My first post here. There have been discussions previously on this forum about difference between the darktable output and the export. Some have related it to the haze removal module.
I have a slightly different issue. I am editing jpgs straight out of my bridge cam. These are mainly bird photos and at times I need to create a mask to do focussed postprocessing on the subject. But I am finding that the exported output differs from the one in the DT preview. And the difference is probably around specific edits I have made on the masked portions. I am wondering if there is something I am missing about settings. I have read and tried all the variations that are suggested on this forum and on github, to no avail. Veteran DT users, please help!
Here are attached two images:
Screenshot of how it appears on my laptop
Exported JPG
Screenshot of the exported JPG opened in DT with a snapshot overlay of the original JPG
As you can see, I have sharpened the bird in editing which has revealed details of feathers but the exported file seems to not have these details (or edits). This has become quite frustrating, especially for a newbie like me. Please help!
How does it look when you zoom in darktable to 100%? Per the manual:
These two steps can be performed on the zoomed-out image. Remember that, while great care has been taken to make the algorithm’s visual result fairly scale-invariant, the preview will be exact only when zoomed 1:1. In any case, anything happening at pixel level (radius < 2px) will not be visible for zoom levels lower than 50%.
I haven’t paid attention to this. What should this setting be? I am exporting at 0.9999 because that was one of the workarounds that was suggested. I am happy exporting at 1 or even down to 0.5 for that matter.
high quality resampling
Set this to ‘yes’ to perform high quality resampling on the image. The image will be processed in full resolution and only downscaled at the very end. This can sometimes result in better quality, but will always be slower.
One test you can do to eliminate differences due to colour management and viewing environment is to import the exported jpg/tif back into darktable. Then open the raw, take a snapshot, open the jpg and compare. You will probably run into trouble if the two are off different dimensions (e.g. you exported at a reduced resolution). You can still switch back-and-forth between the two, or take screenshots of both and align them in Gimp.
It is, of course, impossible to export most photos without some sort of gamut conversion/compression/clipping, since sRGB can only represent a fraction of the Rec2020 space typically used as the working space.
Thanks! I did import the exported image back into DT; the result is shown in my first post with the screenshot. There is indeed a difference.
Can you help me profile settings: I am using a MacBook Air. My monitor is set at “Color LCD”. I was using Preview, which I can set at the same profile. What do I need to set in DT?
