I have copied the technique in Darktable as follows. (Note: I am using the scene-referred defaults, which means that “White Balance” is set to “camera reference” while “Color Calibration” is has a white balance set to either daylight, custom or as shot).
Make a new instance of the exposure module.
Add masks to the module as desired (don’t forget feathering!)
Raise exposure as desired.
Make a “duplicate instance” of the Color Calibration module.
Note 1: This changes the colors in the image immediately. So any change we are going to do will first require us to move the slider to approximately where it was before and only then can it be changed.
Note 2: There will be a warning: “Double CAT applied”. Ignore.
Add a drawn mask.
Set mask to “same as …”. Note: this creates some cognitive strain, as the fonts are small and there are many options.
Don’t forget to set feathering again!
Correct color temperature until it’s a bit warmer than in the other parts of the image.
This works, but it is cumbersome. There are many clicks involved. [Any other modules (e.g. Diffuse and Sharpen) that should also be applied the masked area only will need a repeat of the process.]
Can it be done any easier? Is Color Calibration the right module to do this?
If sticking with this don’t duplicate simply create a new instance. It will be a no op in bypass mode and no warning… Then use a raster mask and use the one from the exposure module… But using CB module would be easier…
It will be in bypass mode, but that means that there are no facilities for adjusting the color temperature. So that would actually require to manually select an “adaptation” and and “illuminant” and get the warning back.
I see… so its probably best to use slightly different but related concepts - forget about “temperature” and just use tinting and the result is comparable. It does require somewhat more brains though. I guess I can live with that.
I could imagine a nice enhancement though: If we could click on the mask icon that’s associated with a module and get an option for “add other module instance with same mask” or something like that. That would make it much easier to apply several distinct changes to the same area in the image.
Yes sorry but I thought you were more concerned with the duplicate changing the image. I was suggesting something that would not change the image and then the local effect or your adjustment could be added unbiased by that change… the warning is trivial you just ignore it or disable it… The CAT is used for WB but it illuminant centered not temperature…
This is the raster mask…check out the module… you can use the mask of any module that happens earlier in the pipeline in any new module…select raster and select the source module that contains the mask from the drop down…
EDIT: See where it says no mask used… I didn’t have any masks but if you have some they are available for selection in that drop down…
Ah, I never knew about the raster mask! Thanks Todd for pointing me towards it!
It’s not what I described - what I would like to have would be more of a usability enhancement in grouping module instances in a “mask first” approach - but it’s certainly useful! And it takes some work away from my initially described workflow, because you don’t have to set feathering again in the second module.
I’ll have to go back and read not sure what exactly that means…
Edit
So if you set a mask you can duplicate the module it carries the mask forward. If you don’t want the mask to change ie a parametric mask then the raster is a good option as its a bitmap fixed in time… otherwise a parametric mask can change a bit as the sequential processing of the pipeline happens the inputs to each module and so might select a bit of a different area… So you can also do something like set a mask based on a no-op exposure module which happens early in the pipeline and then use that as a raster mask for all subsequent module that would come after it in the pipeline. You could also put this in place for a second raster mask… The only time you would need to respecify would be for a new module of a different operation and its pretty easy to apply the raster mask and select what you want.
So you click on a mask icon, then select the module you want to use with the same mask.
Whereas now, you have to click to activate the raster mask; and then select which possible raster mask you want to use.
Different approach, but I think the list of available raster masks is going to be shorter than the list of modules…
And of course, in both cases you have to take into account the pipeline order. The order of application of modules in darktable is fixed (i.e. independant of activation order). Not sure how that works in lightroom.
Just say you could transform an instance of a module to a “mask group” or something like that - they could be graphically displayed like that in the UI, like grouped together in a frame, collapsed and expanded upon, and apply a set of transformations to the same area of an image. One click might be enough to promote a module to a mask group and then you could add different new module instances to it. Yes, pipeline order must be preserved to a certain degree.
Anyway, I’d probably have to program that myself and convince the devs that it’s a good concept.
Yes, the raster mask definitely helps! And you make a good point that they are needed to conserve parametric mask results when the image is changed by prior modules.
As an ex-Lightroom user, I was also thinking a similar way to you and missing the way Lr handled masks by grouping lots of common editing sliders in the mask panel (of course, there’s plenty that I would miss now about darkroom if I ever went back to Lr).
As @paperdigits mentioned earlier in the thread, color balance rgb is the best “all-in-one” module for multiple editing techniques in the same panel. It can do hue, saturation, lightness, temperature and tint (via color grading), contrast, and exposure. I then only need one or two other modules to complete what Lr can offer, e.g. Haze removal (for adding and removing haze), and diffuse and sharpen or contrast equalizer for sharpness, clarity, bloom, haze, etc.
If you use haze removal, which comes very early in the pixelpipe, you can use its raster mask for almost all other modules. So, it is possible to create just one mask and apply all equivalent Lr edits in just one or two modules.
The classic Lr edit of dodging, using a radial filter then boosting exposure and warming it up slightly can be easily done in color balance rgb, by using the 4 ways tab. Either the highlights or power sliders are generally all that’s needed for that particular kind of dodging. You can also add contrast in this tab by dropping the shadows gain and boosting the highlights gain.
oh and of course blend modes…