the colors show up a bit odd but they should be fine. Still have not calibrated my laptop due to distro hopping. Thankfully it is not drastically out of wack it just runs a bit cool. dt 3.4.1
Not on my usual computer, and the .xmp file is not showing up next to the imported file (grr). If I find it, I will edit this post.
Scene referred: color cal to wall of building, Filmic, Tone EQ, color balance RGB, contrast EQ in two parts, and a littel exposure with a grad mask on the forground.
Oh, and a crop that I like. Making the line of sight, if you will, go to the top of the first line of hills makes the eye dance a little more.
Working with the color balance RGB is really more like working with oils. You can add white to colors. Really cool.
It makes the red work on the building without anything really standing out.
Yes, this shows the approach when using darktable - there is not one direct way to the target result.
Darktable is something like a workshop with many different tools that you use as needed, guided by what you want to do next. Progression depends on your intuition, experience in image processing and especially on your knowledge of individual tools.
This non-linear approach initially frightens many who are used to a pre-structured approach. But on the other hand, when you get to know the modules, the ways to become creative and develop your own style open up quickly.
This is a very big advantage of darktable.
If you encounter difficulties in your “discovery journey” of darktable, and have questions, don’t be afraid to ask them here in the forum. If I can, I am definitely ready to answer them.