Split toning: Log vs Primaries in Darktable

[mikae1]

@anon16817310

I’ve tried parametric masks and global offset with relatively good results, although it requires a lot more steps than what this guy does in Davinci with a few clicks. Perhaps this is on the devs’ radar for future updates?

I really appreciate your feedback both here and in the Simplify Tone Equalizer thread. However, I suspect the answer to your question here will be close to the reply you got in the other thread :

@anon41087856

In any case, as a principle, I disregard anything that begins with “simplify”. What we are doing is not simple, the GUI should acknowledge that. Also, if it was simple, it would have been done already.

darktable, as a still image editor, went on a lonely pilgrimage when switching most development focus to a scene referred workflow. This shift in focus has its pros and cons, but the way I’m reading this forum is that a lot of development will be spent figuring out how to do things in this new paradigm. Scene referred meant reimagining much of the tool set from the ground up it must have been a huge undertaking. A lot of pieces seems to be falling into place and I’m hoping there will eventually be some time (and perhaps interest) to focus on UX. Right now, I’m trying to embrace the sliders and ignore the ones I don’t need.

As for my own workflow, I’m half way scene referred (if that could even be considered a thing). The tone equalizer can’t really replace the good old rgb curve module as long as the control points are locked on the horizontal axis. After 25 years of curves usage it feels like working in a straitjacket. Using “the old modules” mostly seems to work fine though (despite the warnings). So, as a rule (that might not be applicable in this exact scenario) you could try mixing in some of the old ways of working and see what results you get.