# Photography
## Getting Started with Darktable
Ansel Adams said "the negative is the score, and the print the performance.” Were he shooting digital today, I suspect Adams would rephrase that to: ***the RAW file is the score, and the print the performance.***
Today's RAW file is somewhat like a film negative. RAW files are considerably more malleable, but you get the idea. If you want more control over the final look of your photographs, you want to shoot RAW format images. These days nearly every camera can shoot RAW files -- even my four-year-old phone can do it. You may have to set your camera to shoot RAW though, most are only set to capture JPGs out of the box. Look through your manual or menus until you find "image format", which should have options for JPG and RAW. You want RAW. You can shoot in RAW *and* JPG if you want, but I tend to shoot just RAW.
The problem with RAW is that they are the equivalent of film negatives. You have to "develop" them. As with developing film, the process of developing a RAW file takes time and skill. When you're first starting it can seem overwhelming, which is probably why you're here. Don't worry. Remember what Thoreau said, "nothing can be more useful to a man than the determination not to be hurried." I'm sure Thoreau would say "a person" if he were writing today, but the point is, relax, take a breath, there's no need to rush, it'll make sense eventually.
There are a lot of great tutorials out there on Darktable (see this guide's [parent page](/guides/photography/) for some links). The problem I noticed as I was learning is that tutorials go out of date, especially video tutorials. Videos show you what to do better than words can sometimes, but they're a pain to re-shoot and keep up-to-date so hardly anyone does. When I was learning Darktable, I found it frustrating to watch good tutorials, but discover that the features described no longer worked the same way in Darktable. I am trying to avoid doing that here. Darktable is updated twice a year at the moment, so not that often, but things do change. And I find new tricks from time to time too. I will keep this guide updated to reflect both changes in Darktable and changes in my own workflow.
Okay, ready? Let's get started.
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##### Table of Contents
- [Setting Up Darktable](#setup)
- [Learning Your Way Around Darktable](#around)
- [Customizing Development Modules](#customize)
- [Example Quick Edits (Video)](#example)
---
### Set Up Darktable {: #setup }
The first thing to do is [download Darktable](https://www.darktable.org/install/) for your PC. Darktable is available for Linux, Mac, and Windows.
Once you have Darktable installed, open it up and you will get a blank library screen. Before you do anything else, let's check some settings to make sure we're all on the same page. Click the gear icon toward the top of the screen to the right side:
Click the Processing tab on the left side of the settings panel and make sure that **Auto Apply Pixel Workflow defaults** is set to **scene-referred (filmic)**, like this:
This will ensure that what's applied by default when you import an image is the same as what's applied to mine. This isn't necessarily the "right" thing to use, scene-referred (sigmoid) will also work, but it won't produce the same results as the rest of these tutorials.
We're done with settings. Hit escape to close the settings window and save your changes. Yes, that's weird way to do it, but that's the way it works in Darktable (on Linux at least).
Let's add some images to our Library view so we can explore both that and the darktable view. To do that you want to open the import module in the upper left corner of the screen and click the **add to library** button.
Naming and organizing your images is a topic onto itself. I am going to assume that you have a system for this and that you don't want Darktable to move or rename images. Because you don't, it's tools are not the best for that.
I have a custom shell script that renames my images for me, but you can do the same thing using [Rapid Photo Downloader](https://damonlynch.net/rapid/) on Linux. I'm sure MacOS and Windows have similar apps (if you have suggestions, drop a comment below and I will add them here).
When it comes to organizing images, use what works for you. What I do is use a directory structure of a folder for the year, then within that folders that start with the month number, followed by the event name. So if I took some pictures at Edisto Beach in January of 2024, those images would live in `2024/01_edisto-beach`. Within that folder every image is named YYYY-MM-DD_HHMMSS_event-name.ARW. Which works out to a timestamp with the event name on the end so I can sort them by date taken in any application, including the file browser, but also know roughly what they are without opening them (thanks to the event name on the end). Anyway, this is what works for me, do what works for you.
The Darktable import images dialog has a few options worth understanding. The "select only new pictures" option is a handy option if you regularly add more images to existing folders as I do. Darktable **WILL NOT** automatically add new images to your database. You must go and import them manually, even if the folder is already in Darktable. If you check the "select only new pictures" option, the new images will be automatically selected when you open that folder in the import dialog.
The other option worth knowing is find new images recursively. I leave this unchecked because I never import a folder with another folder inside it, but if you do, this will tell Darktable to import all the images, no matter how many folders deep they might be buried.
Also see the [relevant Darktable Manual entry for the import dialog](https://docs.darktable.org/usermanual/4.4/en/module-reference/utility-modules/lighttable/import/#import-dialog).
###Learning Your Way Around Darktable {: #around }
Now that you've got Darktable installed and few images imported, let's figure out what we can do.
The main view is the Lighttable. This is modeled after the old lightbox we used to put slides on then stare at with a loupe until we were half blind. Fortunately in Darktable you can just zoom in and out.
I use a laptop and rarely get out a mouse, so I prefer to navigate Darktable mostly using keyboard shortcuts. There are some good built-in shortcuts, like using **`d`** and **`l`** to switch between **`d`**arkroom and **`l`**ighttable views. You can do that now if you want to see Darktable's other main view, the darkroom view which is where you actually edit images.
Switch back to Lighttable by hitting **l** again.
The first thing I do in Lighttable when I import new images is figure out which ones I want to spend time on and which are not worth the effort. I never throw the latter away, but I do tend to ignore them most of the time.
Darktable offers a "culling" mode to help out with the process. You can try it if you like, the shortcut is **x** which will change the view in put two images side-by-side so you can compare them.
I don't use this mode, it came along after I'd already figured out a way to do the same, so I've continued with my method, which is more complex, but adapted to how I shoot and process images.
Like most people I almost always underexpose my digital images. It's easier to recover shadows than highlights so this make sense in digital photography. Unfortunately it leaves me with a lot of overly dark images to compare to figure out which are worth keeping. My solution to this was to create a quick way to lighten them, primarily using keyboard shortcuts.
The shortcut I consider most essential is mapping Darktable's Exposure module to **`Shift+e`**.
This allows me to hold down **Shift-e** and flick my mouse scroll wheel (or trackpad) up and down to increase and decrease exposure. I don't have to futz with opening the Exposure module or anything else, I hit the shortcut and adjust. This saves tons of time when I'm developing images.
What I do is select the first image in the Lighttable view, hit "**d**" to enter darkroom mode, then I hold down **shift** and **e** and scroll up and down to adjust the exposure to a level where I can tell what's going on in the image. When I have it where I want it, I hit **shift + k** to move to the next image, and then repeat the process. Using this method I can run through a batch of images in a few minutes, lightening them up so I can see what's happening. I don't worry about getting the perfect exposure, just light enough to be able to cull them down to the "keepers".
If you'd like to try this -- and I can't recommend the exposure shortcut enough, nothing sped up my workflow like that one -- here's how you set it up.
Open the preferences pane again. Choose **Shortcuts** in the left menu and then click the little arrow to open the **processing modules** section and scroll down to **exposure**. Click the arrow next to **exposure** and then double-click on **exposure**. After you double-click, Darktable is waiting for you to define the keyboard shortcut. Hold down shift, press 'e' and scroll your mouse. Now look below and you should see a line like what's in this screenshot:
If you want to move between images with the shift j/k shortcuts you'll need to set those up too. The method is the same, the action is image back/image forward, which is under **views >> darkroom**. By default the shortcuts there are space (forward) and backspace (back), but I don't like training my brain to it backspace so I went for the Vim-style j/k.
Hit escape to save and exit preferences. Yup, still weird, but now we're used to it. Next select an image, hit **d** to open it in Darktable view. Test your shortcut: hold down **Shift** and **e** and scroll up and down and your image should get lighter and darker. Awesome. If not, re-read the above. It took me hours to figure this out the first time I tried to set this up, so don't feel bad if it doesn't work right away. Re-read the above and try again. Remember Thoreau. Don't hurry.
### Customizing Development Modules {: #customize }
As you saw above when we tweaked the exposure, Darktable adjustments are done in what are called modules, little tools that handle a certain type of adjustments. If you open up the actual exposure modules on the right side of the screen you'll see that it adjusts exposure, sets a black point and handles other things related to exposure. Darktable has enough of these little modules that I am overwhelmed by the full list even after using the app for eight years. When I counted just now I came up with 64 user-adjustable modules. That's a lot of options. Too many in fact. But you don't have to use all of them.
Of those 64 modules I use 9 on a regular basis and another 6 occasionally. Why so many options? This is the nature of open source software to some extent. Anyone with an itch can write some code to scratch it, and if the core developers are okay with including it in the app, it ships. I rather like that, even if most of it gets in my way. There's an easy solution: I narrow down the modules considerably by customizing which ones I see.
If you'd like to do the same, here's what I suggest. These are the core modules where I spend most of my time:
- **Exposure** (lighten or darken an image)
- **Filmic RGB** (control how light the whites and how dark the blacks)
- **Color Calibration** (set the white balance)
- **Color Balance RGB** (enhance colors and color contrasts)
- **Diffuse or Sharpen** (Sharpen)
- **Crop**
- **Tone Equalizer** (raise shadows)
- **Retouch** (fix spots)
- **Rotate and Perspective**
Then there are some others I use only occasionally but I like to have around, things like **denoise**, **chromatic aberrations**, and **LUT 3D** since I use a number of LUTs to speed up development. There are a couple others you can see in the screenshots below, but mostly I ignore the other 51 modules.
To make them easier to ignore, I hide them. To customize which development modules are shown, click the hamburger menu at the top of the modules section (which is on the right side of the screen in darktable mode) and select **Manage presets**.
That will bring up a huge screen with all the modules in columns. I suggest first clicking the preset drop down menu and selecting **workflow: scene-referred**. That gives you all the modules optimized for a scene-referred workflow. It's not important to understand what that means, but if you'll recall, we set up Darktable to apply the scene-referred presets when we import new images. This continues using that same workflow. We want to use those modules, but not all of them, so select duplicate and give your new module layout a name. Now you can customize this layout. I start by deleting the quick access column completely because I don't need it, nor do I find it quick. There's a checkmark at the top of the screen to disable it.
Then I set up the other four like this:
When you have things set up that way hit... wait for it... escape to save your changes. Still weird, but maybe less so after the third time. Or not. I still think it's weird.
### Example Edits (Video) {: #example }
Okay, you now have Darktable set up just like I do. This may or may not end up suiting you, but for now it gives you place to start. To show you how I work within this setup, check out the video below and then you can jump to the next article in this series, which covers what each module does and how I use them.
## Make Better Pictures.
A few things to note:
* I am not a professional photographer. I have been making photographs for 35 years now, but I've never tried to make a living at it, nor do I have any interest in nor any clue how you do that. I am just having fun.
* I am not trying to make fine art prints. Photography to me has always been in service of or to illustrate a story. Occasionally I manage a photograph that tells a story on its own, but that's rarely a goal. Usually I am shooting with the idea that the image will supplement words, not stand on its own.
* There is no single "correct" way to make a photograph. Most of my favorite photographs—both my own and those of others—have technical flaws. I am not interested in whether an image is tack sharp, has a perfect histogram, or is even in focus. I am interested in whether or not it tells a story. Which might seem ironic considering point two there, but it's not because for me a photograph doesn't have to tell the whole story, it has to tell *a* story.
### Take Control of Your Camera
Today's cameras want to do everything for you. I don't think that's any way to live or photograph. You'll never get any better if you leave your camera on full auto and mash the shutter.
If you want to make better photos you're going to have to turn off the automatic features and figure it out for yourself. Sorry. There is no easy way to learn things, you have to struggle, otherwise you don't learn.
Tough love people, but there it is. And there's going to be a learning curve to taking pictures using manual settings. At first you're going to suck at it. Your images are going to look even worse than when you were using full auto. That's okay, this won't last long.
The first thing you need to do is turn on RAW image capture in your camera. Head to your camera's settings page and look for something that says "format" or "file format" or something where the setting is currently "JPG". Now look for the option that says RAW. Select that and you've just unlocked a tremendous amount of control over your images.
### What is Camera RAW?
I recommend shooting RAW format images over JPEGs because RAW stores far more information about the scene you're shooting.
Everything your camera's sensor is capable of recording is stored in that RAW file. JPEG on the other hand has already made some decisions about the scene. As with anything automated, sometimes your JPEGs will look great (especially Fujifilm cameras), but I prefer to record the scene in RAW and make the decisions about how things should look afterward in software.
To understand the difference between JPEG and RAW consider the color data your sensor is recording. The RAW file can hold billions of colors, every bit of color data your sensor saw is stored in the RAW file. To create a JPEG your camera squashes those billions of color down to 16 million (roughly the max the JPEG file format can store) and throws the rest away. The same is true of the luminosity. A RAW image will store the entire dynamic range of the scene, while a JPEG cannot.
Simply put: Camera RAW images store the scene as it was recorded for you to play with later in software. JPEG images store the scene the way your camera's algorithms think it should look. If you're happy with that, awesome. Why are you reading this? If you're not happy with that, read on.
### How to Get the Most out of Camera RAW
The advantage of JPEG images is that you press the shutter and you're done. Well, you transfer the image to your computer or phone and then you're done. With RAW images you need to process them. Think of raw images as a film negative, you need to develop them into prints.
First though, a few notes on the quirks of shooting RAW.
To get the most out of shooting RAW images you need to understand how camera sensors record data, especially how *your* camera's sensor records data. There's considerable variation in the dynamic range that sensors are capable of, but in general it is easier to recover dark parts of an image than highlights.
In digital photography you can think of pure white as no information at all. Since information is what we're after, overexposure, where your image is overly bright, is bad.
The opposite of one bad idea is usually another bad idea though, and that's the case here as well. While you *can* recover quite a bit of color information from very dark regions of your RAW image, there is a cost: noise. Noise is the little colored dots you see when you zoom in on your image. From a distance they make your image look muddy, blurry, and washed out.
The ideal is get the majority of tones in your image between those extremes. There is a theory, which I do not subscribe too, called "exposing to the left", which says you should deliberately, slightly, overexpose your image to get more data in the RAW file. Then you can darken when you develop it in Darktable. I think the risk of botching this, and seriously overexposing your image, outweighs the nominal benefit it confers. That said, sometimes, especially when shooting portraits that I plan to convert to black and white and use a "high key" tone mapping, I do overexpose on purpose to make sure skin tones render with as little noise as possible.
Most of the time though, I do what you should do: I underexpose to protect the lighter areas of the image from overexposure and then lighten the shadows as needed when processing.
### Settings for RAW Photography
If you're just getting started, and you've just turned on RAW in your camera. I suggest you concentrate on learning to use the aperture to your advantage. The mode for this is called aperture priority and is usually on a dial marked with an A, or maybe AP. Putting you camera in this mode lets you set the aperture, or f-stop
[^1]: *Dynamic Range* refers to the range of tones between the lightest and darkest tones in an image. Often the start and stop is pure white to pure black, but it doesn't have to be. It's just the range between the darkest and lightest pixels.