darktable 3.

0
darktable 3.0
Copyright © 2010-2012 P.H. Andersson
Copyright © 2010-2011 Olivier Tribout
Copyright © 2012-2018 Ulrich Pegelow
Copyright © 2013-2017 Jérémy Rosen

The founder of the darktable project is Johannes Hanika.

darktable has been developed with major contribution by Aldric Renaudin, Alexander V. Smal,
Alexandre Prokoudine, Ammon Riley, Anders Brander, Andreas Schneider, Andrea Volpato,
Andrew Toskin, Antony Dovgal, Artur de Sousa Rocha, Asma AL-Bahanta, Aurélien Pierre, Axel
Waggershauser, Báthory Péter, Benoit Brummer, Bernd Steinhauser, Brian Teague, Bruce Guenter,
Cherrot Luo, Chris Hodapp, Christian Himpel, Christian Tellefsen, Dan Torop, David Bremner, Dennis
Gnad, Dimitrios Psychogios, Dušan Kazik, Eckhart Pedersen, Edgardo Hoszowski, Edouard Gomez,
Frédéric Grollier, Gaspard Jankowiak, Germano Massullo, Ger Siemerink, Gianluigi Calcaterra, Gianni
Carabelli, Guilherme Brondani Torri, Guillaume Benny, Heiko Bauke, Henrik Andersson, Igor Kuzmin,
Ivan Tarozzi, James C. McPherson, Jan Kundrát, Jérémy Rosen, Jean-Sébastien Pédron, Jesper
Pedersen, Jochen Schroeder, Johanes Schneider, Johannes Hanika, José Carlos Casimiro, José Carlos
Garcia Sogo, Josep V. Moragues, K. Adam Christensen, Kaminsky Andrey, Kanstantsin Shautsou,
Karl Mikaelsson, Klaus Post, Loic Guibert, Marcel Laubach, Matjaž Jeran, Matthias Gehre, Matthieu
Moy, Matthieu Volat, Maurizio Paglia, Mauro Bartoccelli, Maximilian Trescher, Michal Babej, Michel
Leblond, Mikko Ruohola, Milan Knížek, Moritz Lipp, Nicolas Belleville, Novy Sawai, Olivier Tribout,
Pascal de Bruijn, Pascal Obry, Pedro Côrte-Real, Peter Budai, Petr Styblo, Pierre Lamot, Ralf Brown,
Richard Hughes, Richard Levitte, Richard Wonka, Rikard Öxler, Robert Bieber, Robert William Hutton,
Roman Lebedev, Rostyslav Pidgornyi, Sergey Pavlov, Shlomi Braitbart, Simon Spannagel, Stefan
Hoffmeister, Stefan Löffler, Stefan Schöfegger, Stuart Henderson, Tatica Leandro, Thomas Pryds,
Timur I. Davletshin, Tobias Ellinghaus, Torsten Bronger, Ulrich Pegelow, Victor Lamoine, Wolfgang
Goetz, Wolfgang Mader, Wyatt Olson, Žilvinas Žaltiena and many others.

darktable is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU
General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License,
or (at your option) any later version.

darktable is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without
even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with darktable. If not, see
the GNU homepage [http://www.gnu.org/licenses/].

The present user manual is under license cc by-sa , meaning Attribution Share Alike . You can visit the
creative commons page [http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses/] to get more information.
Table of Contents
Preface ..................................................................................................................... vii
1. Overview ................................................................................................................ 1
1.1. Program invocation ..................................................................................... 3
1.1.1. darktable binary ............................................................................ 3
1.1.2. darktable-cli binary .................................................................... 5
1.1.3. darktable-generate-cache binary .............................................. 6
1.1.4. darktable-chart binary ................................................................ 7
1.1.5. darktable-cltest binary .............................................................. 8
1.1.6. darktable-cmstest binary ............................................................ 8
1.2. User interface .............................................................................................. 9
1.2.1. Views ................................................................................................ 9
1.2.2. Screen layout .................................................................................. 10
1.2.3. Filmstrip ......................................................................................... 10
1.2.4. Preferences .................................................................................... 10
1.2.5. Contextual help .............................................................................. 10
1.2.6. Shortcuts window ........................................................................... 10
1.3. darktable basic workflow ........................................................................... 11
1.3.1. Importing images ............................................................................ 11
1.3.2. Basic development steps ................................................................. 11
1.3.3. Exporting images ............................................................................ 13
2. Lighttable ............................................................................................................. 15
2.1. Overview ................................................................................................... 16
2.1.1. Filemanager .................................................................................... 16
2.1.2. Zoomable lighttable ........................................................................ 17
2.1.3. Culling ............................................................................................ 17
2.1.4. Full preview .................................................................................... 18
2.2. Lighttable concepts ................................................................................... 19
2.2.1. Film rolls ......................................................................................... 19
2.2.2. Collections ...................................................................................... 19
2.2.3. Thumbnails ..................................................................................... 19
2.2.4. Star ratings and color labels ............................................................ 21
2.2.5. Filtering and sort order ................................................................... 21
2.2.6. Image grouping ............................................................................... 22
2.2.7. Sidecar files .................................................................................... 23
2.2.8. Importing sidecar files generated by other applications ................... 24
2.2.9. Local copies .................................................................................... 25
2.2.10. Undo/redo .................................................................................... 25
2.3. Lighttable panels ....................................................................................... 27
2.3.1. Import ............................................................................................ 27
2.3.2. Collect images ................................................................................ 29
2.3.3. Recently used collections ................................................................ 31
2.3.4. Timeline .......................................................................................... 31
2.3.5. Image information .......................................................................... 31
2.3.6. Select ............................................................................................. 32
2.3.7. Selected image(s) ............................................................................ 32
2.3.8. History stack ................................................................................... 34
2.3.9. Styles .............................................................................................. 35
2.3.10. Geotagging ................................................................................... 37
2.3.11. Metadata editor ............................................................................ 38
2.3.12. Tagging ......................................................................................... 38
2.3.13. Export selected ............................................................................. 44
3. Darkroom ............................................................................................................. 51

iii
 3.1. Overview ................................................................................................... 52
3.2. Darkroom concepts .................................................................................... 53
3.2.1. Pixelpipe, module order, and history stack ....................................... 53
3.2.2. Interacting with modules ................................................................ 53
3.2.3. Module presets ............................................................................... 55
3.2.4. Multiple instances ........................................................................... 56
3.2.5. Blending ......................................................................................... 58
3.2.6. Color management ......................................................................... 72
3.3. Darkroom panels ....................................................................................... 75
3.3.1. Image infos line .............................................................................. 75
3.3.2. Navigation ...................................................................................... 75
3.3.3. Snapshots ....................................................................................... 75
3.3.4. History stack ................................................................................... 75
3.3.5. Duplicate manager .......................................................................... 76
3.3.6. Global color picker .......................................................................... 76
3.3.7. Mask manager ................................................................................ 77
3.3.8. Histogram ....................................................................................... 80
3.3.9. Module groups ................................................................................ 80
3.3.10. More modules ............................................................................... 81
3.3.11. Bottom panel ................................................................................ 81
3.4. Modules .................................................................................................... 85
3.4.1. Basic group ..................................................................................... 85
3.4.2. Tone group ..................................................................................... 98
3.4.3. Color group ................................................................................... 114
3.4.4. Correction group ........................................................................... 127
3.4.5. Effect group ................................................................................. 149
3.5. Examples ................................................................................................. 167
3.5.1. Converting to black and white ....................................................... 167
3.5.2. Cross-processing ........................................................................... 168
3.5.3. Cyan toned image ......................................................................... 169
3.5.4. Removal of red-eye effect ............................................................. 170
4. Tethering ............................................................................................................ 173
4.1. Overview ................................................................................................. 174
4.1.1. Tethering ...................................................................................... 174
4.2. Tethering panels ...................................................................................... 175
4.2.1. Session .......................................................................................... 175
4.2.2. Live view ....................................................................................... 175
4.2.3. Camera settings ............................................................................ 175
4.3. Examples ................................................................................................. 176
4.3.1. Studio setup with screening .......................................................... 176
4.3.2. Capturing a timelapse ................................................................... 176
4.4. Troubleshoot ........................................................................................... 177
4.4.1. Verify that your camera is supported ............................................. 177
4.4.2. So, now what? ............................................................................... 177
5. Map .................................................................................................................... 179
5.1. Overview ................................................................................................. 180
5.1.1. Center map view ........................................................................... 180
5.1.2. Undo/redo .................................................................................... 180
5.2. Map panels .............................................................................................. 182
5.2.1. Left panels .................................................................................... 182
5.2.2. Find location ................................................................................. 182
5.2.3. Map settings ................................................................................. 182
5.2.4. Tagging ......................................................................................... 183
6. Slideshow ........................................................................................................... 185
6.1. Overview ................................................................................................. 186
iv
 6.2. Usage ...................................................................................................... 187
7. Print ................................................................................................................... 189
7.1. Overview ................................................................................................. 190
7.2. Usage ...................................................................................................... 191
7.2.1. Printer section .............................................................................. 191
7.2.2. Page section ................................................................................. 191
7.2.3. Print settings ................................................................................ 192
7.2.4. Print button .................................................................................. 192
8. Preferences and settings .................................................................................... 193
8.1. GUI options .............................................................................................. 194
8.1.1. Import ........................................................................................... 194
8.1.2. Lighttable ..................................................................................... 194
8.1.3. Darkroom ...................................................................................... 195
8.1.4. Map/geolocalisation ...................................................................... 196
8.1.5. Security ......................................................................................... 196
8.1.6. Miscellaneous ............................................................................... 197
8.2. Core options ............................................................................................ 199
8.2.1. Quality .......................................................................................... 199
8.2.2. xmp .............................................................................................. 200
8.2.3. cpu/gpu/memory .......................................................................... 200
8.2.4. Miscellaneous ............................................................................... 201
8.3. Session options ........................................................................................ 203
8.4. Shortcuts ................................................................................................. 205
8.5. Presets .................................................................................................... 209
9. Scripting with Lua ............................................................................................... 211
9.1. Lua usage ................................................................................................ 212
9.1.1. Basic principles ............................................................................. 212
9.1.2. A simple lua example .................................................................... 212
9.1.3. Printing labeled images ................................................................. 212
9.1.4. Adding a simple shortcut ............................................................... 214
9.1.5. Exporting images with Lua ............................................................ 216
9.1.6. Building User Interface elements ................................................... 217
9.1.7. Sharing scripts .............................................................................. 218
9.1.8. Calling Lua from DBus ................................................................... 220
9.1.9. Using darktable from a lua script ................................................... 220
9.2. Lua API .................................................................................................... 222
10. Special topics .................................................................................................... 223
10.1. darktable and memory ........................................................................... 224
10.1.1. Total system memory .................................................................. 224
10.1.2. Available address space ............................................................... 224
10.1.3. Memory fragmentation ............................................................... 224
10.1.4. Further limitations ...................................................................... 225
10.1.5. Setting up darktable on 32-bit systems ........................................ 225
10.1.6. darktable on 64-bit systems ........................................................ 226
10.2. darktable and OpenCL ........................................................................... 227
10.2.1. The background .......................................................................... 227
10.2.2. How OpenCL works ..................................................................... 227
10.2.3. How to activate OpenCL in darktable ........................................... 227
10.2.4. Setting up OpenCL on your system .............................................. 228
10.2.5. Possible problems and solutions .................................................. 230
10.2.6. Setting up OpenCL for AMD/ATI devices ...................................... 231
10.2.7. OpenCL performance optimization .............................................. 232
10.2.8. OpenCL scheduling profile .......................................................... 233
10.2.9. Multiple OpenCL devices – manual settings ................................. 234
10.2.10. OpenCL still does not run for me! .............................................. 236
v
 10.3. Using darktable-chart ...................................................................... 237
10.3.1. Overview ..................................................................................... 237
10.3.2. Usage .......................................................................................... 237
10.3.3. Source image .............................................................................. 237
10.3.4. Reference values ......................................................................... 238
10.3.5. Process ....................................................................................... 238
10.3.6. Making input images for darktable-chart ............................... 239
Index ...................................................................................................................... 241

vi
Preface
User manual version and applicable darktable version are listed below:

version date
user manual 3.0.0 December 2019
darktable 3.0 December 2019

Translations of this manual to local languages are brought to you by Federico Bruni,
Maurizio Paglia, Victor Lamoine, Michel Leblond, María Gracia Leandro, Pierre Metzner,
Christian Kanzian, Wolfgang Arndt, Łukasz Karcz, Artur Mercik and Edgar De la Luz.

Many thanks to all contributors to this user manual. Special thanks for proof reading, style
improvement, constructive criticism, and valuable contributions go to Colin Adams, Mark
Garrow, Simon Harhues, István Kovács, Jean-Luc Coulon, Rudolf Martin, Ammon Riley, Rob
Z. Smith, Andrew Toskin, and David Vincent-Jones.

vii
viii
Chapter 1. Overview
darktable is an open source photography workflow application, image editor and raw
developer, a virtual lighttable and darkroom for photographers.

It manages your database of digital negatives imported from various sources (including
tethered shooting), lets you view them through a zoomable lighttable, provides a rich
collection of modules for developing images, allows exporting the results to standard
physical and/or digital media or demonstrating them as slides on a screen. All these
operations are performed via fully color-managed workflows.

General Features

• darktable runs on GNU/Linux / GTK3, Mac OS X / macports, BSD, Windows and Solaris
11 / GTK3.

• Fully non-destructive editing.

• All darktable core functions operate on 4x32-bit floating point pixel buffers for high
accuracy processing, preventing banding and color breaks.

• darktable makes heavy use of Streaming SIMD Extensions 2 (SSE2) instructions of the
CPU to speed up processing. In fact, darktable requires either an SSE2-capable x86
processor or an ARM64 processor.

• GPU acceleration via OpenCL (runtime detection and enabling).

• Image processing modules operate in CIELab and several popular RGB model-based
color spaces, which are much larger than the gamut of modern displays, printers or even
human vision.

• Full color managed display with softproofing and gamut-check. Built-in ICC profile
support for export: sRGB, Adobe RGB, XYZ and linear RGB.

• A collect module allows you to execute flexible database queries, search your images
by tags, image rating (stars), color labels and many more. Filtering and sorting your
collections within the base query or simple tagging by related tags are useful tools in
your every-day photo workflow.

• Import a variety of standard raw, low and high dynamic range image formats (e.g. CR2,
DNG, JPEG, OpenEXR, PFM).

• darktable has a zero-latency fullscreen, zoomable user interface through multi-level

software caches.

• Tethered shooting.

• darktable can export developed images as low or high dynamic range files (JPEG, PNG,
TIFF, PDF, PFM, EXR) to local disk storage, web albums, LaTeX book template, email
attachments, and can generate a simple html-based web gallery.

• darktable uses both XMP sidecar files as well as its fast database for saving metadata
and processing settings. All Exif data is read and written using libexiv2.

• darktable comes with more than 60 image processing modules which cover correction
of digital image imperfections and common defects, basic adjustments, tonal value
changes, color manipulation, as well as enhancements and artistic effects.
1
 • You can instantiate most modules multiple times and control the order in which they
get applied.

• A powerful mask feature gives you fine control over how the module affects complete
image or its specific areas. You can select image areas by drawing a mask using various
shapes, or by defining a parametric mask based on pixel values.

• Flexibility of masks is further extended by the possibility to apply them in different

blending modes and reuse the same mask in several modules.

• darktable introduces a highly efficient, yet simple “single-click” denoiser that always
just works. It's designed as a module where the denoising performance only depends
on camera and ISO setting. A database of profiles contains parameters for well above
200 popular camera models.

• darktable comes with a versatile scripting interface for functionality enhancement

using Lua as a scripting language.

• Images containing geo coordinates can be displayed on a map with various map sources
at your choice. Geo coordinates can be assigned to images by manually placing them on
the map, or by automatically applying GPX track data.

• darktable has a built-in slideshow feature that lets you display your collection of images
fullscreen.

• A versatile print module lets you send your image to a connected printer with full color
management support.

2
1.1. Program invocation
darktable comes with two main binaries: the standard GUI variant which is started by
calling darktable and a command line interface variant which is started by calling
darktable-cli . Additionally darktable is shipped with some further binaries for special
purposes.

1.1.1. darktable binary
This binary starts darktable with its GUI and full functionality; it is the standard way of
using darktable.

darktable is called with the following command line parameters:

darktable [-d {all,cache,camctl,camsupport,control,dev,

fswatch,input,lighttable,lua,masks,memory,nan,
opencl,perf,pwstorage,print,sql}]
[<input file>|<image folder>]
[--version]
[--disable-opencl]
[--library <library file>]
[--datadir <data directory>]
[--moduledir <module directory>]
[--tmpdir <tmp directory>]
[--configdir <user config directory>]
[--cachedir <user cache directory>]
[--localedir <locale directory>]
[--luacmd <lua command>]
[--noiseprofiles <noiseprofiles json file>]
[--conf <key>=<value>]

All parameters are optional; in most cases users will start darktable without any additional
parameters in which case darktable uses suitable defaults.

-d

This option enables debug output to the terminal. There are several subsystems of
darktable and debugging of each of them can be activated separately. You can use
this option multiple times if you want debugging output of more than one subsystem.

<input file>|<image folder>

You may optionally supply the filename of an image or the name of a folder containing
image files. If a filename is given darktable starts in darkroom view with that file
opened. If a folder is given darktable starts in lighttable view with the content of that
folder as the current collection.

--version

This option causes darktable to print its version number, a copyright notice, some
other useful information, and then terminate.

--disable-opencl

This option prevents darktable from initializing the OpenCL subsystem. Use
this option in case darktable crashes at startup due to a defective OpenCL
implementation.
3
 --library <library file>

darktable keeps image information in an sqlite database for fast access. The default
location of that database file is “$HOME/.config/darktable/library.db”. You may
give an alternative location, e.g. if you want to do some experiments without
compromising your original library.db. If the database file does not exist, darktable
creates it for you. You may also give “:memory:” as a library file in which case the
database is kept in system memory  – all changes are discarded when darktable
terminates.

Whenever darktable starts, it will lock the library to the current user. It does this by
writing the current process identifier (PID) into a lock file “<library file>.lock” next
to the library specified. If darktable finds an existing lock file for the library, it will
terminate immediately.

--datadir <data directory>

This option defines the directory where darktable finds its runtime data. The
default place depends on your installation. Typical places are “/opt/darktable/share/
darktable/” and “/usr/share/darktable/”.

--moduledir <module directory>

darktable has a modular structure and organizes its modules as shared libraries for
loading at runtime. With this option you tell darktable where to look for its shared
libraries. The default place depends on your installation; typical places are “/opt/
darktable/lib64/darktable/” and “/usr/lib64/darktable/”.

--tmpdir <tmp directory>

The place where darktable stores its temporary files. If this option is not supplied
darktable uses the system default.

--configdir <config directory>

This option defines the directory where darktable stores the user specific
configuration. The default place is “$HOME/.config/darktable/”.

--cachedir <cache directory>

darktable keeps a cache of image thumbnails for fast image preview and of
precompiled OpenCL binaries for fast startup. By default the cache is located in
“$HOME/.cache/darktable/”. There may exist multiple thumbnail caches in parallel –
one for each library file.

--localedir <locale directory>

The place where darktable finds its language specific text strings. The default place
depends on your installation. Typical places are “/opt/darktable/share/locale/” and “/
usr/share/locale/”.

--luacmd <lua command>

A string containing lua commands to execute after lua initialization. These commands
will be run after your “luarc” file.

If lua is not compiled in, this option will be accepted but won't do anything.
4
 --noiseprofiles <noiseprofiles json file>

The json file that contains the camera specific noise profiles. The default location
depends on your installation. Typical places are “/opt/darktable/share/darktable/
noiseprofile.json” and “/usr/share/darktable/noiseprofile.json”.

--conf <key>=<value>

darktable supports a rich set of configuration parameters which the user defines in
“darktablerc”  – darktable's configuration file in the user config directory. You may
temporarily overwrite individual settings on the command line with this option  –
however, these settings will not be stored in “darktablerc”.

1.1.2. darktable-cli binary
This binary starts the command line interface variant of darktable which allows exporting
images.

This variant does not open any display, so it will work in pure console mode without using
any X11, wayland, etc. – this mode is useful for servers running background jobs.

darktable-cli is called with the following command line parameters:

darktable-cli <input file>|<image folder>

[<xmp file>]
<output file>
[--width <max width>]
[--height <max height>]
[--bpp <bpp>]
[--hq <0|1|true|false>]
[--upscale <0|1|true|false>]
[--style <style name>]
[--style-overwrite]
[--verbose]
[--core <darktable options>]

The user needs to supply an input filename and an output filename. All other parameters
are optional.

<input file>

The name of the input file to export or the name of an folder containing input images
which are to be exported.

<xmp file>

The optional name of an XMP sidecar file containing the history stack data to be
applied during export. If this option is not given darktable will search for an XMP file
that belongs to the given input file(s).

<output file>

The name of the output file. darktable derives the export file format from the file
extension. You can also use all the variables available in darktable's export module in
the output filename (see Section 2.3.13, “Export selected”). For obvious reasons this
is mandatory if you use the program on an image folder containing multiple images.
5
 --width <max width>

This optional parameter allows to limit the width of the exported image to that
number of pixels.

--height <max height>

This optional parameter allows to limit the height of the exported image to that
number of pixels.

--bpp <bpp>

An optional parameter to define the bit depth of the exported image; allowed values
depend on the file format. Currently this option is not yet functional. If you need to
define the bit depth you need to use the following workaround:

--core
--conf plugins/imageio/format/<FORMAT>/bpp=<VALUE>

where <FORMAT> is the name of the selected output format.

--hq <0|1|true|false>

A flag that defines whether to use high quality resampling during export (see
Section 8.2, “Core options”). Defaults to true.

--upscale <0|1|true|false>

A flag that defines whether allow upscaling during export. Defaults to false.

--style <style name>

Specify the name of a style to be applied during export. If a style is specified, the path
to the darktable configuration directory must also be specified (i.e. --core --configdir
~/.config/darktable). Defaults to no style specified.

--style-overwrite

The specified style overwrites the history stack instead of being appended to it.

--verbose

Enables verbose output.

--core <darktable options>

All command line parameters following “--core” are passed to the darktable core and
handled as standard parameters. See Section 1.1.1, “darktable binary” for a detailed
description.

1.1.3. darktable-generate-cache binary
This binary updates darktable's thumbnail cache. You can start this program to generate
all missing thumbnails in the background when your computer is idle.

darktable-generate-cache is called with the following command line parameters:

darktable-generate-cache
[-h, --help]
6
 [--version]
[--min-mip <0-7>] [-m, --max-mip <0 - 7>]
[--min-imgid <N>] [--max-imgid <N>]
[--core <darktable options>]

All parameters are optional. If started without parameters darktable-generate-

cache uses reasonable defaults.

-h, --help

Gives usage information and terminates.

--version

Gives copyright and version information and terminates.

--min-mip <0 - 7>, -m, --max-mip <0 - 7>

darktable can handle and store thumbnails with up to eight different resolution
steps for each image. These parameters define which maximum resolution should be
generated and default to a range of 0-2. There is normally no need to generate all
possible resolutions here; missing ones will be automatically generated by darktable
the moment they are needed. When asked to generate multiple resolutions at once,
the lower-resolution images are quickly downsampled from the highest-resolution
image.

--min-imgid <N>, --max-imgid <N>

Specifies the range of internal image IDs from the database to work on. If no range is
given, darktable-generate-cache will process all images from the entire collection.

--core <darktable options>

All command line parameters following “--core” are passed to the darktable core and
handled as standard parameters. See Section 1.1.1, “darktable binary” for a detailed
description.

1.1.4. darktable-chart binary
This binary is a dedicated utility to create styles out of pairs of images such as RAW+JPEG
with in-camera processing. Details about its usage can be found in Section 10.3, “Using
darktable-chart ”.

darktable-chart either starts a GUI or is used as a command-line program.

darktable-chart
[--help]
[<input Lab pfm file>]
[<cht file>]
[<reference cgats/it8 or Lab pfm file>]

All parameters are optional, however, if you want to supply the second file name you also
need to supply the first one etc. Starting darktable-chart this way opens a special GUI
(details can be found in Section 10.3, “Using darktable-chart ”).

--help

Gives usage information and terminates.

7
 <input Lab pfm file>

Opens the utility with the given file as source image. The input file needs to be in Lab
Portable Float Map format.

<cht file>

Specifies a chart file describing the layout of the used color reference chart.

<reference cgats/it8 or Lab pfm file>

Specifies the reference values, either as measured values according to the CGATS
standard, or as a reference image in Lab Portable Float Map format.

Alternatively darktable-chart can be used as a command line program to generate

darktable style files out of previously saved CSV files.

darktable-chart
--csv
<csv file>
<number patches>
<output dtstyle file>

All parameters are mandatory.

<csv file>

A CSV file previously saved from within darktable-chart.

<number patches>

The number of color patches to be used in the color look up table settings of the
created style.

<output dtstyle file>

The name of the style file to be created.

1.1.5. darktable-cltest binary
This binary checks if there is a usable OpenCL environment on your system that darktable
can use. It emits some debug output that is equivalent to calling “darktable -d opencl” and
then terminates.

darktable-cltest is called without command line parameters:

darktable-cltest

1.1.6. darktable-cmstest binary
This binary (Linux only) investigates if the color management subsystem of your computer
is correctly configured and it displays some useful information about the installed monitor
profile(s).

darktable-cmstest is called without command line parameters:

darktable-cmstest

8
1.2. User interface

This section describes the layout of the user

interface.

1.2.1. Views
darktable consists of several views or modes. There are five available views as described
in this section. You can switch between views by clicking the view name at the top of the
right panel – the active view is highlighted – or by using one of the key accelerators:

L switches to lighttable
D switches to darkroom
T switches to camera tethering
M switches to map
S switches to slideshow
P switches to print

1.2.1.1. Lighttable

The lighttable view is where images and film rolls are managed. It's also where you rate
images, add tags and colorlabels, and export images among other actions (see Chapter 2,
Lighttable).

1.2.1.2. Darkroom

In the darkroom view you develop a single image using the available modules (see
Chapter 3, Darkroom).

1.2.1.3. Tethering

This view is for shooting with the camera connected to the computer and remotely
capturing images that will be downloaded and shown on computer screen (see Chapter 4,
Tethering).

1.2.1.4. Map

This view shows images with geo-tag data on a map and allows manually geo-tagging new
images (see Chapter 5, Map).

1.2.1.5. Slideshow

This view shows images as a slideshow, processing them on-the-fly (see Chapter  6,
Slideshow).

1.2.1.6. Print

This view allows you to send images to your printer (see Chapter 7, Print).
9
1.2.2. Screen layout
The general screen layout of all views is similar. There is a center area which contains most
of the relevant information of that view. Then there are panels left, right, top and bottom
to the center area. The left panel typically has an informational purpose. The right panel
offers functions to modify an image. The top and bottom panel give access to several
settings and shortcuts. Each of the panels can be collapsed or expanded by pressing a
triangle like , located close to the panel.

By pressing the TAB key all panels get collapsed, allowing the center area to occupy all
available space. Pressing TAB again brings you back to the previous view.

Fullscreen view can be toggled by pressing F11.

1.2.3. Filmstrip
The filmstrip along the bottom shows the same images as lighttable, with respect to filters
and sort order. It is turned on/off with key accelerator Ctrl+F. You can navigate along the
filmstrip by scrolling with the mouse wheel and change the height of the filmstrip panel
by dragging its top. The filmstrip allows you to interact with images while you are not
in lighttable mode. For example, you can, while developing an image in darkroom mode,
switch to another image to develop, by double clicking the thumbnail in the filmstrip. You
can also rate the images as you do in lighttable, copy/paste history stack, etc.

1.2.4. Preferences
A button located in the upper panel allows you to define various parameters which
control darktable's behavior.

The options are fairly self-explanatory. If you need more information, hover the mouse
cursor over the text label or entry box, to display a popup tool-tip. All configuration
parameters are explained in Chapter 8, Preferences and settings.

1.2.5. Contextual help
A button located in the upper panel allows you to open the online usermanual for
various elements of darktable. Click on this button, then click on the element for which
you want help. The related usermanual entry will open in your web browser.

1.2.6. Shortcuts window
You can display all the available shortcuts in the current context by pressing H.

If you want the shortcut window to stay opened, there is a button located at the top
right of the window.

10
1.3. darktable basic workflow

This section describes a typical darktable workflow which novice users may take as a
starting point. We describe how to get an image into darktable, the basic steps of a raw
development workflow and how to export the final result.

1.3.1. Importing images

To begin with darktable, you first need to import images. The import module is in the
left panel of the lighttable view (Section 2.3.1, “Import”). You can either import from the
filesystem or, if darktable supports your camera model, directly from camera.

1.3.1.1. Importing images from filesystem

When importing from disk, you can import either a single image or a folder. darktable will
analyse its content, detect images that are already imported and only import new images.

1.3.1.2. Importing from camera

Connect your camera to your system. If your distribution tries to automount it, select
the option to abort the mount operation. Otherwise the camera will be locked and not
accessible from within darktable. If you don't see your camera in the import module, hit
the “scan for devices” button. Your camera will then appear in the same module with
additional choices: import and tethering.

1.3.2. Basic development steps

1.3.2.1. Introduction

This section will guide you through the basics of developing an image in the darkroom
view.

To begin, open an image in darkroom mode by double clicking an image thumbnail on the
lighttable. The darkroom mode is where the actual adjustments for an image are made,
where an arsenal of modules are at hand to help you reach your goal.

Each change made on a module while developing an image is turned into a history stack
item. The history is stored in a database and in an XMP sidecar file for the specific image.

All changes are stored automatically when you switch images or go from one darktable
view to another. You can safely leave darkroom mode or quit darktable at any time and
come back later to continue your work. That said darktable does not need a “save” button
and it does not have one.

On the left panel in darkroom mode is the history stack, showing changes starting from
bottom, and building up with each change made to the image. You can select a point in
this history to show how the image looked at that point, for comparison of changes. The
stack can be compressed: it will be optimized and redundant changes will be discarded.
When you think you are done and are happy with what you have done, just compress the
history stack.

darktable ships with a number of modules, arranged into groups. These module groups are
accessed via toggle buttons in the right panel, just under the histogram. There are also two
special module groups named “active” and “favorites”, which only show modules enabled
in the history for the current image, and modules selected as a favorite, respectively.
11
 Marking a module as a favorite is done in the more modules dialog (Section 3.3.10, “More
modules”), at the bottom of the right panel, by clicking a module until a star is displayed
in front of the icon.

1.3.2.2. White balance

The white balance module controls the white balance or color temperature of the image.
It's always enabled and reads its default values from camera metadata embedded in the
image. The most common change is fine-tuning the white balance, which is done using
the “temperature” slider. Moving this slider left will make the color balance cooler, and
moving it right will make it warmer.

1.3.2.3. Exposure correction

The exposure module is probably the most basic module of them all. Exposure is fine-tuned
either by using the slider, or by dragging with the mouse in the histogram. You can also
boost the black level to enhance contrast; but be careful: use small amounts, like steps of
0.005. There is also an auto-correct feature.

1.3.2.4. Noise reduction

The best starting point for noise reduction is profiled denoise. This module offers an almost
“single-click” solution to fight noise. From a user perspective the effect only depends on
camera type and ISO value, both derived from Exif data. All other settings are taken from
a database of noise profiles that the darktable team has collected – now covering well
above 200 popular camera models. In addition you have several other options in darktable
to reduce noise. There is raw denoise, denoising based on bilateral filter, denoising based
on non-local means, and equalizer, which is based on wavelets. If your camera is not yet
supported by profiled denoise, denoising based on non-local means is probably the most
convenient, as it allows you to treat color and luminance noise separately.

1.3.2.5. Fixing spots

Sometimes you will need to remove spots caused by sensor dirt. The spot removal module
and the retouch module are at hand and can also correct other disturbing elements like
skin blemishes. If your camera has stuck pixels or tends to produce hot pixels at high
ISO values or longer exposure times, have a look at the hot pixels module for automatic
correction.

1.3.2.6. Geometrical corrections

Quite frequently you want to only show part of the captured scene in your image, e.g. to
take away some disturbing feature close to the frame. In other cases, the horizon in the
image may need levelling, or there are perspective distortions. All this can be corrected
with full manual control in the crop and rotate module. For a fully automatic correction
of perspective distortions you may alternatively visit the perspective correction module. If
you need to correct typical camera lens flaws like cushion distortion, transversal chromatic
aberrations or vignetting, there is a lens correction module.

1.3.2.7. Bringing back detail

Digital raw images often contain more information than you can see at first sight.
Especially in the shadows of an image, there are lots of hidden details. The shadows
and highlights module helps bring these details back into visible tonal values. Structural
details in fully blown-out highlights, by nature of the digital sensor, can not be
recovered. However, you can correct unfavorable color casts in these areas with the
12
 highlight reconstruction module. Additionally the color reconstruction module is able to fill
overexposed areas with suitable colors based on their surroundings.

1.3.2.8. Adjusting tonal values

Almost every workflow is likely to include adjusting the image's tonal range. darktable
offers several alternative modules to take care of that. The most basic one is the contrast
brightness saturation module. In the tone curve module, tonal values are adjusted by
constructing a gradient curve. The levels module offers a concise interface, with three
markers in a histogram. In addition, there is a zone system module which allows control
over tonal values by zones, inspired by the work of Ansel Adams.

1.3.2.9. Enhancing local contrast

Local contrast enhancement can emphasize detail and clarity in your image. Carefully
used, it can give your photograph the right pop. darktable offers several modules for this
task. The local contrast module is easy to handle, with just a few parameters. A much more
versatile, but also more complex, technique is offered by the equalizer module. Have a
look at its presets, to get a feeling for how it works. Equalizer is darktable's "Swiss Army
Knife" for many adjustments where spatial dimension plays a role.

1.3.2.10. Color adjustments
darktable offers many modules for adjusting colors in an image. A very straightforward
technique is implemented in the color correction module. Use it to give an image an overall
tint or to adjust overall color saturation. The color zones module offers a much finer control
to adjust saturation, or lightness, and even hue, in user defined zones. darktable's tone
curve module  – in addition to the classical adjustment of tonal values  – gives you fine
control over the colors in an image. Finally, if you intend to convert an image into black
& white, a good starting point, with an easy to use and intuitive user interface, is offered
by the monochrome module. Alternatively, you might consider using darktable's channel
mixer.

1.3.2.11. Sharpening
If you start your workflow from a raw image, you will need to have your final output
sharpened. The sharpen module can do this with the classical USM (unsharp mask)
approach, available in most image processing software. Another very versatile way to
enhance edges in an image is offered by the highpass module, in combination with
darktable's rich set of blending operators.

1.3.2.12. Artistic effects
darktable comes with a rich set of artistic effect modules. To name just a few: with the
watermark module you add an individual watermark to your image. The grain module
simulates the typical noise of classical analogue footage. Use the color mapping module to
transfer the look and feel of one color image onto another. darktable's low light module
allows to simulate human vision to make lowlight pictures look closer to reality. The
graduated density filter adds a neutral or colored gradient to your image for exposure and
color correction.

1.3.3. Exporting images
Changes to an image are not saved as in a regular image editor. darktable is a non-
destructive editor, which means all changes are stored in a database, and the original
image is untouched. Therefore, you need to export images to bake the processing options
into an output file that can be distributed outside of darktable.
13
 Images are exported from the lighttable view, using the export selected dialog in the right
panel (Section 2.3.13, “Export selected”). In general, export means: save my developed
raw image as a JPEG.

The export is modularized into storage and format. darktable ships with several storage
modules such as save on disk, various webalbums, a LaTeX photo book template and more.
Format modules are the actual image formats such as JPEG, PNG, TIFF, OpenEXR and
more.

Select images on the lighttable, choose the target storage and format, and set the
maximum width and height image restraints. This means that none of the images will be
bigger than any of the width/height restraints and hit the export button. Leave the width
and height restraints at zero if you want the original resolution.

14
Chapter 2. Lighttable
The lighttable is where you manage all your images, ratings, export and much more.

15
2.1. Overview

In the central view, your images are shown as

thumbnails, surrounded by a frame. When the mouse
is over an image, its rating and color labels are shown
in the frame, along with an indicator of whether
the image has already been altered in darkroom.
Also, when the mouse hovers over an image frame,
image information (EXIF data, metadata) is shown in
the image information panel at the bottom left.

While the mouse is over an image frame, there are a number of actions you can perform.
Here is a table of keyboard shortcuts and assigned actions.

0 – 5 set the rating of the image; if an image has 1 star and you hit the
1 key, the image will be unrated. Pressing R rejects the image.
F1 – F5 set a color label
Ctrl+C copy the history stack
Ctrl+V paste the copied history stack
D open in darkroom view for developing
W fully zoom into the image while the key is pressed
Ctrl+W fully zoom into the image and show areas in focus

The overlay button located in the upper panel activates the permanent display of star
ratings and image-changed indicator on all thumbnails. By default these overlays are
only visible on the thumbnail under the mouse cursor. An overlay button is also available
in the other views where it affects the filmstrip accordingly (see Section 1.2.3, “Filmstrip”
and Section 3.3.11.7, “Filmstrip”).

Pressing the button on the right side of the bottom panel lets you define the
color profile of your monitor. You can either set this to “system display profile”
(default) and let darktable enquire the system's display profile, or alternatively set it
to one of the ICC profiles located in $DARKTABLE/share/darktable/color/out and
$HOME/.config/darktable/color/out. $DARKTABLE is used here to represent your
chosen darktable installation directory and $HOME your home directory. For more details
on color management see Section 3.2.6, “Color management”.

In the center of the bottom panel you have an option to choose between different layouts.

2.1.1. Filemanager
This is the default mode to view thumbnails of the images.

In this layout, you can can change the number of images in each row, using the slider next
to the layouts option, or by using Ctrl+(mouse wheel). Use your mouse wheel to navigate
through your collection.

You can navigate left/right/up/down through your collection using ←/→/↑/↓. Pressing G
goes to the top, Shift+G to the bottom, PageUp brings you one page up and PageDown
one page down.
16
 You can select the image under the pointer by left-clicking on its thumbnail or by pressing
Return. A range of images is selected by clicking on the first one and then Shift+clicking on
the last one. Images are added or removed from your selection by Ctrl+clicking on their
thumbnails or pressing Spacebar.

To locate where you are in a collection, there are indicators at the extreme borders of the
window: left/right for your position.

2.1.2. Zoomable lighttable
Zoomable lighttable layout inherits from most the filemanager features, with some
noticeable changes :

Scroll with your mouse wheel to zoom in and out. Moving the mouse while pressing the
left mouse button allows you to navigate through your collection.

To locate where you are in a collection, there are indicators at the extreme borders of
the window: left/right and top/bottom for your vertical and your horizontal position,
respectively.

2.1.3. Culling
Culling layout allow to display images side by side to easily compare them. There's 2
different modes to define the number of images to show at the same time : “Fixed mode”
and “Dynamic mode”.

Once in culling mode, you can switch between those 2 mode with < key accel.

2.1.3.1. Fixed mode
In fixed mode, the number of image to display is always the same, independently of the
selection length. This number can be set with the slider in the bottom panel, near the
modes option.

In this mode, you'll navigate through all selected images. If no selection is set (or if only 1
image is selected), you'll navigate through all images.

Default keyboard shortcut for entering culling in fixed mode is X.

2.1.3.2. Dynamic mode
In dynamic mode, all the selected images are shown. If no selection is set (or if only 1 image
is selected) last value from fixed mode is used.

Default keyboard shortcut for entering culling in dynamic mode is Ctrl+X.

2.1.3.3. Zoom and pan

In culling mode, you can zoom and pan in the images to see details. Images can be zoomed
until 100%.

Ctrl+scroll to zoom in/out images. left click + drag to pan in zoomed images.

By default, zooming and panning are synchronized between all visible images. If you want
to zoom or pan only a specific image, add Shift key to above actions.

To enhance performance in zoomed images loading, you can enable the disk backend for
full preview cache in preferences (see Section 8.2, “Core options”). Keep in mind that this
could take a lot of disk space...
17
2.1.4. Full preview
While holding down the W key a fully zoomed preview of the image under the mouse
cursor is displayed. You can use this feature for a quick inspection of image quality while
rating and selecting images.

Holding down the Ctlr+W key fully zooms into the image and additionally activates an
analysis for sharp regions, detecting those parts of the image that are in focus. Areas of
high sharpness are indicated by a red border – the higher the color intensity the better
the sharpness. In case that no area of high sharpness is detected darktable indicates areas
of moderate sharpness with a blue border. For this tool to work the input image needs to
hold an embedded JPEG thumbnail which is the case for most raw files.

Sometimes pressing W or Ctrl+W may not reveal an immediate effect – in that case please
click into the center area and press the corresponding key again.

Fully zoomed-in image view while holding down the

Ctrl+W key with indication of the sharp areas in focus.
Sharpness detection is based on an embedded JPEG
thumbnail of the original raw file independent of any
processing steps within darktable.

If you want the full preview to stay, without having to hold W key, you can use sticky
preview mode with Alt+W key or Ctrl+Alt+W if you want focus detection. In sticky preview
mode, you can zoom and pan in the image, exactly like in culling layout (see Section 2.1.3.3,
“Zoom and pan”).

18
2.2. Lighttable concepts
This section explains some of the underlying concepts on how darktable organizes images
in the lighttable.

2.2.1. Film rolls
The basic element for organizing images in darktable is called a film roll – a kind of virtual
folder. Whenever you import images from disk, the images are organized in a film roll
whose name is derived from the name of the disk folder. Re-importing a disk folder will
add any new images to the existing film roll; images already present in the film roll are
not touched.

It is important to note that importing images in darktable does not involve a physical copy
step. Importing a folder into darktable is therefore not a backup operation of that folder.

2.2.2. Collections
darktable offers a versatile feature to organize your images according to various user
defined selection criteria. A set of images which is defined by a specific combination of
selection criteria is called a collection. The most basic kind of collection is a film roll  –
covering all the images which have been imported from a specific folder on disk.

You can easily construct other kinds of collections based on various image attributes like
Exif data, filename, tags etc. Multiple criteria can be logically combined to narrow or
extend your collection (see Section 2.3.2, “Collect images”).

darktable keeps a list of the most recently used collections for quick access (see
Section 2.3.3, “Recently used collections”).

2.2.3. Thumbnails
Each image of the current collection is represented by a thumbnail in the lighttable view.
darktable keeps a cache of the last recently used thumbnails in a file on disk and loads
it into memory at startup. The size of this cache can be adjusted in the core preferences
dialog (see Section 8.2, “Core options”).

2.2.3.1. Thumbnail creation

Thumbnails get created whenever darktable imports an image for the first time, after
an image has been modified in the darkroom, or when revisiting an “old” image whose
thumbnail is no longer available.

When darktable imports an image for the first time, there are two possible sources from
where to take a thumbnail. darktable can either try to extract an embedded thumbnail
out of the input image  – most raw files contain these kind of thumbnails generated
by the camera  – or process the image by itself using default settings. You can define
how darktable gets its thumbnails in the GUI preferences dialog (see Section  8.1, “GUI
options”).

Extracting an embedded thumbnail from the input image has the advantage of being very
fast. However, those thumbnails have been generated by the raw converter of the camera
and do not represent darktable's “view” of that image. You will notice the difference as
soon as you open the image in the darkroom mode, after which darktable replaces the
embedded thumbnail with its own one.
19
 After importing a new film roll darktable generates thumbnails for new images as they
are needed. In the case of a larger set of new images this slows down navigation in
the lighttable view as with each move new thumbnails might need to be produced.
Alternatively you may terminate darktable and start the darktable-generate-cache
binary. This program will generate all missing thumbnails in one go. For more details see
Section 1.1.3, “darktable-generate-cache binary”.

As the thumbnail cache file has a pre-defined maximum size it will eventually get filled up.
Then if new thumbnails are added, old ones need to be dropped. However, darktable will
keep all thumbnails on disk if the corresponding disk backend option is activated in the
core preferences dialog (see Section 8.2, “Core options”). Access to the thumbnails in this
secondary cache is slower than to the ones in the primary cache, but still much faster than
reprocessing thumbnails from scratch. The size of the secondary cache is only limited by
disk space.

Thumbnails never get dropped from the secondary cache. In case you want to clean it
up you can do so manually by deleting all images recursively in folder $HOME/.cache/
darktable/mipmaps-xyz.d where xyz denotes an alphanumeric identifier of the
cache. Afterwards you let darktable re-generate thumbnails as needed, or you generate
all thumbnails in one go with darktable-generate-cache.

If you don't activate the disk backend and select a too small cache size you might observe
adverse effects. Continuous regeneration of thumbnails whenever you move in your
collection, flickering of thumbnail images, or even darktable becoming unresponsive are
typical symptoms. A good choice of the cache size is 512MB or higher. Please mind that
the inherent limits of 32-bit systems will force you to go for a much lower cache size (see
Section 10.1, “darktable and memory” for more details on these limitations).

Starting with darktable 2.0 thumbnails are fully color managed if the corresponding
option is activated in the core preferences dialog (see Section 8.2, “Core options”). Colors
are rendered accurately on screen as long as your system is properly set up to hand over
the right monitor profile to darktable. For more information on color management see
Section 3.2.6, “Color management”.

2.2.3.2. Skulls

If for some reason darktable is not able to generate

a thumbnail, it displays a skull. Don't panic!

There are three main reasons for this to happen.

One possible cause is that the input image has been renamed or physically deleted
from disk. darktable remembers all images ever imported, as long as they have not
been removed from your database. In case darktable wants to create a thumbnail
but is not able to open the input file, a skull is displayed instead. Users are advised
to remove images from the database (see Section  2.3.7, “Selected image(s)”) before
physically removing them from disk. Alternatively you may occasionally run the script
purge_non_existing_images.sh from darktable's toolset to clean-up your database.
20
 Another possible cause is sometimes darktable encounters an input image having an
extension that seems valid for darktable but which has a file format that darktable does
not support yet. darktable tries to process the image but is not able to get the job done.

The third possible cause for getting skulls is memory shortage: If darktable runs out of
memory while generating a thumbnail, it will warn you and display a skull – this can happen
if darktable is run with suboptimal settings, especially on a 32-bit system. Please consult
Section 10.1, “darktable and memory” for more information.

2.2.4. Star ratings and color labels

Star ratings and color labels help you to sort and rank images according to your own
criteria. An image's star rating and its color labels are displayed in the thumbnail.

You can give a rating from zero to five stars to an image. The quality criteria which lead to
a rating are fully up to you. Whenever you import images, each image receives a default
rating which you can define in “GUI options” (see Section 8.1, “GUI options”). You can later
revise the rating at any time. You can also mark an image as “rejected” by pressing the
icon or typing the R key. This will remove all stars. You can reverse the rejection by applying
a new star rating.

There are several ways to change a rating. While hovering the cursor over an image
thumbnail, you can press a number key 0 – 5 for the number of stars, or type R to “reject”
an image; this is probably the fastest way when rating your images on first inspection of
a film roll.

You can also directly click on the stars displayed in

the thumbnails; click the x to reject, click the fifth
star to get a rating of five stars, etc. Clicking either
the x or the first star for a second time resets the
image rating to unranked, or zero stars. The latter
behavior can be changed in the “GUI options” dialog
(see Section 8.1, “GUI options”).

To rate one or more images at once, select those

images (see Section  2.3.6, “Select”) and then press
the key for your rating, or click the desired star rating
in the bottom panel of the lighttable view.

Color labels are another way to sort images, and can be used as an alternative to star
ratings or work alongside star ratings. Each image can carry any combination of one or
more color labels in red, yellow, green, blue, and purple.

You can set the color labels for a single image by hovering your cursor over the thumbnail
and pressing the function keys F1 – F5, which correspond with the labels in the order given
above.

To toggle the color labels of one or more images,

select the desired images (see Section 2.3.6, “Select”)
and then press the corresponding color button in the
bottom panel. To remove all labels from the selected
images, press the grey button.

2.2.5. Filtering and sort order

21
 The filtering and sort order of images in the
lighttable view are controlled in the top panel.

With filtering you limit the number of displayed images in your current collection (see
also Section 2.3.2, “Collect images”). Filtering is mainly based on the star ratings of your
images. A typical filtering rule will show all images that have a rating at or above the given
number of stars (from one to five). The comparison operators is not restricted to “≥”. By
clicking on the operator field you toggle between “≥”, “>”, “≠”, “<”, “≤”, and “=”.

Alternatively you can make darktable display “all” images, only the “unstarred” ones, only
the “rejected” images and all but the rejected ones.

Images in the lighttable view can be displayed in different sort orders, depending on
“filename”, “time” (when the photo was taken), “rating” (i.e. stars), “id” (an internal
ordering number of darktable), “color labels”, “groups”, “full path”, “title”, “description”,
“aspect ratio” or “custom order” (user can drag & drop images, only available in the
lighttable's file manager mode). You can sort in reversed order by toggling the triangle
button to the right of the “sort by” combobox.

2.2.6. Image grouping
Grouping images helps improve structure and clarity of your image collection when
displayed in lighttable view.

You can combine images into a group by selecting them, and clicking the “group” button
in the selected image(s) panel (Section  2.3.7, “Selected image(s)”), or by typing Ctrl+G.
Likewise, you can remove selected images from a group by clicking the “ungroup” button,
or typing Shift+Ctrl+G. Images generated by duplicating an existing one, are automatically
grouped. If you import images from the file system or camera, images with the same base
name, but different extensions (eg. IMG_1234.CR2 and IMG_1234.JPG), will form a group.

Images which are members of a group are labeled

with a “G” symbol in their thumbnails.

The group button in the top panel of the lightroom view toggles grouping mode on and
off. If grouping is off, each image is displayed as an individual thumb. If grouping is on,
images of a group are collapsed, which means they are represented by a single thumbnail.
This thumbnail you see is called the group head. If you press the “G” symbol in the group's
thumbnail, only this group gets expanded; if you then expand another group, the first
22
 group collapses. To collapse an expanded group again, just click on the “G” symbol of its
group head.

An expanded group in the filemanager mode of

lighttable view is indicated by an orange frame which
appears as soon as your mouse pointer hovers over
one of the images.

You can define which image constitutes the group head, while in an expanded view of
a group, clicking on the “G” symbol of the desired image. That symbol is shown only if
grouping mode is enabled, so to change the group head, you need to first enable group
mode, then expand the group you want to change and then click the “G” symbol on the
desired image.

If you collapse an image group and then enter darkroom mode (e.g., by double-clicking on
the thumbnail), the group head will be opened for developing.

Image groups are a convenient way to protect an existing history stack against
unintentional changes. Suppose you have just finalized an image and want to protect its
current version: all you need to do is select the image, click “duplicate” in the selected
images panel, and make sure that grouping is switched on and that the group is collapsed.
Now, whenever you open the image group again in darkroom, only the group head will be
altered. The underlying duplicate remains unchanged.

Please note that “duplicating images” here only generates a copy of your history stack,
stored in another small XMP file. There is still only one raw file, so you don't waste a lot
of disk space.

2.2.7. Sidecar files
darktable is a non-destructive image editor. This means that darktable opens images
read-only. Any newly added metadata, tags, and parameters of image operations (the
“history stack”) are stored in separate .xmp files, so-called sidecars, allowing you to store
information about the images as well as the full editing history without touching the
original raw files. When you import an image into darktable for the first time, an XMP file
with default settings is generated automatically.

For a given source image, multiple editing versions, called duplicates, can co-exist, sharing
the same input (raw) data but each having their own metadata, tags and history stack. Each
duplicate is represented by a separate XMP sidecar file with a filename constructed in the
form “<basename>_nn.<extension>.xmp”, where nn represents the (minimum two-digit)
version number of that edit. Information for the initial edit – the “duplicate” with version
number zero  – is stored in the sidecar file “<basename>.<extension>.xmp”. The version
number of a duplicate is displayed in the image information panel in each of darktable's
views (see an example in Section 2.3.5, “Image information”).

Sidecar files automatically synchronize with your work without the need to press a “save”
button. When backing up your data, make sure you also keep the XMP files, as these are
needed to fully reconstruct your work in case of a disaster.

In addition to the sidecar files, darktable keeps all image-related data in its database for
fast access. An image can only be viewed and edited from within darktable if its data is
loaded in that database. This automatically happens when you first import an image or
at any later time by re-importing it (see Section  2.3.1, “Import”). In the latter case the
23
 database gets updated with data that darktable finds in the sidecar files belonging to that
image.

Once an image has been imported into darktable the database entries take precedence
over the XMP file. Subsequent changes to the XMP file by any other software are not
visible to darktable – any changes get overwritten the next time darktable synchronizes
the file. This behavior can be changed in the preferences dialog (see Section 8.2, “Core
options”). On request darktable looks for updated XMP files at startup and offers a choice
whether to update the database or overwrite the XMP file.

2.2.8. Importing sidecar files generated by other applications

When importing an image, darktable automatically checks if this is accompanied
by a sidecar file. Other than the formats “<basename>.<extension>.xmp” and
“<basename>_nn.<extension>.xmp” darktable also checks for the presence of a file in
the form “<basename>.xmp”. darktable's own sidecar files are always stored in the first
format – the latter one would only be read – not overwritten.

At present, darktable is able to deal with the following metadata of Lightroom generated
sidecar files during the import phase:

• tags and hierarchical tags

• color labels

• ratings

• GPS information

In addition, darktable has been designed to help migrate some image operations from
specific other applications. The aim is not to make darktable a drop-in replacement for any
other software; it's just meant to help you recover part of the work you have invested into
your image in case you migrate to darktable. It is very important to understand that this
import process will never give identical results. The underlying development engines are
very different from application to application, and additionally depend a lot on the specific
image. In some cases, it will probably be close, and in some cases, the development will
need manual adjustment in darktable.

The migration happens automatically when entering the darkroom view, provided that a
corresponding XMP sidecar is found.

At present, darktable is able to deal with the following development steps

from Lightroom-generated XMP files (with the corresponding darktable module in
parentheses):

• crop and rotate (crop and rotate)

• black level (exposure)

• exposure (exposure)

• vignette (vignette)

• clarity (local contrast)

• tone curve (tone curve)

• HSL (color zones)

24
 • split-toning (split-toning)

• grain (grain)

• spot removal (spot removal)

2.2.9. Local copies
Many users have huge image collections which they store on extra hard drives in their
desktop computer, or on an external storage medium like a RAID NAS, etc. So it is a
common use case to develop some images while travelling using a notebook and then
later synchronize them to the original storage medium. But copying images manually from
the main storage to the notebook and back is cumbersome and prone to errors.

The “local copies” feature of darktable has been designed to directly support those use
cases. You can create local copies of selected pictures on your computer's local drive.
This local copy is always used when present, giving access to the picture if the external
storage is no longer connected, and having the advantage of being faster than a slow
external drive. At a later point, when connected again with your main storage medium,
you can synchronize the XMP sidecar files, deleting the local copy of your input image.
These operations can be found in the selected images panel (see Section 2.3.7, “Selected
image(s)”).

For safety reasons, if local copies exist and the external storage is available, the local XMP
sidecars are automatically synchronized at start up.

The local copies are stored into the $HOME/.cache/darktable directory and named “img-
<SIGNATURE>.<EXT>”, where:

SIGNATURE is a hash signature (MD5) of the full pathname

EXT is the original filename extension

A local copy is identified in the lighttable view with

a white marker on the right of the thumbnail. In
addition all local copies carry the darktable|local-copy
tag for selecting them easily.

2.2.10. Undo/redo
Most changes in the lighttable are recorded and can be reverted. This includes
modifications to color labels, ratings, geo-localization, tags, metadata, copy/paste of
history, or applying a style. Thanks to this recording, it is possible to undo changes or
redo them to recover a previous state. Note that this undo/redo facility is unlimited in
the number of steps while in the lighttable, but it is reset each time the view is switched
(going to the darkroom for example).

The default keyboard shortcuts are:

• Ctrl+Z : undo last modifications

25
 • Ctrl+Y : redo last undo (does nothing if undo has not been used yet)

26
2.3. Lighttable panels
2.3.1. Import
This panel is for importing images into film rolls.
You can either import a complete folder, by pressing
“folder”, or a single image with “image”. You can also
cause darktable to search for connected cameras by
pressing “scan for devices”. If a supported camera is
connected you can import directly from that camera
or control the camera from within darktable in
tethering mode.

Imported images are organized as film rolls (see Section 2.2.1, “Film rolls”). All film rolls
are accessible through the collect images module (see Section 2.3.2, “Collect images”). If
you set the selection attribute to “film roll” you get a list of available film rolls, which can
be filtered using the editbox to quickly find the one of interest. Double-click on a film roll
in the list and it will open in the lighttable. You can also click the items in recently used
collections (see Section 2.3.3, “Recently used collections”) to open the latest ones you have
worked with.

2.3.1.1. Import from filesystem

You can import either a single image, or a folder. The imported image(s) will show up in a
film roll with the name of the filesystem folder.

Clicking on “image” or “folder” opens a file selector dialog. Navigate through the
filesystem, and select the item to import. On the lower part of the dialog, are some further
import options.

As the name implies, checking “import directories recursively” will import images in the
currently selected directory, and all subdirectories. It is not recommended, and wastes
resources, to do this on an exhaustive list of images. darktable would generate thumbnails
for all of them, but in the end only keep the recent ones in its cache. It is better to import
images in smaller chunks, making logical film rolls.

Checking “ignore JPEG files” is a good choice if there are JPEG images in the same folder
that you do not want to process; eg. if the camera stores RAW+JPEG, you often only want
to work on the raws, leaving the JPEG images alone.
27
 You can also apply some metadata during import; see Section 2.3.11, “Metadata editor”
for more details.

Importing a folder does not mean that darktable copies your images into another folder.
It just means that the images are visible in lighttable and thus can be developed. If you
delete an image or a folder from disk after having imported them, darktable cannot
access them anymore. Importing an image or folder in darktable is not a backup of your
filesystem! Moreover, darktable does not watch for changes in the filesystem. Thus, if you
add an image to a folder, after having imported that folder in darktable, the new image
will not be shown until explicitly imported.

2.3.1.2. Importing from a connected camera

When a camera is detected, it will show up in the

device panel after pressing “scan for devices”. If you
hover your mouse over the camera tab label, a tooltip
will pop up with information about the camera, such
as model, firmware version, and more. Depending
on the camera's support, buttons with actions will
be available such as “import from camera” and
“tethered shoot”.

Import from camera

This will bring up an import dialog, showing the images on camera that can be selected
for import into a film roll in darktable.

You define the base directory for storing imported images and the naming pattern of
sub directories and individual images in the preferences dialog (see Section 8.3, “Session
options”).

Tethered shoot
Tethering is used to integrate darktable with your camera. While you take images with
your camera, they are automatically imported into darktable, so you can review the result
of the shoot. You can also setup remote capture jobs, controlling the number of images
and time between captures, along with camera settings such as exposure time, aperture
and more.

If supported by your camera, tethering will take you into the capture view for tethered
shooting. Read more about tethering in Chapter 4, Tethering.

2.3.1.3. Supported file formats

darktable is focused on managing and developing camera raw files. It supports a huge
number of file formats from various camera manufacturers. In addition darktable can read
specific low dynamic range and high dynamic range images  – mainly for data exchange
between darktable and other software.

In order for darktable to consider a file for import, it must have one of the following
extensions (case independent): 3FR, ARI, ARW, BAY, BMQ, CAP, CINE, CR2, CRW, CS1, DC2,
DCR, DNG, GPR, ERF, FFF, EXR, IA, IIQ, JPEG, JPG, K25, KC2, KDC, MDC, MEF, MOS, MRW,
NEF, NRW, ORF, PEF, PFM, PNG, PXN, QTK, RAF, RAW, RDC, RW1, RW2, SR2, SRF, SRW,
STI, TIF, TIFF, X3F.

If darktable was compiled with JPEG2000 support, these extensions are also recognized:
J2C, J2K, JP2, JPC.
28
 If darktable was compiled with GraphicsMagick support, the following extensions are
recognized in addition to the standard ones: BMP, DCM, GIF, JNG, JPC, JP2, MIFF, MNG,
PBM, PGM, PNM, PPM.

Camera raw files

darktable reads raw files using the open source library RawSpeed [https://github.com/
darktable-org/rawspeed], originally developed by Klaus Post and now maintained within
the darktable project itself. The number of supported cameras and file formats is
constantly increasing. It is beyond the scope of this manual to give an exhaustive list.
Most modern camera models are supported, and new ones tend to get added very quickly.
With the exception of Fujifilm X-Trans cameras, darktable does not decode images from
cameras with non-Bayer sensors (e.g. Sigmas with the Foveon X3 sensor).

LDR image files

darktable natively reads “ordinary” images in JPEG, 8-bit/16-bit PNG and 8-bit/16-bit TIFF
format. JPEG2000 is also supported if the required libraries are present at compile time.
Similarly, if darktable was compiled with GraphicsMagick support, there are further import
formats, like GIF, Dicom DCM, additional exotic TIFF formats, and some of Sun's “portable
xyz-map” family.

HDR image files

darktable reads high dynamic range images in OpenEXR, RGBE and PFM format.

2.3.2. Collect images

The current view in lighttable is called a collection.

The collect images panel lets you narrow down the list
of visible images to just the ones you want to work
with.

Information about all images imported into darktable are kept in a database, with various
attributes describing each image. You define a collection by applying certain filtering rules
to these attributes, creating a subset of images to display in the lighttable view.

The default collection is based on the film roll attribute – it displays all images of the last
imported film roll or any other film roll chosen.

2.3.2.1. Usage

image attributes

The left combobox lets you choose from the available attributes:

film roll the film roll to which the image belongs

folders the disk folder where the input image file is located
camera the Exif data entry describing the camera make and model

29
 tag any tag that is attached to the image; if activated a hierarchical list
of known tags is displayed for quick selection
date the date when the photo was taken, in the format YYYY:MM:DD
time the time (date and time of day) when the photo was taken, in the
format YYYY:MM:DD hh:mm:ss
history choose images whose history stacks have been altered or not
altered
color label any color label that is attached to the image: “red”, “yellow”,
“green”, “blue”, “purple”
title the title, as listed in the image's metadata “title” field
description the description, as listed in the image's metadata “description”
field
creator the creator, as listed in the image's metadata “creator” field
publisher the publisher, as listed in the image's metadata “publisher” field
rights the copyrights statement, as written in the image's metadata
“rights” field
lens the Exif data entry describing the lens
focal length the focal length value, as derived from Exif data
ISO the ISO value, as derived from Exif data
aperture the aperture value, as derived from Exif data
filename the filename of the physical input image
geotagging the geo location of the image

search rules

In the text field to the right of the attribute, you write a pattern. The pattern is compared
against all database entries with the selected attribute. This search detects a match if the
images' attribute contains the pattern in its full text. You may use % as wildcard character.
The collection gets limited to those images where the query matches. Leaving the text
field empty matches all images for that attribute.

Attributes with numerical values as well as date and time attributes can be used in
combination with comparative and range operators. Write <, <=, >, >=, <>, and = to select
images with attributes less, less or equal, greater, greater or equal, not equal, or equal
to the a given value, respectively. An expression in the form [from;to] selects a range of
values.

The box below the search rule will list all matching database entries of the query you are
currently working on. This list gets updated continuously as you type. You may also choose
sorting criteria by scrolling through the list and double-clicking (or single-click if you have
set the option in preferences. See Section 8.1.2, “Lighttable”).

If you have set single-click mode, you'll be able to select range of values with mouse. This
only works for numerical and date-time attributes.

Clicking on the triangle button to the right of the text field opens a drop-down menu with
options to finetune your current collection by adding further rules, or removing them:

clear this rule

Removes this rule – or resets to default if this is the only rule defined.
30
 narrow down search

Adds a new rule which is combined with the previous rule(s) in a logical AND operation.
An image is only part of the collection if it additionally fulfills the added rule.

add more images

Adds a new rule which is combined with the previous rule(s) in a logical OR operation.
Images that fulfill the new rule are added to the collection.

exclude images

Adds a new rule which is combined with the previous rule(s) in a logical EXCEPT operation.
Images which are selected by the new rule are exempted from the collection.

combining rules

The logical operators defining the combination of rules are displayed to the right of the
rule: AND by the symbol, OR by the symbol, and EXCEPT by the symbol. Clicking on
either symbol gives a choice to change the logical operation.

updating folder path

While it is best to not touch imported files behind darktable's back, this module can help
you recover from situations when you move imported folders after import. The collect
images module has a feature that allows you to tell darktable about the new location
of imported folders which have been moved. You set the combobox to folders to find
the original folder name in the tree. The folder name will be displayed striked-out to
emphasize that it is no longer there. Then you right-click on the folder name, select “search
filmroll...”, and then select the new location of the folder.

2.3.3. Recently used collections

This panel keeps track of the latest collections

you have used, so you can jump to recently used
collections without remembering what rules were
specified in the collection.

2.3.4. Timeline

In lighttable, you can display a timeline in the bottom panel with the shortcut Ctrl+T This
allow you to see the repartition of all your images by date-time.

Inside timeline, you can show next and previous dates with mouse scroll. Ctrl+scroll allow
you to zoom in/out the timeline.

You can also use timeline to select images by date range with mouse click + pan.

2.3.5. Image information
31
 This panel shows information embedded within an
image's Exif data. When hovering with the mouse
over thumbnails, darktable will update this view,
displaying information of the image currently under
the mouse cursor. This panel is also available in
darkroom, tethering, map, and print view.

2.3.6. Select

This panel allows for a quick selection of images,

according to some common criteria.

2.3.6.1. Usage

select all

Select all images in the current view (collection), with respect to the filters.

select none

De-select all images.

invert selection

Select all images that are not currently selected.

select film roll

Select all images that are in the same film roll as the currently selected images.

select untouched

Select all images that have not yet been developed.

2.3.7. Selected image(s)

This panel provides some actions that operate on

selected images.

32
2.3.7.1. Usage

remove
Remove the selected images from the darktable database. Those images will not be shown
in lighttable anymore, but remain on the filesystem. As darktable stores XMP files with
your development parameters on disk, you can later fully reconstruct your work by just
re-importing the images.

When backing up your RAWs make sure to also save the XMP files!

delete/trash
Eliminate the selected images from the darktable database and remove the image files
from their respective locations. Depending on the setting of config parameter “send files
to trash when erasing images” (Section 8.1, “GUI options”) this either irrevocably deletes
the images from filesystem or puts them into your system's trash bin.

See also preference option “ask before erasing images from disk” (Section  8.1, “GUI
options”). If this configuration option is not active, darktable will delete/trash the file(s)
without further question.

When deleting an image with duplicates, darktable keeps the original input file on disk
until the last of the duplicates gets deleted.

move
Physically move selected images (parent file plus all accompanying XMP sidecar files) to
another filesystem folder. darktable does not overwrite images in the target folder. If an
input image with the given filename already exists in the target folder the source image
is not moved but kept where it is.

copy
Physically copy selected images (parent file plus accompanying XMP sidecar file) to
another filesystem folder. If an image with the given name already exists in the target
folder it does not get overwritten – instead a new duplicate with the given history stack
is generated.

create hdr
Create a high dynamic range image from the selected images, and store it as a new source
file in DNG format. Images need to be properly aligned, which implies that they have
been taken on a sturdy tripod. You can also generate HDRs with programs like Luminance
HDR [http://qtpfsgui.sourceforge.net/], and later import them into darktable for further
processing (see Section 2.3.1.3, “Supported file formats”). Note that darktable will only
creates HDR images from raw files.

duplicate
Create a virtual copy of selected images within darktable. It allows testing different
developments for the same image, for example. Duplicate images share the same parent
input file, but each have their own XMP sidecar file.

rotation
Perform a counter-clockwise or clockwise rotation on selected images. The third button
resets the image rotation to the value in the Exif data. This feature is directly linked to
33
 the orientation module (see Section 3.4.1.2, “Orientation”) – adjustments are converted
into history stack items of that module.

copy locally

This action will create local copies of the selected images into the local drive. These copies
will then be used when the original images are not accessible (see Section 2.2.9, “Local
copies”).

resync local copy

This action will synchronize the XMP sidecars of the temporary local copy and the copy in
external storage, if needed, and will remove the local copies. Note that if a local copy has
been modified and the external storage is not accessible the local copy won't be deleted
(see Section 2.2.9, “Local copies”).

group

Create a new group from selected images (see Section 2.2.6, “Image grouping”).

ungroup

Remove selected images from the group (see Section 2.2.6, “Image grouping”).

2.3.8. History stack

This panel allows manipulating the history

stack (development) of images. For each image,
development is written in a sidecar file (.xmp), and is
fully non-destructive.

2.3.8.1. Usage

copy

Copy the history stack of the selected image. You will be prompted for which items are to
be included. If more than one image is selected, the history stack is taken from the image
that has been selected first. A double-click on an item copies that item only and close the
dialog.

copy all

Copy the complete history stack of the first selected image; all items will be included. If
more than one image is selected, the history stack is taken from the image that has been
selected first.

discard

Physically delete the history stack of the selected images. Beware, this action can not be
undone!

paste

Paste a previously copied history stack onto all selected images. You will be prompted
for which items to include. This button is greyed out, until a history stack is copied from
another image.
34
paste all
Paste all previously copied items of a history stack onto all selected images. This button
is greyed out, until a history stack is copied from another image.

mode
This setting defines how a new history stack behaves when pasted on an image that
already has a history stack. In simple terms the “overwrite” mode deletes the previous
history stack, whereas “append” will concatenate the two history stacks.

A copied history stack can have multiple entries of the same module either with the
same name (see Section 3.3.4, “History stack”) or with different names (see Section 3.2.4,
“Multiple instances”) and pasting behaves differently depending on the mode setting. On
append mode, modules from the source image will be merged into the destination image
in the following way: for each copied module of the source image, if there is a module in
the destination image with the same name it will replace it. If there is not a such module,
a new instance will be created. In both cases the instance is placed on top of the history
stack. The “copy all”/“paste all” action with this mode will only copy the respective last
instance of all modules with the same name to the source image.

In overwrite mode the behavior is the same except that the history of the destination
image is deleted before the paste operation. The “copy all”/“paste all” action with this
mode works differently; it will make an exact duplicate of the source image history to the
destination image with all instances of all names of the modules.

Note: if you use “overwrite” mode to paste history stack entries to the images that wasn't
opened in darkroom previously, i.e. the automatic module presets weren't already applied to
the image, next time you open said image in darkroom, the automatic presets will be applied
to the image. So it may seem as if the “overwrite” mode did not actually override the existing
history stack, but in fact it did override it, and the rest was added later.

Caution: only in “append” mode you keep the option to later reconstruct your existing history
stack whereas in “overwrite” mode your previous edit gets irrevocably lost. Beware, the
setting of this parameter remains effective when you quit darktable.

load sidecar file

Opens a dialog box to select an XMP file, thus loading a history stack that you can paste
on images.

Files that were exported by darktable typically contain the full history stack if the file
format supports embedded metadata (see Section 2.3.13, “Export selected” about this
feature and its limitations). You can load an exported image as a sidecar file in the same
way as you do with an XMP file. This feature allows you to recover all parameter settings
in case you have accidentally lost or overwritten the XMP file. All you need is the source
image, typically a raw, and the exported file.

write sidecar files

Write XMP sidecar files for all selected images. The filename is generated by appending
“.xmp” to the name of the underlying input file.

By default darktable generates and updates sidecar files automatically whenever you
work on an image and change the history stack. You can disable automatic sidecar file
generation in the preferences dialog (see Section 8.2, “Core options”). However, this is
not recommended.

2.3.9. Styles
35
 This panel provides a powerful functionality in
darktable: storing a history stack as a style, and
applying it to other images. Styles are created within
this panel or in the darkroom (see Section  3.3.4,
“History stack”). They are managed within this
lighttable panel, which allows you to create, apply,
edit and delete styles.

2.3.9.1. Usage
This panel displays a list of all available styles. A search field above the list allows you
to input a text string which is compared against the styles' names and descriptions, thus
limiting the list to the matching ones.

Double clicking on a style name applies the style to all selected images.

create duplicate
When applying a style to selected images, activating this box creates a duplicate of the
image before applying the style. Disable this option if you want to try various styles
without creating multiple duplicates; beware that in this case any existing history stack
gets overwritten and cannot be recovered.

create
This creates new styles out of the history stacks of the selected images. For each image a
style creation window pops up. You need to supply a unique name for the new style and
you can add an additional descriptive text. You have the option to de-select those history
stack items which you want to not be part of the newly created style.

The panel supports a hierarchical view, this means you can create categories using the
pipe symbol “|” as a separator. For example “print|tone curve +0.5 EV” will create a print
category.

edit
Styles are collections of history stack items. After pressing “edit”, you are prompted with
a dialogue to include or exclude specific items from the stack. Check option “duplicate”
if you want to create a new style, instead of overwriting the existing one; you need to
provide a new unique style name in this case.

See create how to create a hierarchical view.

delete
This deletes the selected style, without further question.

import
You can import a style which has been previously saved by darktable. darktable stores
styles as XML files with the extension “.dtstyle”.

export
This option saves a selected style to disk as a “.dtstyle” file. This allows publishing styles
and sharing styles with other users.
36
2.3.10. Geotagging
Use this panel to import and apply GPX track data on
a selection of images. Alternatively, you can manually
geotag images within the Map view (see Chapter 5,
Map).

2.3.10.1. Usage
A GPS receiver calculates its current position based on the information it receives from
satellites and records them in a GPX file – together with the current date and time. The Exif
data of the images also contains a time stamp defined by the camera settings. darktable
takes the time stamp of the image, looks-up the position in the GPX file at that time, and
stores the coordinates (latitude/longitude/elevation) in its database and the image's XMP
sidecar file.

There may occur two problems. In contrast to GPS devices, most cameras don't record
the accurate time. Secondly, the time stored in the Exif data doesn't contain a time zone.
Most people set their camera to local time, while the GPS devices store the time in UTC
(Universal Time, Coordinated), i.e. Greenwich (London) time zone. If the time zones of
camera and GPX file differs, than the related location will be wrong.

If your image already carries the UTC time stamp you can directly apply the GPX track
without further adjustments.

Otherwise we take two steps to correlate the time of camera and GPS tracker, first the
offset, then the time zone.
To fix the drift of the camera time setting you can
either enter it manually into the offset input field or
let darktable calculate it. All you need is a picture
taken of a reliable time source.

This can be any precise clock or even better the time

displayed on your GPS device (normally it shows the
local time, although it stores universal time).
When you have this image selected you can click
on the (looking glass) button and darktable will
present you an entry box. Just enter the time that
is shown on the image. As a result you will get the
difference between the time you entered and the
one associated with the image in its Exif data.

Now you can select all the images you want to geotag
and click the apply button (currently represented by
a check mark). This will alter the time in darktable's
internal database for these pictures – so you will also
see the change in the image information module on
the left.
Now you can apply a GPX track. Click the
corresponding button and navigate to the GPX file.
Before confirming that dialog you should select the
corresponding time zone for your camera in the drop-
down-menu.

Should you ever make a mistake with the time zone selection you can just come back and
reapply the GPX file with a different time zone.
37
2.3.11. Metadata editor
Edit metadata of an image, like title, description,
creator, publisher, or rights. You can define your
own presets if you want to apply specific settings
frequently.

2.3.11.1. Usage

clear
Delete existing metadata from the selected image(s).

apply
Apply new settings, as defined in the fields above, to the selected image(s).

2.3.12. Tagging
2.3.12.1. Overview

This panel allows managing tags on images. Tags

are stored in both XMP sidecar files and within the
darktable database.

Tags provide the means of adding information to the

images within a given keyword dictionary. You can
manage tags as a hierarchical tree, which is useful
when their number becomes large.

Unlike child tags, parent tags do not add information

to the image, but rather represent categories. For
example, in the “color|white” tag “color” is a category
for the “white” tag.

The panel contains two views:

• The upper “attached tags” view displays tag(s) that are currently attached to the image
under the cursor or the selected image(s), if the cursor is outside the center area of the
lighttable view.

• The lower “tag dictonary” view displays all tags that are available in the database.

tag properties
Besides its name the tag can set as private or as a category. It can also be attached
synonyms. These attributes help to control the information you join to exported images.
These information are related to “XMP-dc Subject” and “XMP-lr Hierarchical Subject”
metadata.
38
 A tag set as “private” is by default not exported. The configuration point "force
exportation of private tags" allows you to keep private tags on exported images. Both
“XMP-dc Subject” and “XMP-lr Hierarchical Subject” are affected.

A tag set as “category” is not exported in “XMP-dc Subject”. However it is exported in

“XMP-lr Hierarchical Subject” as this XMP metadata holds the organization of your tags.

“synonyms” enriches the tag information and is mainly destined to search engines. For
example “juvenile”, “kid” or “youth” can be set as synonyms of “child”. An other usage is
to translate the tag in other languages. The configuration point "request exportation of
synonyms", when set, makes the image exportation add synonyms to “XMP-dc Subject”
metadata.

displayed information

The attached tags and tag dictionary views display additional information on the sides of
the tag:

• On the left, an indicator gives the status of the tag in relation to the selected images:

• A “check-mark” means that the tag is attached to all selected images.

• A “minus” means that the tag is attached to at least one selected image. In tree view,
for a parent tag it also means that at least one child tag is attached to at least one
of the selected images.

• Absence of any marking in the tag dictionary view means that the tag exists in the
database, but is not attached to any of the selected images. In tree view, for a parent
tag it also means that none of its child tags is attached to any of the selected images.

• On the right, the number in parentheses gives the attached image count. In the attached
tags view, this count refers to the selected images, while in the tag dictionary view it
refers to the whole database.

An italic tag is considered as a category. A category is a tag which helps to organize the
tags but doesn't bring information to the image. A category is not exported.

Right-clicking on the tag opens a submenu with available commands.

39
 Hovering cursor over a tag displays an overlay with basic usage instructions for the tagging
panel.

The list views are controlled with the three upper graphic buttons:

By default the full tag name is shown. The list is sorted alphabetically and the attached
view includes the darktable tags.

the toggle button hides or shows the automatic darktable tags.

the toggle button sorts the list alphabetically or by number of tagged images.

the toggle button shows the short or long tag name.

You can adjust height of the attached tags and tag dictionary list views using Ctrl+wheel.
The updated list view height is kept for new darktable sessions.

view selection
The choice of views is controlled with the two bottom graphic buttons:
40
 the toggle button shows the tag dictionary as a list
or as a tree.

Tip: Shift+click on tree node fully expands it (all sub-

levels).

the toggle button switches the list to suggestions

or full dictionary tag list (inactive on tree view). The
suggestions list is based on already attached tags on
selected images.

text entry
The text entry box, between the two lists, has multiple purposes.

First, for those who like not to leave the keyboard, when the dictionary view is in list mode,
as soon as you start to enter a keyword, it opens a list of corresponding tags. When you
see the one you look for, use the “down” arrow to highlight it, press twice “enter” to get
the tag attached !

Those for who this procedure is not convenient can deactivate this function using the
configuration "disable the entry completion".

Besides this, the entry box lets you filter the dictionary (list and tree) just below searching
amongst the tag names but also the synonyms.

Pressing enter, either the tag just written does not exist in the dictionary. In such a case
the new tag is added to the dictionary and attached to the selected images. Or it is already
in the dictionary and it's only attached.

You can use the submenu “copy to entry” to copy an existing tag from the dictionary into
the entry box. Then you can modify it to create a new tag without having to type it in
completely.

2.3.12.2. Usage

create
New tags get added to the list in different ways.

On import of a text file. You can import whatever text file as soon as it follows the
lightroom tagging file format. It is possible to import several files. It is also possible to
41
 export your tags, add information in it and re-import it. As long as you don't change the
tag name, the import function updates the existing tags with new information and create
the new ones.

On import of already tagged images. This is not a well controlled way especially if your
dictionary is hierarchical.

In submenu “create tag”. A tag can be created manually, under an existing one
(hierarchical) or at the root level.

By typing into the text box and pressing the “new” button. Hierarchical tags are created
using the pipe symbol “|”. Note that the tag is also attached to selected images.

As you may notice there are automatically created tags like “darktable|exported” or
“darktable|styles|your style”, which keep track of your actions and let you easily find
already exported images or images with specific styles applied.

edit, rename

The maintenance of the dictionary can be done through “edit tag...” and “rename path...”
submenu (right-click on dictionary view tag).

The command “edit tag...” shows the number of tags and images which are potentially
impacted by a change of this tag. The edit window lets the user change the name of a
node on the path but not the rest of the path of hierarchical tags (pipe symbol “|” not
allowed). The command is aborted if there is at least one tag corresponding to the new
name. “private”, “category” flags and “synonyms” can be change here.

The command “rename path...” appears only on the tree view and shows the number of
tags and images which are potentially impacted by a change of this tag. The rename path
window lets the user change the full path of tag. You can or remove the pipe symbol “|”.
This command is powerful but you must know what your doing. The command is aborted
if there is at least one tag corresponding to the new path.
42
attach
Selected tags are attached to selected images with the following actions.

Click on button “attach” attaches the selected tag in dictionary.

Click-right on a tag of dictionary view and sub-menu “attach tag”

Double-click on a tag of dictionary view.

Click-right on a tag of attached view and sub-menu “attach tag to all”

by typing into the text box and pressing the “new” button or enter. Note that the tag is
also created if doesn't exist already.

Ctrl+T opens a small text box at the bottom of the central view for quickly tagging your
selected images by typing a tag phrase and hitting return.

Hovering the images in ligthtable you can control the already attached tags either on the
attached view and in image information as well.

detach
An attached tag can be detached in the following ways.

Click on button “detach” detaches the selected tag in attached view.

Double-click on a tag of attached view.

Click-right on a tag of attached view and sub-menu “detach”

delete
Delete a tag from the list and from all images. A warning will be displayed on how many
images have this tag attached. Take this warning seriously as there is no way to recover
or later find the affected images (except backup). A tag in dictionary view can be deleted
in the following ways.

Click on button “delete” delete the selected one.

Click-right on a tag of dictionary view and sub-menu “delete tag”.

Click-right on a tag of dictionary view and sub-menu “delete branch”. In that case the tag
itself and sub tags are deleted.

import - export
The button “import” let you choose a text file, which must follows the lightroom tag text
file format and import its content. If a tag already exists, its properties will be updated.
Otherwise the tag is created.

The button “export” exports all your tag dictionary into a text file of your choice
(lightroom tag text file format).
43
navigation
Right-click on an attached tag (count not null) in the dictionary view make appear in the
submenu an entry “go to tag collection”. This opens the collection associated to this tag
and let you see the images which have this tag attached. It is possible to jump from one
tag collection to the other.

To come back to the original collection, where you were working before moving to a tag
collection, the submenu presents the entry “go back to work”. This option is kept as long
your don't change the collection in collect module and you are not back to the original
collection.

2.3.13. Export selected
Workflow ends in this panel with the exporting of
your developed images. You can export to a file
on disk, email, various on-line storage places, a
webalbum, or a book template. Tip: you can use Ctrl
+E from within the darkroom mode to export.

All settings in this panel can be saved for later reuse. Press the button to manage your
presets.

2.3.13.1. Usage

target storage
Where to store your selected images. Different back-ends are implemented, including
file on disk, a LaTeX book template and various web albums. Depending on the selected
target, you will be asked to give additional information, like filenames, or account name
and password.

filename template
You can define filenames that darktable generates for export. Several pre-defined
variables can be used as placeholders:

$(ROLL_NAME) roll of the input image

$(FILE_FOLDER) folder containing the input image
$(FILE_NAME) basename of the input image
$(FILE_EXTENSION) extension of the input image
$(ID) the image id
$(VERSION) the duplicate version (see Section  2.2.7,
“Sidecar files”)
44
$(SEQUENCE) a sequence number within export job
$(MAX_WIDTH) maximum image width to limit within
export session
$(MAX_HEIGHT) maximum image height to limit within
export session
$(YEAR) year at date of export
$(MONTH) month at date of export
$(DAY) day at date of export
$(HOUR) hour at time of export
$(MINUTE) minute at time of export
$(SECOND) second at time of export
$(EXIF_YEAR) Exif year
$(EXIF_MONTH) Exif month
$(EXIF_DAY) Exif day
$(EXIF_HOUR) Exif hour
$(EXIF_MINUTE) Exif minute
$(EXIF_SECOND) Exif second
$(EXIF_EXPOSURE) Exif exposure
$(EXIF_APERTURE) Exif aperture
$(EXIF_FOCAL_LENGTH) Exif focal length
$(EXIF_FOCUS_DISTANCE) Exif focus distance
$(LONGITUDE) Longitude
$(LATITUDE) Latitude
$(ELEVATION) Elevation
$(STARS) star rating
$(LABELS) colorlabels
$(MAKER) camera maker
$(MODEL) camera model
$(TITLE) title from metadata
$(DECRIPTION) description from metadata
$(CREATOR) creator from metadata
$(PUBLISHER) publisher from metadata
$(RIGHTS) rights from metadata
$(USERNAME) user name
$(PICTURES_FOLDER) pictures folder
$(HOME) home folder
$(DESKTOP) desktop folder
$(TAGS) tags list (Xmp.dc.Subject)
$(CATEGORYn$(category)) tag name of level n [0,3] of selected
category (or tag)

All of the variables support basic string substitution inspired by bash. The details differ
however, for example all patterns are treated as simple string comparisons. There
45
 is no regex support. For example you can do the following: $(ROLL_NAME/search/
replace) . This means if your roll name is e.g. 1970-01-01_RAW_Time-Begins and you use
$(ROLL_NAME/RAW/JPG) it will result in a roll name of: 1970-01-01_JPG_Time-Begins

$(var-default) If var is empty, use default .

$(var+alt_value) If var is set, use alt_value , else use
empty string.
$(var:offset) var starting from offset . If offset is less
than zero it is counted from the back of the
string.
$(var:offset:length) At most length characters of var , starting
from offset . If offset is less than zero it
is counted from the back of var . If length
is less than zero it indicates the end of the
result, counted from the back of var , and
not an actual length.
$(var#pattern) Remove pattern from the start of var .
$(var%pattern) Remove pattern from the end of var .
$(var/pattern/replacement) Replace the first occurrence of pattern in
var with replacement . If replacement is
empty then pattern will be removed.
$(var//pattern/replacement) Replace all occurrences of pattern in var
with replacement . If replacement is
empty then pattern will be removed.
$(var/#pattern/replacement) If var starts with pattern then pattern is
replaced with replacement .
$(var/%pattern/replacement) If var ends with pattern then pattern is
replaced with replacement .
$(var^) Make the first character of var uppercase.
$(var^^) Make all characters of var uppercase.
$(var,) Make the first character of var lowercase.
$(var,,) Make all characters of var lowercase.

output directory

Pressing button opens a dialog to select the parent directory for export.

on conflict

If this option is set to “create unique filename” darktable automatically chooses a unique
new file name in case of naming conflicts with existing files. Setting this to “overwrite”
forces darktable to exactly adhere to the selected filename template, overwriting any
existing files on conflict. This option will present you with a confirmation dialog in order
to protect you from accidental data loss. Setting this to “skip” will result in images not
being exported when the destination filename already exists.

file format

darktable can export to various file formats. Depending on the output format you can
define additional parameters. For some formats you need to decide on the desired bit
depth and the compression method, respectively.
46
 For some export formats like JPEG you can define an output quality. Higher values will
lead to larger file sizes. The default quality “95” is a good setting for very high quality
exports, e.g. for archiving or printing purposes. If you need a good compromise between
size and quality, e.g. for online image display or uploads, you should consider a value of
“90” instead.

If the file format supports embedded metadata, like JPEG, JPEG2000 and TIFF, darktable
will try to store the history stack as XMP tags within the output file. This information
can later be used to reconstruct your parameters and settings that have produced the
exported image (see Section 2.3.8, “History stack”).

Caution: for various reasons embedding XMP tags into output files may fail without notice,
eg. if certain size limits are exceeded. Users are therefore advised to not rely their backup
strategy on this feature. To back up your data make sure to save your input (raw) file as well
as all of darktable's XMP sidecar files.

If you don't want to distribute history stack data (or any other type of metadata) with your
images your can tweak the export metadata configuration.

max size

Set the maximum width and height of the output images in pixels. Set both to a value
of “0” to export with the original dimensions (after cropping). If the values exceed the
original dimensions darktable will either export with the original dimensions or perform
an upscaling step, depending on the setting of the following parameter.

Caution: it's a frequent pitfall to accidentally put low values, like 1 or 10, in these fields,
causing darktable to produce miniature output files. You might think darktable's output is
broken, but in fact it only generated what you asked for.

allow upscaling

If set to “yes” darktable will perform an upscaling step in case the user defined maximum
width and height exceed the original dimensions. If set to “no” the exported image's
dimensions will not exceed the original ones (after cropping).

profile

This defines the output color profile. Select “image settings” if you want the settings in the
output color profile (see Section 3.4.3.10, “Output color profile”) module of the individual
images to take precedence.

intent

This option lets you define the intent, i.e. the way darktable will deal with out-of-gamut
colors. See Section  3.2.6.3, “Rendering intent” for a more detailed description of the
available options.

style

This option lets you choose a style, i.e. a collection of history stack items, which darktable
combines with the existing history stack to generate the output image. These history
items are only added temporarily; the original history stack is not overwritten. You can
use this feature to add processing steps and parameters that you want to be applied
specifically to images before export, e.g. you may define a style that adds a stronger level
of sharpening when you produce scaled-down JPEG files for the internet or add a certain
47
 level of exposure compensation to all of your output images. Learn more about styles in
Section 2.3.9, “Styles”, and Section 3.3.4, “History stack”.

mode

When applying a style during export this option defines whether the history stack items
of that style replace the original history stack of the image or are appended to it.
Technically speaking, in append mode history stack items of the style will constitute
separate instances of the respective modules on top of any existing ones (see also
Section 3.2.4, “Multiple instances”). As a consequence the original history stack will fully
remain in effect with the new items being applied additionally. This way you can apply an
overall adjustment (e.g. exposure) to a bunch of exported images while respecting the
settings of each individual image.

export

Pressing this button starts a background job to export all selected images. A bar at the
bottom of the left side panel displays the progress. Furthermore a notification message
pops up reporting the export progress. You may click on the pop-up to make it disappear.
You may abort the export job by clicking on the icon located close to the progress bar.

metadata

Pressing the icon on the right of export button opens a window to configure which
metadata are to be embedded into the exported image.

Metadata configuration is saved along with other export selected parameters to your
favorites presets.

The left part lets you select the groups of metadata to be exported. The entry metadata
corresponds to metadata defined in metadata editor. Under entry tags you can request
the exportation of private tags, synonyms and omit to include the path elements of
hierarchical tags. Remember that a tag set up as a category is never exported.

The right part lets you define a formula per metadata entry. What you define here has
priority on the left settings. The first column identifies the entry to be edited. The second
column is editable and defines the calculation of the metadata entry. Leaving the formula
empty prevents the exporting of this specific metadata entry (Exif.GPSInfo.GPSVersionID
in the above example). To define a formula, you can use the same variables and rules as
48
for filenames (as documented in the section called “filename template”). Press enter to
validate the formula.

Use the “-” icon to remove a metadata entry from the list, the “+” icon to add a new one
from the predefined list:

Double-click or click on button add to add a metadata entry to the configuration list.

The formulas allow you to get the most of the tagging function. You can virtually define all
the metadata you need to qualify your images in tagging and, thanks to these formulas,
export the values in the xmp or iptc tags of your choice. The exported tags can be different
from one export to the other depending on the destination of the images. Just remember
that tags set as category are not exported. Tags and Categories are displayed separately
in image information.

Example 1. A first level tag called places is set as a category, and is followed by
four levels of information (or keywords), country, region, city and location: places|
France|Nord|Lille|rue Nationale. Each level can be retrieved (when it is
defined) by one of the variables $(CATEGORY0(places)), $(CATEGORY1(places)),
$(CATEGORY2(places)) and $(CATEGORY3(places)). In that example, the returned
values are respectively: France, Nord, Lille and rue Nationale. These keywords can also be
retrieved as simple tags by the variable $(TAGS). The last keyword level defined (the leaf)
is displayed in Image informations, here rue Nationale.

Example 2. A first level tag called creator followed by the name of the photographer, both
set as category: creator|firstname lastname. The formula copyrights $(YEAR)
$(CATEGORY0(creator)) builds the text associated to image rights. Image information
display in categories the following: creator: firstname lastname. Neither creator
nor firstname lastname appear in tags list; they are also not exported as simple tags.

Note: tagging is not appropriate to define free text metadata, like a title or a description,
which may be specific to each image. Prefer using the metadata editor for this type of
information (see Section 2.3.11, “Metadata editor”).

49
50
Chapter 3. Darkroom
The darkroom view is where you develop your image.

51
3.1. Overview
Darkroom mode is for photographic development of the image that you selected from
the lighttable. Numerous tools, named modules, are available for processing that image.

On the left hand side you have navigation, snapshot, history stack, color picker, tagging,
image information and mask manager panels, described in Section 3.3, “Darkroom panels”.
In the right hand panel you can see the histogram and a list of modules available for
working with the image. At the bottom of the right hand panel you can enable/disable the
view of individual modules.

You can use middle-click to zoom 1:1. A double middle-click takes you to 2:1. Alternatively
you can zoom in and out between 1:1 and fit-to-screen by mouse scrolling. Mouse scrolling
while holding the control key pressed gives an extended zoom range between 2:1 and
1:10.

You normally export multiple images from the lighttable view but you can also export the
current image directly from the darkroom by using the shortcut Ctrl+E. Export parameters
are then those currently selected in the lighttable.

52
3.2. Darkroom concepts
This section tries to explain some of the basic concepts on how darktable develops images
in the darkroom.

The basic element of an image operation in darktable is called a module. darktable comes
with a rich set of over 60 modules for all kind of image manipulations. In Section  3.4,
“Modules” you will find a description for each of the available modules.

3.2.1. Pixelpipe, module order, and history stack

darktable processes images – from input to output – in a so called “pixelpipe”. Within the
pixelpipe image processing consists of consecutive operations which are implemented as
“modules”.

Modules are applied in a fixed order. This differentiates darktable, as a non-destructive

image editor, from classical image manipulation programs like GIMP. As module order
is fixed, you are free to activate, deactivate or change the parameters of a module at
arbitrary points in time; the order of activation in your workflow does not have any impact
on the outcome.

Users frequently ask why the module order is fixed and if there are plans to change that
restriction. There are several reasons why darktable works in the way described:

• The sequence of modules has been selected with great care in order go give highest
output quality. Changes to the sequence would generally worsen the result rather than
improving it.

• Certain image processing steps just don't make sense if they are shifted in the pixelpipe.
To mention just a few: highlight reconstruction needs to be done on raw data before
demosaicing and the demosaic step needs to be performed before any input color
profile can be applied.

• Most of darktable's modules are designed to work within a specific color model (see
Section  3.2.6, “Color management” for more details). Full flexibility would require
modules to support different parallel algorithms depending on the color space they are
working in – this would drastically increase complexity.

That said, the fixed sequence of modules is not likely to change in the near future.

Whenever you activate or deactivate a module or go back to a module and change the
parameters, this adds an item on top of the “history stack”.

For example, when working on a raw file, the history stack on the left panel might say that
you first enabled bilateral filtering, then disabled base curve, then adjusted white balance.
But at any time, the processing took the raw image, adjusted white balance on it, then
demosaic, then base curve (if enabled), then bilateral filtering (if enabled), as shown bottom
to top on the right panel.

The history stack records your workflow in the order in which you made changes to the
pipeline. It allows you to go back to an earlier stage of development if needed. The history
stack represents your personal workflow and is not to be confused with the sequence in
which modules are applied in the pixelpipe (see above). For more details on the history
stack see Section 3.3.4, “History stack”.

3.2.2. Interacting with modules

A module has an expander bar . Clicking on the name of the
module expands the module's GUI with all parameters.
53
 In its default setting darktable will only expand one GUI at a time. If you click the expander
bar of another module, the previous GUI gets collapsed. If you want to see more than one
GUI expanded, you may expand further modules with Shift+click  – all previously expanded
GUIs remain opened. The expander bar behavior on click and Shift+click, respectively, is
controlled by a preference setting in GUI options (see Section 8.1, “GUI options”).

Expanding a module does not activate it. You need to click the icon to turn a module
on or off.

Icon accesses the module's available presets or creates a new preset from your current
settings (see Section 3.2.3, “Module presets”).

The icon is used to reset the module parameters to their default values.

Many of darktable's modules can have multiple instances, each with different settings.
Click on the icon to generate new instances and control existing ones (see Section 3.2.4,
“Multiple instances”).

The most frequently used control elements of modules are sliders, comboboxes and
curves.

3.2.2.1. Sliders
Sliders offer five different ways of interaction, depending on the level of control you need.

1. Left-click

Click anywhere in the slider area to set the value. You can also click and drag to change
it. You don't have to aim for the small triangle or even the line, the whole height
including the label works as the active area.

2. Mouse wheel

Hover over any place on the slider with your mouse, then use your mouse wheel to
adjust the value step by step.

3. Keyboard arrow keys

When the slider has keyboard focus you can hover over any place on the slider with
your mouse, then use your keyboard's arrow keys (←/↓ and →/↑) to adjust the value
stepwise. In order to give focus to the widget without changing the current value you
can right-click, then right-click again.

4. Right-click

When your mouse is over a slider right-click gives you a multi-functional pop-up below
the slider for fine control with your mouse or numerical entry using the keyboard.

darktable's innovative input method: for both

coarse and fine value adjustments in a single
control element combined with keyboard input.

54
 A bent line extending from the triangular marker moves as you move your mouse.
The closer your mouse pointer is to the triangular marker the coarser the control; the
further away from the triangular marker the finer is your control. Left-click with your
mouse to accept the new value and go back to normal control.

Alternatively you can type in a new value using your keyboard and commit by hitting the
enter key. You may even supply the new value in the form of an arithmetic expressions
which darktable will calculate for you – the old value is referenced as “x”.

5. Double-click

You can double-click on a parameter label to reset its value to default.

Additionally, the mouse wheel and keyboard arrow keys support two input modifiers:

• You can hold down the Shift key increasing the stepsize by a factor of 10. You can change
this multiplier:

darkroom/ui/scale_rough_step_multiplier=10.0

• You can hold Ctrl key decreasing the stepsize by a factor of 10. You can change this
multiplier:

darkroom/ui/scale_precise_step_multiplier=0.1

3.2.2.2. Comboboxes

Clicking on a combobox will open a list of available options. Click on the item you want
to select. Sometimes the selection list opens close to the bottom or top of the screen
and only part of the items are visible; scroll with your mouse wheel to bring up the full
list. Alternatively, you can also use the mouse wheel and keyboard arrow keys to select
an option.

3.2.2.3. Curves

Some modules are controlled by adjusting curves. More detail is given later in this chapter
when the respective modules are explained.

3.2.2.4. Undo/redo

During editing darktable records all changes made in the history (see Section  3.3.4,
“History stack”). This includes modifications of any parameter in a module itself but also
if a module instance is added or removed. Thanks to this recording it is possible to undo
changes or redo them to recover a previous editing state. Note that this undo/redo facility
is unlimited in the number of steps while editing an image but it is reset each time the
darkroom is switched to a new image.

The default key shortcuts are:

• Ctrl+Z : undo last history modification

• Ctrl+Y : redo last undo (does nothing if undo has not been used yet)

3.2.3. Module presets
Presets are stored configurations for a module's parameters. Some modules already have
internal pre-defined presets but you can also define your own. Both internal and user-

55
 defined presets are displayed by clicking the icon with the currently activated preset
shown in bold text.

The preset system also supports automatic preset selection based on image data such as
focal length, ISO, camera model and other fields.

As a convenience, a preset can be applied to a new module instance by pressing the

middle-click.

3.2.3.1. Creating a new preset

First configure the module's parameters then click the icon and select “store new
preset”. The following dialog will be shown for configuring the preset:

The first two fields are used to name and describe the preset.

In the example above we have also checked the auto apply option. This brings up
additional selection fields where you can define a filter used to decide if the preset should
be automatically applied when opening other similar images in darkroom for the first time.
The example dialog above sets up following rules: if lens name matches and aperture
is greater or equal to f/8 and focal length is between 24 and 35mm the preset will be
automatically applied. Also the second checkbox is clicked so this preset will only be shown
in the preset list if the image matches the rule.

darktable finds this data in your image's Exif information. If you want a preset to be
applied to all images from a specific camera leave all fields at default values except for
the model field.

Tip: The image information panel for your image displays your model name, use this to
ensure you have the correct spelling (see Section 2.3.5, “Image information”).

3.2.3.2. Managing Presets

Both user created and pre-defined presets can be viewed and managed from within the
presets menu (Section 8.5, “Presets”) in the preferences dialog (see Chapter 8, Preferences
and settings).

3.2.4. Multiple instances
Many of darktable's modules can be applied multiple times. Each instance of that module
behaves like any other module, taking its input from the module below in the pixelpipe
delivering its output to the module above.
56
3.2.4.1. Typical use cases

There are many occasions where it makes sense to have an operation act more than once
in the pixelpipe. Here are a few use cases.

• Most of our modules are highly versatile and depending on parameters can deliver quite
varying effects. For example the fill light module (Section 3.4.2.1, “Fill light”) allows local
modification of lightness based on pixel values. You might want to do two lightness
corrections in your image at the same time – one for dark tones and another one for
lighter tones.

• You might want to apply a denoising module like denoise (profile) (Section  3.4.4.3,
“Denoise – profiled”) with two different parameter sets. One to do luma denoising and
another set of parameters to do chroma denoising. You could do so by generating two
instances and use the first one only on luma by selecting blend mode “lightness” and
use the second one just for chroma by selecting blend mode “color” (see Section 3.2.5.4,
“Blending operators”).

• In an even more elaborate case you could have a module act on different parts of
your image. As an example you might want to apply a certain gradation curve with
module tone curve (Section  3.4.2.3, “Tone curve”) to your complete image and have
a second curve being applied specifically to skin tones. All of the controls offered by
drawn masks (Section  3.2.5.5, “Drawn mask”) and parametric masks (Section  3.2.5.6,
“Parametric mask”) may be used to select those parts of an image where each of the
module instances are applied.

Please be aware that of course each instance also adds to the workload of your pixelpipe.
Generating too many instances  – especially of the more demanding modules  – will
certainly cause some noticeable slow-down.

3.2.4.2. Managing instances

When clicking on the icon a drop-down menu will

appear.

Selecting “new instance” generates a new module instance above any existing ones. All
parameters are set to default values. The new instance gets its own complete set of GUI
controls and a number appended to the base module name for distinction.

Selecting “duplicate instance” behaves in a similar way. The only difference: the new
instance will inherit all parameter settings from its parent.

darktable applies all modules in a defined order according to their type. Therefore all
instances of a particular module will occur together in the pixelpipe. You can however
decide on the relative order in which the different instances of a module are applied by
selecting “move up” or “move down” to shift the position of the instance among its peers.

To delete an instance just press “delete” from the drop-down menu.

57
 An instance can have any name without influencing the edits. To change the name use the
“rename” option. See Section 2.3.8, “History stack” for more details on how the instance
name impacts copying and pasting history stacks.

3.2.5. Blending
3.2.5.1. Overview

By default a module takes its input from the preceding module, performs its calculations
and hands its output over to the next module in the pixelpipe. On demand you can activate
an additional step where a module's output is reprocessed with its input before giving the
result to the next module. This additional processing step is called blending. Input and
output can be processed with different algorithms, called blending operators or blend
modes.

Each blend mode is further controlled by a parameter called opacity, which can have a
value between 0% and 100% and defines how input and output image contribute to the
final result. Typically an opacity value of 0% gives as a result an image that is identical to
the input image – the module remains without effect. An opacity value of 100% delivers
the maximum effect of the module with the blend mode chosen.

The opacity value can be the same for all image pixels. In this case blending acts uniformily
on the image. Alternatively you can make opacity values to vary between different image
locations or pixel values. This is called a mask and gives fine control over what parts of
an image are affected by a module and to what extent. At your choice you may activate a
drawn mask or a parametric mask or a combination of both.

3.2.5.2. Usage

Modules with blending support exhibit an additional

combobox “blend” at the bottom of their GUI.

blend

Blending is activated with this combobox. Depending on the value selected additional
control elements will show up.

off

module's output is passed to the next module in pixelpipe without additional

reprocessing. No further controls are displayed.

uniformily

reprocessing takes place with the chosen blend mode and opacity value – the same for
all pixels. Additional controls to select blend mode and opacity value are displayed. The
default blend mode is “normal” with an opacity of 100%.

drawn mask

reprocessing takes place with the chosen blend mode and opacity. Additional controls
are displayed which allow you to draw a mask. If no mask elements are drawn all pixels
have the same opacity, defined by the opacity slider. If you draw a mask element, e.g. a
circle, the inner area of the circle will get maximum opacity, surrounded by a transition
area or border with a gradual decay of opacity and the remaining image with an opacity of
58
 0%. Different graphical shapes can be used. See Section 3.2.5.5, “Drawn mask” for further
details.

parametric mask

reprocessing takes place with the chosen blend mode and opacity. Additional controls
are displayed which allow you to adjust the opacity on a per-pixel basis determined by
pixel values. In previous versions of darktable this was called “conditional blending”. See
Section 3.2.5.6, “Parametric mask” for further details.

drawn and parametric mask

this option combines drawn and parametric masks and shows the full set of both controls.
See Section 3.2.5.8, “Combining drawn and parametric masks” to learn how to best use
this combination.

3.2.5.3. Examples

Texturing an image

The watermark module supports SVG files with embedded images that can be used as a
texture source. Blending operators then allow control of how that texture is expressed.

Gritty details

When blending operators were introduced into

darktable, a new module named highpass (see
Section 3.4.5.7, “Highpass”) was added. It provides a
highpass filter of the image to be implicitly used with
blending. It is used to produce a gritty detailed image
and is a method widely used in the workflow of other
imaging software.

This is the original image, pretty heavily processed:

first monochrome, then some blue split-toning but
as you see it lacks pop in details and is a bit out of
focus...

Here we applied the highpass filter with the values

shown above. You can now see that the details are
greatly boosted and we now have a really gritty
detailed image.

3.2.5.4. Blending operators

There are several blend modes implemented and more might be added in future. For
now all of the most commonly used ones are included and you will recognize a few of
them from other imaging software. A good introduction on many common blend modes
59
 is given in the GIMP Manual (Chapter 8.2, “Layer Modes”) [http://docs.gimp.org/2.8/en/
gimp-concepts-layer-modes.html]. Therefore we only discuss a few blend modes here in
more detail.

blend modes
normal

This will probably be the most used blend mode. It just mixes input and output and,
depending on the opacity value, it reduces the strength of a module's effect. Generally
this is also the blend mode of choice if you want to apply a module's effect locally using
masks.

normal bounded

This blend mode acts similarly to blend mode “normal”, except that input and output
data are clamped to a particular min/max value range. Out-of-range values are effectively
blocked and do not pass to the following modules. Sometimes this helps to prevent
artifacts. However, in most cases (e.g. highly color saturated extreme highlights) it is
better to let unbound values travel through the pixelpipe in order to properly deal with
them at the right place (e.g. in module output color profile). Blend mode “normal” is most
often the preferred choice.

lightness

This blend mode mixes lightness from the input and output images. Color data (chroma
and hue) are taken unaltered from the input image.

chroma

This blend mode mixes chroma (saturation) from the input and output images. Lightness
and hue are taken unaltered from the input image.

hue

This blend mode mixes hue (color tint) from the input and output images. Lightness and
chroma are taken unaltered from the input image. Caution: When modules drastically
modify hue (e.g. when generating complementary colors) this blend mode can result in
strong color noise.

color

This blend mode mixes color (chroma and hue) from the input and output images.
Lightness is taken unaltered from the input image. Caution: When modules drastically
modify hue (e.g. when generating complementary colors) this blend mode can result in
strong color noise.

Lab lightness

Only available with modules that work in the Lab color space; this blend mode mixes
lightness from the input and output images, while color data are taken unaltered from
the input image. In contrast to blend mode “lightness” this blend mode does not involve
any color space conversion and does not clamp any data. In some cases this is less prone
to artifacts in comparison to “lightness”.

Lab color

Only available with modules that work in the Lab color space; this blend mode mixes Lab
color channels a and b from the input and output images, while lightness data are taken
60
 unaltered from the input image. In contrast to blend mode “color” this blend mode does
not involve any color space conversion and does not clamp any data. In some cases this is
less prone to artifacts in comparison to “color”.

HSV lightness

Only available with modules that work in the RGB color space; this blend mode mixes
lightness from the input and output images, while color data are taken only from the input
image. In contrast to blend mode “lightness” this mode does not involve clamping.

HSV color

Only available with modules that work in the RGB color space; this blend mode mixes color
from the input and output images, while lightness data are taken only from the input
image. In contrast to blend mode “color” this mode does not involve clamping.

color adjustment

Some modules act predominantly on the tonal values of an image but also perform some
color saturation adjustments, e.g. module levels and tone curve. The color adjustment
blend mode takes the lightness only from output data and mixes colors from input and
output enabling control of the module's color adjustments.

3.2.5.5. Drawn mask

Drawing a mask represents the simplest approach for limiting the effect of a darktable
module to a specific area in the developed image.

Overview

With the drawn mask feature you can construct a mask by drawing directly on the image
base. Different drawing operators, called shapes, are available and can be used alone or
in combination. A flexible editing feature allows you to change single aspects of a shape,
remove shapes or import shapes already defined in other modules.

Internally shapes are stored as vector graphics and rendered with the needed resolution
during pixelpipe processing. Shapes are expressed in the coordinate system of the original
image and transformed with all distorting modules. This way a shape will always work on
the same image area regardless of warping or other modifications that may be applied.

Usage

To draw a shape you need to click on one of the

shape symbols. You will automatically be moved into
the edit mode in which you generate a new instance
of the selected shape and afterwards change its
properties.

You leave edit mode by clicking on the symbol. You can at any time go back to edit mode
and do further adjustments by clicking the edit symbol again. In edit mode you can also
61
 remove a shape by right-clicking on it – the shape is removed from the current mask but
it's still in the list of defined shapes.

Independent of the specific shape you can scroll to change the size of the shape, shift
+scroll to change the feather of the shape and Ctrl+scroll to change the opacity of the
shape.

If you Ctrl+click on the edit mode symbol you enter a restricted edit mode. Certain actions
like dragging a complete shape or changing its size are blocked. Only finetuning changes
like dragging a node are allowed.

Currently five shapes are implemented.

brush

Clicking the symbol adds a brush stroke.

Start drawing by left-clicking into the canvas and moving the mouse while keeping the
button pressed. The brush stroke is finalized once you release the mouse button. Brush
size, hardness and opacity can be changed by scrolling, shift+scrolling, and Ctrl+scrolling,
respectively, either before you start drawing or at any time during the operation. Likewise
you can use keys [ | ] to decrease/increase brush size, { | } to decrease/increase hardness,
and < | > to decrease/increase opacity.

If you have a graphics tablet with pen pressure sensitivity, darktable can apply the
recorded pen pressure to certain attributes of the brush stroke. See Section  8.1, “GUI
options” for more details.

On lifting the tablet pen or releasing the left mouse button the drawn figure is converted
into a number of connected nodes which define the shape. A configuration option (see
Section  8.1, “GUI options”) controls how much smoothing is applied. A higher level of
smoothing leads to less nodes – this eases subsequent editing at the expense of a lower
initial accuracy.

Nodes and segments of a brush stroke can be modified individually. See the
documentation on path below for more details.

Rendering a complex brush shape can consume a significant number of CPU cycles;
consider to revert to the circle, ellipse or path shape if possible.

A brush stroke with controls and activated mask

display.

circle

Clicking the symbol adds a circle shape.

Click into the canvas to place the circle. Left-click and drag the circle to a different position
if needed. Use the scroll wheel of your mouse while in the circle to change the diameter;
scroll within the circle border to adjust the width of the gradual decay or shift+scroll
62
 anywhere in the shape for the same effect. With Ctrl+scroll you can adjust the opacity of
the circle – this is best observed with the mask displayed by pressing the button.

A circle shape with controls and activated mask

display.

ellipse

Clicking the symbol adds an ellipse shape.

The general principle is the same as for the circle shape. In addition you get four nodes on
the ellipse line. Click on the nodes to adjust the ellipse's eccentricity. Ctrl+click on them to
rotate the ellipse or, alternatively, use Shift+Ctrl+scroll. Shift+click in the shape to toggle
the gradual decay between equidistant and proportional mode.

An ellipse shape with controls and activated mask

display.

path

Clicking the symbol adds a shape defined by a user defined closed path.

Left-click into the canvas to define path nodes; terminate the path by right-clicking after
having set the last point. Per default nodes are connected by smooth lines. If you want a
node to define a sharp corner, you can do so by creating it with Ctrl+click.

In the edit mode you can convert existing nodes from smooth to sharp corners and vice
versa by Ctrl+clicking on them. You can insert additional nodes by Ctrl+clicking on one of
the line segments. Single nodes can be deleted by right-clicking on them; make sure that
the mouse pointer is over the desired node and the node is highlighted, or else you might
accidentally remove the whole path.

The size of the complete shape can be modified by scrolling – analogous to the circle shape.
The same holds true for the width of the border, i.e. the area with a gradual opacity decay,
which can be changed by Shift+scroll from anywhere within the shape. Single nodes as well
as path segments can be moved by mouse dragging. If a node is selected by clicking on it,
a further control point appears – you can move it around to modify the curvature of the
line and reset to default by right-clicking. Dragging one of the control points on the border
adjusts the border width just in that part of the shape.

Consider to finetune a path in the restricted edit mode (see above), which allows you to
adjust single nodes and segments without the risk of accidentally shifting or resizing the
whole shape.
63
 A path shape with controls and activated mask
display.

gradient

Clicking the symbol adds a gradient to the mask. This does not generate a confined
shape but produces a linear gradient extending the whole image.

Click into the canvas to define the position of the line where opacity is at 50%. The line
has two anchor nodes which you can drag to change the rotation of the gradient.

Scrolling close to the center line changes the steepness of the gradient. Dotted lines
indicate the distance beyond which the opacity is 100% and 0%, respectively. Between
these dotted lines the opacity changes linearly. The gradient is best seen and modified
when the mask is displayed by pressing the button.

Depending on the module and the underlying image using a gradient shape might
provoke banding artifacts. You should consider to activate the dithering module (see
Section 3.4.4.14, “Dithering”)

A gradient with controls and activated mask display.

drawn mask

The number of shapes that are used in the current mask is displayed in the “drawn mask”
field. Clicking on that field opens a dropdown box with all shapes that have already been
defined in the context of the current image but are not yet used in the current mask. You
can click on any of these items in order to add it to the current mask. The list also contains
shapes once generated but no longer in use. This way you can even get back a deleted
shape.

A polarity button ( and , respectively) allows the user to toggle between the normal
and the inverted state of the drawn mask, i.e. the opacity values get inverted  – 100%
becomes 0% and vice versa. You need this feature when combining drawn and parametric
masks (see Section 3.2.5.8, “Combining drawn and parametric masks”).

invert mask

When “drawn mask” is selected there is an additional combobox to invert the mask by
switching mask inversion “on” or “off”.

mask manager

More functionality to control the interaction of multiple shapes within a mask can be
found in the mask manager panel (see Section 3.3.7, “Mask manager”). Here you can give
individual names to your shapes which will help you to keep track of your shapes. You
64
 can also select individual shapes for editing – a helpful feature if your masks happens to
contain several shapes with overlapping control elements.

3.2.5.6. Parametric mask

The parametric mask feature, formerly called “conditional blending”, offers fine-grained
selective control over how individual pixels are blended. It does so by automatically
generating an intermediate blend mask from user defined parameters. These parameters
are color coordinates not the geometrical coordinates used in drawn masks.

The parametric mask is a powerful tool with a certain level of complexity.

Overview

For each data channel of a module (Lab, RGB) and additionally for several virtual
data channels (e.g. hue, saturation) users can construct a per-channel opacity function.
Depending on the pixel's value for this data channel this function determines a blending
factor between 0 and 1 (or 100%) for that pixel.

Each pixel of an image thus has different blending factors for each of its data channels
(real and virtual). All blending factors are finally pixel-wise multiplied together with the
value of the global opacity slider (see Section  3.2.5.4, “Blending operators”) to form a
blend mask for the image.

If for a given pixel the blend mask has a value of 0, the input of the module is left
unchanged. If for a pixel the blend mask has its maximum value of 1 (or 100%), the module
has full effect.

Usage

When parametric mask is activated in combobox

“blend” an additional set of tabbed controls is shown.

Channel tabs

Each tab selects a data channel – real or virtual. Modules acting in Lab color space have
data channels for L, a, b, C (chroma of LCh) and h (hue of LCh). Modules acting in RGB
color space have data channels for g (gray), R, G, B, H (hue of HSL), S (saturation of HSL),
and L (lightness of HSL). Consult for example Wikipedia's article on color spaces [http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_space] for a deeper look.

Each tab provides two sliders for its data channels: one for the input data that the module
receives and one for the output data that the module produces prior to blending.

You can inspect the image data corresponding to an individual color channel by holding
down the Shift key while entering the respective slider with the mouse cursor. The
center image changes to display the selected color channel either in graycale values or
in false colors, depending on the corresponding preference setting in “GUI options” (see
Section 8.1, “GUI options”). You may additionally hold down the ctrl key which lets you see
65
 the resulting mask overlaid to the image. When leaving the slider the image goes back to
normal after a short delay.

Color channel sliders

With the color channel slider you construct a trapezoidal opacity function. For this purpose
there are four markers per slider. Two triangles above the slider mark the range of values
where opacity is 1. Two triangles below the slider mark the range values where opacity is
zero. Intermediate points between full and zero opacities are given a proportional opacity.

The filled triangles, or inside markers, indicate the closed (mostly narrower) edge of the
trapezoidal function. The open triangles, or outside markers, indicate the open (mostly
wider) edge of the trapezoidal function. The sequence of the markers always remains
unchanged: they can touch but they can not switch position.

A polarity button ( and , respectively) to the right of the slider switches between range
select and range de-select function modes with visual confirmation provided by exchanging
the upper and the lower triangle markers. These two types of trapezoidal functions are
represented graphically in the following images.

Range select function Range de-select function

A trapezoidal function that selects a A trapezoidal function that de-selects a

narrow range of values for blending. narrow range of values from blending.

In their default state all markers are at their extreme positions, maximum left and
maximum right, respectively. In this state a range select function selects the whole range
of values giving an “all at 100%” mask. Starting from there one can move the sliders
inwards to gradually take out more an more parts of the image except of the remaining
narrow range.

A range de-select function per default deselects the whole range of values, giving an “all-
zero” mask as a starting point. Moving the sliders inwards gradually extends the mask
more and more except of the remaining narrow range.

For more information on the polarity feature read Section 3.2.5.8, “Combining drawn and
parametric masks”.

Control buttons

Control buttons help you when designing a parametric mask.

With the color picker button you can select a probe from your image. The corresponding
values for the real and virtual data channels are then displayed within each color channel
slider. You can switch between point and area sampling mode from within the global color
picker panel (see Section 3.3.6, “Global color picker”).
66
 With the invert button you can toggle the polarities of all channels (including a
potentially activated drawn mask) and change the method how channels are combined
into the final mask. More on that topic can be found in Section 3.2.5.8, “Combining drawn
and parametric masks”.

With the reset button you can put all settings back to their default state.

combine masks

When either a “parametric masks”, or the combination of “drawn and parametric mask”
is active an additional combobox is shown that controls how the individual masks are
combined to form the final mask. This option also allows to invert the final mask. Details
on the combination of individual masks can be found in Section 3.2.5.8, “Combining drawn
and parametric masks”.

Example
Colorkey effect

To create a colorkey effect with this poppy

blossom in red and the remainder of the image in
monochrome, we could apply module monochrome
to all parts of the image except for of the saturated
red petals.

We choose the hue channel to control our mask as

hue provides good separation between the petals
and background.
These settings in hue channel construct a parametric
blend mask that excludes the red petals. The small
white bar in the gradient was obtained by using
the color picker on one of the petals and the
markers then closely centered on the indicated hue
to increase the selectivity of our mask.

The resulting blend mask.

The final image after module monochrome is applied.

67
3.2.5.7. Raster mask
When a “drawn mask” or a “parametric mask” is active the final mask can be reused in
other modules. This works because all the shapes from the drawn mask and all the blend
functions from the parametric mask of a module assemble a final mask, which internally
is stored as a raster image and made accessible to other modules.

Overview
Each individual mask selects a set of pixels and how drastically the effect of the module
is applied to this selection. Several drawn masks and parametric blend functions can be
defined and they all together render the final mask, the final settings of how drastically
the effect of the module will be.

The selection of these masks can be saved as an alpha map, that is an image as big as
the input image in which for each pixel an intensity value is being stored between zero
and the maximum alpha value. If the value for a pixel is zero the input of the module is
left unchanged, if the value has the maximum intensity the module has full effect and
for each alpha value in-between the minimum and the maximum the effect is applied
proportionally at that location.

Internally for each module the alpha map is saved and made accessible to other modules in
the raster mask button. So a mask from any module can be reused from any other module
easily.

Usage
Drop-down menu

If there is a mask in another module it will appear in the drop-down menu of the raster
mask. You can easily identify the mask by the name of the module it was defined in.

3.2.5.8. Combining drawn and parametric masks

This section describes how darktable combines individual masks to form the final mask of a
module. Individual masks are the drawn mask and all the single channels of the parametric
mask. The topic is rather advanced – if you don't want to go through all the theoretical
details just jump down where we describe two typical use cases.

Overview
There are two main elements which control how individual masks are combined: the
polarity setting of each individual mask, defined by the plus or minus buttons, and the
setting in the “combine masks” combobox (see the section called “combine masks”).

Masks can be regarded as grayscale images which take up values between 0 and 1.0 (or
from 0% to 100%) for each pixel.

A straightforward way to combine masks is by multiplying the individual pixel values. The
final mask will have a pixel value of 0 whenever one of the individual masks is 0 at that
pixel location. The final mask can only reach a maximum pixel value of 1.0 if each and every
of the individual masks has a value of 1.0 at that location. We call this way of combination
“exclusive”. Any individual mask can exclude a pixel by setting its value to zero, regardless
of what the other individual masks do. Once a pixel is excluded (its value is 0) by any mask
there is no way to include it again by any other individual mask.

An alternative way to combine masks is the following: we first invert each individual mask
 – calculating 1.0 minus its value – then we multiply these inverted masks and as a last step
68
 invert the final mask again. Now if one of the non-inverted individual masks has a value of
1.0 at a pixel location the final will also be 1.0. The final mask can only reach a pixel value of
0 if all the individual masks have a value of 0. We call this way of combination “inclusive”.
Any individual mask can include a pixel by setting its value to 1.0, regardless of what the
other individual masks do. Once a pixel is included (its value is 1.0) by any mask there is no
way to exclude it again by any other individual mask.

These two combination methods alone would still be rather limiting. We gain maximum
flexibility by allowing an additional inversion step for each individual mask. This is
governed by the polarity buttons and that you find close to the individual channels.
Toggling the polarity button of a mask inverts its values, i.e. it recalculates the pixel values
to 1.0 minus the original value.

Finally within the “combine masks” combobox you may once again invert the final result
to fit your needs by selecting the exclusive & inverted or inclusive & inverted options.

Usage

You will typically want to combine drawn and

parametric masks to first select a certain region of
your image – either by the drawn or the parametric
mask – and use the other mask type to finetune your
selection. Finetuning can either mean that you want
to include further parts of the image, which are not
included in the first place, or you want to exclude
parts of the image that were previously included.

This gives two typical use cases:

Inclusive mode

For this mode you set the “combine masks” combobox to inclusive and make sure that all
polarity buttons of all the individual channels and of the drawn mask are set to negative
( ). Your starting point is a mask where all pixels have a value of zero, i.e. no pixel is
selected. You now adjust the parametric mask sliders to bring more and more pixels into
the selection or you draw shapes on the canvas to select specific areas of your image.

Exclusive mode

In the opposite case you set the “combine masks” combobox to exclusive and make sure
that all polarity buttons are set to positive ( ). Your starting point is a mask with all
values at 1.0, i.e. all pixels selected. You now gradually change the parametric mask sliders
to exclude parts of your image as needed or you directly draw shapes on the canvas to
specifically exclude these areas.

For your convenience you find in the parametric masks GUI a toggle button that inverts
all channel polarities and toggles between inclusive and exclusive mode in the “combine
masks” combobox.

For novice users it is recommended to stick to these two use cases. This implies that you
should decide beforehand how you want to construct your mask. Advanced users will find
69
 their way to take advantage of the many possible combinations of polarities and mask
combination modes.

3.2.5.9. Mask refinement and additional controls

Overview

When a “parametric masks”, a “drawn mask” or a combination of both is active several

additional sliders are shown that allow for a meticulous refinement of the mask.

Usage

When blending with a mask there are some

additional options to deal with the final mask: you
may feather the mask, blur the mask, adjust the
mask's brightness and contrast, temporarily disable
the mask, or display it as an overlay image. The latter
option is particularly useful for examining the effect
of the following controls.

feathering guide

Mask feathering smoothens a drawn or parametric mask non-uniformly such that the
mask's edges are adjusted automatically to match the edges of the image. This mask
smoothing is guided either by the module's input image or by its output (before blending),
depending on what is selected in the “feathering guide” combobox. The feathering
is particularly sensitive to this choice for edge-modifying modules, i.e., modules for
sharpening or blurring an image.

feathering radius

The “feathering radius” slider adjusts the strength of the feathering effect. Feathering
works best if the drawn and/or parametric mask's edges already match approximately
some edges in the guiding image. The larger the “feathering radius” the better the
feathering algorithm can align mask edges to more distant edges of the image. If this
radius is too large, however, the feathered mask may overshoot. This means it cover
regions that the user actually wants to exclude. Feathering is turned off if the feathering
radius is set to 0.

mask blur

Blurring the mask creates a softer transition between blended and unblended parts of
an image and avoids artifacts. The mask blur slider controls the radius of a gaussian blur
applied to the final blend mask. The higher the radius, the stronger the blur – or set to
0 for an unblurred mask. Gaussian blur is always applied after feathering if both kinds of
mask adjustment are activated. This order allows to smooth sharp edges or artefacts that
may result by feathering.

mask opacity

The strength of the module's effect is determined by the mask's local opacity. Feathering
and blurring the mask may result in a mask with reduced opacity, which implies a
reduced effect. Therefore, the “mask opacity” slider allows to readjust the mask opacity.
If the opacity is decreased (negative slider values) least opaque parts are affected
stronger than most opaque parts. Contrary, if the mask opacity is increased (positive
slider values) most opaque parts are affected stronger than least opaque parts. As
70
 a consequence, completely opaque portions of the mask always remain opaque and
completely transparent portions remain transparent. This is to ensure that regions which
have been excluded from or included to a module's effect by setting the mask's opacity to
0% or 100% remain excluded or included even if the mask opacity is adjusted by this slider.

mask contrast

This slider increases or decreases the mask contrast. This means it allows to modify the
transition between opaque and transparent mask parts.

temporarily switch off mask

Sometimes it is useful to visualize the module's effect without the mask taking action. You
can do so by clicking on the symbol, which will temporarily deactivate the mask – the
selected blend mode and opacity remain in effect. Switch this button on and off to see if
the mask is acting on the image as intended.

display mask

Clicking on the symbol will display the current mask as a yellow overlay over a black-
and-white version of your image. Solid yellow indicates an opacity of 100%; a fully visible
gray background image without yellow overlay indicates an opacity of 0%.

Examples
Feathering a drawn mask

It can be rather tedious to create a drawn mask by hand, which matches precisely a
particular object or person in an image. In this example, we want to enhance the color
contrast of the lion sculpture shown in the left image above without affecting the
background. For this purpose, a rough selection of the sculpture is created by a drawn
mask. See the second image above, where the “displays mask” feature is active. Note that
the mask is rather fuzzy and it does not match precisely the lion sculpture. Adjusting the
feathering radius, the mask opacity and the mask contrast leads to a well matching mask
with little effort. In the third image above the feathering radius has been adjusted to 50,
a blur radius of 5 was chosen to smooth the mask to some degree. The mask opacity and
the mask contrast have been increased to 0.3 and 0.5, respectively, to further enhance
the mask. The last image above shows the final result, where the color enhancement via
the color contrast module (see Section 3.4.3.4, “Color contrast”) is restricted to the lion
sculpture due to the mask.

Mask feathering works in this example particularly well because the sculpture in the
original image is well separated from the blurry background. The distinct edge at the
border of the sculpture guides the feathering mask adjustment to match the shape of the
71
 sculpture. Note that feathering can be applied to drawn masks as well as to parametric
masks.

3.2.6. Color management
darktable employs a fully color managed workflow:

• Input color specifications are taken from embedded or user supplied ICC profiles or – in
the case of raw files – from a library of camera specific color matrices.

• darktable automatically reads the display profile of your monitor (if properly
configured) for an accurate color rendition on screen. Multi-screen setups are fully
supported as long as a system service like colord is in place and properly set up to inform
darktable about the correct monitor profile.

• Output files can be encoded in one of darktable's built-in profiles, like sRGB [http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SRGB] or AdobeRGB (compatible) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Adobergb], or into any other output color space that the user supplies to darktable as
an ICC profile.

3.2.6.1. Display profile

In order for darktable to accurately render colors on screen it needs to find the correct
display profile of your monitor. In general this requires your monitor to be properly
calibrated and profiled, and it needs the profile to be correctly installed on your system.
darktable queries your X display server's xatom as well as the system service colord (if
available) for the right profile. If needed you can enforce a specific method in the GUI
preferences dialog (see Section 8.1, “GUI options”).

To investigate your display profile configuration you can call the darktable-cmstest
binary (Linux only) which prints out useful information like profile name per monitor and
tells you if the system is correctly configured (see Section 1.1.6, “darktable-cmstest
binary”).

In rare cases you may need to manually select the display profile. This is possible from
the softproof and gamut check option dialogs in the darkroom view (see Section 3.3.11.5,
“Soft proof” and Section 3.3.11.6, “Gamut check”), and the display profile dialog in the
lighttable view (see Section 2.1, “Overview”).

3.2.6.2. Rendering method

A configuration parameter “always use LittleCMS 2 to apply output color profile” in

darktable's core options (see Section 8.2, “Core options”) defines how colors are rendered.

darktable can render colors either with its internal algorithms or by using the external
library LittleCMS2 [http://www.littlecms.com/]. darktable's internal method is by an order
of magnitude faster than the external one. The external option gives you a choice of the
rendering intent and might offer a slightly higher accuracy in some cases.

Note that if the given ICC is LUT-based or contains both, a LUT and a matrix, darktable will
use LittleCMS 2 to render the colors regardless of that configuration parameter's value.

3.2.6.3. Rendering intent

If rendering with LittleCMS2 is activated (see Section 3.2.6.2, “Rendering method”) you

can define how out-of-gamut colors are handled when converting between color spaces. A
selection box in the export panel (see Section 2.3.13, “Export selected”), the output color
72
 profile module (see Section 3.4.3.10, “Output color profile”), and the soft proof option
(see Section 3.3.11.5, “Soft proof”) gives you a choice of the following rendering intents:

perceptual Suited to pictures as it maintains the relative position

of colors. This is usually the best choice.
relative colorimetric Out-of-gamut colors are converted to colors having
the same lightness, but different saturation. Other
colors remain unmodified.
saturation Saturation is kept but lightness is slightly changed.
absolute colorimetric Keep the white point.

3.2.6.4. darktable's color spaces

darktable's input images are either RGB files (like JPEGs or TIFFs) or camera raws – both
represent colors by a combination of red, green and blue. Most part of our modules act in
the CIELAB color space [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lab_color_space] (often just called
“Lab”) which describes color as a combination of lightness data (L) and a point in the a-b
color plane. The final output of the image processing pipeline is once again in RGB, either
shaped for the monitor display or the output file.

This process implies that the pixelpipe has two color conversion steps: input color profile
and output color profile. In addition there is the demosaic step for raw images, where the
colors of each pixel are reconstructed by interpolation.

Each module has a fixed position in the pixelpipe which tells you which color space the
module lives in:

up to demosaic Image is in raw data format with only latent colors.

Each pixel carries lightness and color information for
only one base color. Please mind that some of the
modules in this part can also act on non-raw input
images in RGB format with full information on all
three color channels.
between demosaic and input Image is in RGB format within the color space of the
color profile specific camera or input file.
between input color profile Image is in Lab format. This is a very huge universal
and output color profile color space which covers all colors visible to the
human eye (and even more). As darktable processes
images in 4x32-bit floating point buffers, we can
handle the Lab color space without risking banding
or tonal breaks.
after output color profile Image is in RGB format as defined by the selected
display or output ICC profile.

3.2.6.5. Unbounded colors

Theoretically the individual components of color data are confined to certain minimum
and maximum levels. As an example the intensity of an individual red, green or blue color
channel in RGB can be anything in the range between 0% and 100% (or between 0.0 and
1.0). Likewise the L channel in Lab can be anything between 0 (pure black) and 100 (pure
white).

In practice sometimes the image processing steps in darktable's modules can lead to
values which lie outside of these confined ranges. In fact even the well established color
73
 matrices, which convert from camera RGB to Lab, may sometimes produce pixels with
negative L values.

Pixels with these kind of values are said to have “unbounded colors”. One could clamp
(i.e. confine) those values to the allowed range at every processing step. However, it has
been found that it is much preferred and less prone to artifacts to not clamp in-between
unbounded colors, but treat them just like any other color data.

In darktable there is no technical requirement for clamping; due to the fact that we are
using floating point arithmetics for all processing steps, unbounded values can be passed
along like any other value until the final color conversion module makes sure that they
are transferred into the most reasonable color within the selected output color space.
Therefore darktable avoids clamping as far as the underlying algorithms allow.

3.2.6.6. Possible color artifacts

That said there are some infrequent situations which still can lead to problematic results
unless the user takes some action. Some modules in Lab color space, like levels and
monochrome, need to rely on the fact that the L channels carries all lightness information
and the a and b channels purely represent chroma and hue. Unbounded colors with
negative L values are especially problematic to these modules and can lead to black pixel
artifacts.

It has been found that highly saturated blue light sources in the image frame are hot
candidates for pixels with negative L values. If you are engaged in stage photography you
should pay close attention to image areas like that.

In order to mitigate that issue the input color profile module (see Section 3.4.3.7, “Input
color profile”) has a gamut clipping option. It is off by default but can be activated in
case you observe artifacts. Depending on the settings, colors get confined to one of the
offered RGB gamuts. In effect black pixel artifacts are prevented at the costs of losing
some color dynamics. See Section 3.4.3.7, “Input color profile” for an example.

74
3.3. Darkroom panels
This section contains documentation for panels that are specific to the darkroom view.

3.3.1. Image infos line

You can display a line with very important image

infos.

The content of this line can be set in preferences (see Section  8.1, “GUI options”).
Available variables are the same as for the export module (see the section called “filename
template”). You can also add new lines by using $(NL) variable.

Position of the infos line can also be set in preferences (see Section 8.1, “GUI options”).

3.3.2. Navigation

On the top left hand side the navigation panel

displays a full preview of your image with a rectangle
showing the currently visible zoom area in the central
panel. Drag the rectangle around to pan the zoomed-
in view. The current zoom scale is displayed to the
right of the preview image. Click on that figure for a
quick access to some common zoom levels.

3.3.3. Snapshots

You can take snapshots of images as you process

them. A snapshot is stored as a bitmap of the current
center view and is kept as long as you stay in the
darkroom. A snapshot can then be selected and
overlaid in the current center view to help you with a
side by side comparison (left: snapshot, right: active)
when you are tuning parameters of a module. This
can also be combined with history (see Section 3.3.4,
“History stack”) to compare the snapshot against
different stages of development.

You can control the split view by moving the splitline back and forth. If you hover with the
mouse over the splitline, a small rotation icon will appear on the center of the line. Click
it to change between vertical and horizontal split view.

3.3.4. History stack

The history stack lists every change of state

(activate/de-activated) for all modules. Here you can
select a point in the stack to return to a point in
the development history. If you then activate a new
module or change a module parameter, all modules
above the selected point will be discarded.

Caution: activating any module action using key accelerators will discard all modules above
the currently selected one. It is easy to lose all development work on an image this way!
75
 In darktable 2.0 it is safe to quit the program, leave the darkroom mode, or switch to
another image while having selected some earlier state in the history stack panel. The
history stack remains unchanged. When returning to the image you will find the history
stack panel in the state where you left it.

Hitting “compress history stack” generates the shortest history stack that produces the
current image, i.e. suppressing all obsolete stack items. This also will discard all modules
above the currently selected one.

The button to the right lets you create a new style for applying your history stack to
other images. Use the first line of the popup dialog window to name your style and the
second to add a searchable description. You are prompted for which of the current history
stack modules to include in the style.

Once created styles are then managed and applied to other images through lighttable's
styles panel (see Section 2.3.9, “Styles”).

3.3.5. Duplicate manager

The duplicate manager lists all versions (see

duplicate Section 2.3.7, “Selected image(s)”) of your
image with their preview thumbnails. Single click on
a thumbnail to temporarily show the related version
inside the center view. Double click to completely
switch to this version. Top-right buttons let you
create new duplicates. Either a 'virgin' version, or
an exact duplicate of the current image. For your
convenience, you can also set a name to each
versions.

3.3.6. Global color picker

Using the global color picker you can take color

samples from your image, display their values in
multiple ways and compare colors from different
locations. The color picker is activated by pressing
the icon. There are multiple parameters for
controlling how the color picker works, whose
settings remain in effect until you leave the
darkroom mode.

Besides the global color picker described here there are also local color pickers in some of
the modules (eg. tone curve). Global and local color pickers are different. The global color
picker works in monitor color space and takes samples after the complete pixelpipe has
been processed. The local color pickers run in the color space of the individual module,
which is usually Lab; they reflect the input and output data of that specific module within
pixelpipe.

The global color picker can be run in point or area mode. When in point mode only a small
spot under your cursor is taken as a sample. In area mode you can draw a rectangle and
darktable samples the area within that rectangle. The combobox to switch between point
and area mode can also be used to toggle the mode of local color pickers.
76
 If samples are taken in area mode, darktable will calculate mean, min and max color
channel values. A combobox allows you to select which of those are displayed. For obvious
statistical reasons mean, min and max are identical for the single sample of point mode.

A color swatch representing the sampled point or area is displayed. Numerical values are
shown as well. As said before global color picker works in monitor RGB color space. You
can also let darktable translate these numerical values into Lab color space. Beware that
Lab values are approximated here; depending on monitor color profile there can be some
deviations from the real values.

When the checkbox “restrict histogram to selection” is ticked, only the values of your
selected area or point are taken into account by the main histogram at the top of the right
hand panel (see Section 3.3.8, “Histogram”). This is a way to show which tonal values are
present in a specific area.

The sampled colors in either area or point mode can be “stored” as live samples by pressing
the “add” button. darktable will then show a color swatch and numerical values for each
stored sample. You can once again select which numerical value (mean, min, max) is to be
displayed and if this is to be done in RGB or Lab color space.

Newly created live samples are not locked. If you change your image the changes will be
reflected in your live samples. Use this if you want see how changing parameters effects
different parts of an image. Clicking on a live sample's color swatch locks it and a lock
symbol is displayed. Further image changes will then no longer affect the sample. You can
for example take two live samples from the same location and lock just one of them to
provide a before and after sample comparison.

Live sample locations are indicated in your image if you check option “display sample areas
on image”.

3.3.7. Mask manager

3.3.7.1. Overview

The masks manager panel is the central place where you manage all masks and shapes
within the context of the current image. Here you create, delete and change shapes or
give them unique names. You can add shapes to and remove shapes from a mask, and you
define how multiple shapes interact within a mask.

3.3.7.2. Usage

In the top line of the masks manager panel you find

buttons to create new shapes. They are the same as
in the drawn mask GUI (see Section 3.2.5.5, “Drawn
mask” for more details).

77
 The lines below list all masks used and all individual shapes defined. The masks are noted
with a headline in the form “grp levels” indicating the module in which they are used. The
list of masks is followed by a list of all individual shapes which have been generated in the
context of the given image. If a shape is in use by any of the masks it is marked by the
symbol to the right of the shape name.

3.3.7.3. Shapes

By default shapes receive an automatically generated name, consisting of the shape

type (“brush”, “circle”, “ellipse”, “path”, “gradient”) and a number that is incremented
automatically. You can replace these automatically generated names by more meaningful
ones. Double-clicking on the existing shape name prompts you for a new one. Giving a
meaningful name is a good habit, especially if you are going to use the same selection in
different masks. A name like “house front” makes it easier to get the right shape, rather
than something like “path #32”.

Clicking on the shape name shows the selected shape in the center canvas with all its
controls. This is a convenient way to edit the properties of a specific shape. Especially if
there are so many shapes within a mask that their controls overlap and make it difficult
to hit the right target.

Right-clicking on a shape name gives you a drop-down menu with the options to remove
the current shape or to remove all shapes currently not in use.

All shapes ever defined for the current image are kept in the list unless you remove them
explicitly. If you have worked a lot with shapes on one image, this list can get quite long. All
settings – with all defined shapes – are part of the XMP tags of an image and are included in
exported files. If the list of shapes is very long the needed space to store all shapes might
exceed the given limits of certain file formats, like JPEG. In that case storing the XMP
tags might fail during export. This is normally not a problem – however, you can no longer
rely on the exported file to contain your full history stack (see Section  2.3.13, “Export
selected”).

3.3.7.4. Masks

Clicking on the name of a mask expands a list showing the individual shapes which
constitute that mask.

Right-clicking on the shape name opens a drop-down

menu. Here you define the way that the individual
shapes interact to form the mask. You can also
remove shapes from that mask.

Masks are constructed by adding the shapes in the order that they are listed from top to
bottom. Each shape adds to the mask by using at your choice one out of four logical set
operators.

As order matters when combining shapes you may move each shape up or down if needed.
78
 Each shape before being added can be inverted and is then depicted by the symbol.

3.3.7.5. Set operators

We use as an example a combination of a gradient

followed by a path to demonstrate the effect of the
set operator which we apply to the path shape. As a
convention we say that a pixel is “selected” in a mask
or shape if it has a value higher than zero.

union

This is the default set operator. It is depicted by

the symbol left to the shape name. The shape
adds to the existing mask in such a way that the
resulting mask contains the pixels that are either
selected in the existing mask or in the added shape.
In overlapping areas the maximum value is taken.

intersection

This set operator is depicted by the symbol left

to the shape name. The shape adds to the existing
mask in such a way that the resulting mask contains
only pixels that are selected in both, the existing
mask and the added shape. In overlapping areas the
minimum value is used. In the given example we use
this operator to “imprint” the path with a gradient.

difference

This set operator is depicted by the symbol.

In the non-overlapping area the existing mask is
unchanged. In the resulting mask pixels get selected
only if they are selected in the existing mask but not
in the added shape. This set operator can be chosen if
you want to “cut out” a region from within an existing
selection.

79
exclusion
This set operator is depicted by the symbol. The
resulting mask has all pixels selected that are either
selected in the existing mask and not in the added
shape or vice versa. This is equivalent to an “exclusive
or”.

3.3.8. Histogram
This shows a histogram of the developed image's
light levels. In its default state curves for all three
RGB color channels are displayed. You can toggle the
colored squares to enable or disable specific color
channels. A curve button is also provided to toggle
between linear view, logarithmic view and waveform
view.

The histogram is directly linked to the exposure

module described in Section 3.4.1.5, “Exposure”, and
you can operate some of the exposure module's
controls from the histogram. You can left-click
towards the right hand side of the histogram and
then drag right to increase or drag left to decrease
the exposure. In a similar manner you can control
the black level by clicking and dragging in the left
hand side. Double-clicking in the histogram resets
the exposure module's parameters to their defaults.

3.3.9. Module groups
The module groups button bar gives you quick access
to darktable's processing modules.

Here follows a description of the module groups available:

Active Modules you have activated and are using on the

current image.

80
 Favorites Modules you have marked as favorites using more
modules (see Section 3.3.10, “More modules”).
Basic Modules that are frequently used, such as exposure,
temperature etc. (see Section 3.4.1, “Basic group”).
Tone Modules for working with the image's tonal values,
e.g. levels, tonemap etc. (see Section  3.4.2, “Tone
group”).
Color Modules for processing colors, such as color
correction, vibrance etc. (see Section  3.4.3, “Color
group”).
Correction Modules making corrections to the image, e.g.
denoise, CA correction etc. (see Section  3.4.4,
“Correction group”).
Effect Modules with a more artistic output, such as
vignetting, softening etc. (see Section 3.4.5, “Effect
group”).

Clicking on one of the group symbols will show the modules in that group. If you once
again click on the symbol, grouping will be de-activated and all non-hidden modules will
be shown in one long list. This list shows the sequence in which modules are applied
from bottom to top. As a general principle darktable applies modules in a pre-defined
sequence.

3.3.10. More modules

More modules at the bottom of the right panel is

used to show the less frequently used modules. By
default only standard modules are shown to the
user but you can use this function to make the
extra modules visible, or alternatively to hide away
modules you don't typically use.

Each module is shown with a small icon next to its name. Left-click with your mouse to
toggle the status between visible, hidden and favorite. Favorite modules are indicated
by a star in front of the icon and in addition to appearing in their normal module group
will also be visible in the module group favorites. This is a good way to get fast access to
modules that you use very frequently. Visible modules are indicated in the list by a light
grey background whilst hidden modules have a dark grey background and do not display
any of their controls.

Hiding or un-hiding modules is not meant to be part of your daily workflow, you should
only occasionally need to review the modules you typically use. However, you may store
various settings at your choice as presets for later reuse.

3.3.11. Bottom panel
The bottom panel provides quick access to apply presets and styles to your image and
allows to activate over/underexposure warning as well as softproofing and gamut check.
You can also activate a filmstrip for quick navigation within the current collection.
81
3.3.11.1. Quick access to favorite presets

Clicking the icon opens a combobox that gives you quick access to your favorite
module's presets. Click on the preset name to apply it to the image.

3.3.11.2. Quick access to styles

Clicking the icon opens a combobox with your styles. Hovering with the mouse over a
style name opens a tooltip showing the involved modules. Click on a style name to apply
that style to the image.

3.3.11.3. Raw overexposed warning

Clicking the icon warns you about areas of your raw input image with clipped color
channels. Clipped color channels imply an overexposed image with loss of information
in the affected areas. You may use the highlight reconstruction module or the color
reconstruction module in order to reconstruct those areas (see Section 3.4.1.9, “Highlight
reconstruction” and Section 3.4.1.7, “Color reconstruction”).

Right-clicking on the icon opens a dialog with

configuration parameters.

mode

The default “mark with CFA color” mode displays a pattern of the respective primary colors
(red, green, and blue) to indicate which color channels are found to be clipped. In the
“mark with solid color” mode clipped areas are marked with a user defined solid color (see
below) independent of the affected color channels. In the “false color” mode clipped color
channels are set to zero in the affected areas.

color scheme

Selects the solid color for the “mark with solid color” mode.

clipping threshold

This slider sets the threshold of what values are considered to be overexposed. You can
leave it at its default value 1.0 (white level) in most cases.

3.3.11.4. Over/underexposed warning

By clicking the icon an over/underexposed warning is toggled on or off. Pixels outside

the dynamic range, close to pure white or close to pure black, are prominently displayed
in a signal color. You can also activate the over/underexposure warning with the keyboard
shortcut “O”.

Right-clicking on the icon opens a dialog with

configuration parameters.

color scheme

In the default color scheme underexposed pixels are shown in blue and overexposed pixels
in red. These colors are easy to identify in most cases. In some cases you may want to
change the color scheme to “black & white” or “purple & green”, eg. if you experience
overexposed highlights in red blossoms.
82
 lower threshold

Sets the threshold for underexposure warning, expressed as a percentage of the maximal
brightness.

upper threshold

Sets the threshold for overexposure warning, expressed as a percentage of the maximal
brightness.

3.3.11.5. Soft proof

Clicking the icon activates the soft proof display mode of your image. Soft proof allows
you to preview your image rendered using a printer profile so as to see how colors will
end up on the final print. You can also activate soft proof with the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl
+S”. An information message “soft proof” on the bottom left of your image tells you that
you are in soft proof display mode.

Right-clicking on the icon opens a dialog with

configuration parameters.

display intent

Sets the rendering intent for your display – only available if rendering with LittleCMS2 is
activated. See Section 3.2.6.3, “Rendering intent” for available options.

softproof profile

Sets the color profile for soft proofing. darktable searches for available profiles
in $DARKTABLE/share/darktable/color/out and $HOME/.config/darktable/
color/out. $DARKTABLE is used here to represent your chosen darktable installation
directory and $HOME your home directory. Typically these profiles are supplied by your
printer or generated during printer profiling.

display profile

Sets the color profile for the display. The option “system display profile” is the preferred
setting when working with a calibrated display; the profile is taken either from your
system's color manager or from your X display server. In GUI options (see Section 8.1, “GUI
options”) you can specify which method to use. For more information see Section 3.2.6.1,
“Display profile”.

3.3.11.6. Gamut check

Clicking the icon activates the gamut check display mode of your image. Gamut check
highlights in cyan all pixels out of gamut with respect to the selected softproof profile.
You can also activate gamut check with the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+G”. An information
message “gamut check” on the bottom left of your image tells you that you are in gamut
check display mode. Gamut check and soft proof are mutually exclusive modes.

Right-clicking on the icon opens a dialog with configuration parameters  – they are the
same as for the soft proof option (see Section 3.3.11.5, “Soft proof”).

3.3.11.7. Filmstrip

The optional filmstrip can be used to quickly switch between images while remaining in
the darkroom view. The images viewed are the same as the ones in the lighttable view.
83
 The filmstrip can be switched on and off using the shortcut Ctrl+F. You can change the
height of the filmstrip panel by dragging its top.

You can scroll with your mouse to quickly navigate through the images. You can change the
photo being processed by double clicking on another picture. You can also use Spacebar
to process the next photo and use Backspace key to process the previous photo.

The picture currently processed is selected and highlighted; with a single click you
can select any other picture from the filmstrip without changing the picture currently
processed. With the Ctrl+A shortcut you select all the pictures of the filmstrip. With the
shortcut Ctrl+Shift+A you unselect all images, and with Ctrl+I you reverse the current
selection.

The following shortcuts are available to act on the selected picture(s):

F1 – F5 toggle color label (red, yellow, green, blue, purple)

0 – 5 set/change image rating
R reject image
Ctrl+D duplicate image
Ctrl+C copy the full history stack
Ctrl+V paste all of the copied history stack
Alt+Ctrl+C selectively copy the history stack
Alt+Ctrl+V selectively paste from the copied history stack

84
3.4. Modules
Modules are organized into five functional groups: basic, tone, color, correction and
effect. You either view all modules in one long list or instead click on a group to just display
modules belonging to that group.

3.4.1. Basic group
The basic group of modules contains the modules for basic development. These are ones
you probably will use most often, such as exposure, white balance etc.

3.4.1.1. Crop and rotate

Overview
This module is used to crop, rotate and correct
perspective distortions of your image. You can
overlay your image with various helpful guidelines
that assist you using the tools.

Some of the tools of this module, namely adjustment of angle and corrections of
perspective distortion, will require the original image data to be interpolated. For best
sharpness results set “lanczos3” as pixel interpolator in core options (see Section 8.2, “Core
options”).

Usage
Whenever the user interface of this module is in focus, you will see the full uncropped
image overlaid with handles and guiding lines.

First off, select what aspect ratio you want and size the crop boundaries by dragging
border and corner handles. Use the button right of the aspect box, to swap between
portrait and landscape mode. You can move around the crop rectangle by holding down
left mouse button and move around. When you are done and want to execute the crop,
just give focus to another module or double-click into the image base. You can at any time
change your crop area by just revisiting this module.
flip

This tool is used to flip the image on the horizontal,vertical or both axis.
angle

This tool corrects the rotation angle helping you level an image. You can either set a
numerical value or use your mouse directly on the image. To use your mouse, right-click,
hold it down and draw a line along a suited horizontal or vertical feature; as soon as
you release the mouse button the image is rotated so the line you drew matches the
horizontal/vertical axis.
keystone

This tool is used to correct perspective distortions in your image. Useful for example when
you shoot a high building from ground with a short focal length, aiming upwards with your
camera. The combobox lets you select the type of correction you want to use :

vertical if you want

to limit the
85
 correction to
vertical lines
horizontal limit the
correction to
horizontal lines
free if you want to
correct horizontal
and vertical lines

Depending on the selected correction type you will

see two or four straight adjustment lines overlaid
to your image. Two red circles on every line let
you modify the line positions with your mouse.
Each line additionally carries a “symmetry” button.
If activated (and highlighted in red) all movements
of the affected line will be mirrored by the opposite
line.

In order to correct perspective distortions, you need

to find suitable horizontal and/or vertical features
in your image and align the adjustment lines with
them. When done, press the “OK” button, which is
located close to the center of your image. The image
will be corrected immediately. You can at any time
come back and refine your corrections by selecting
“correction applied” in combobox keystone.

automatic cropping

Use this options to avoid black edges on the image borders. Useful when you rotate the
image.
aspect

Here you can change what aspect ratio you want to have on the result, thus constraining
the proportion of width and height of the crop rectangle to the aspect ratio of your choice.
Many common numerical ratios are pre-defined. A few special aspect ratios deserve
explanation:

free free forming

the rectangle
without any ratio
restrictions
image this option
constrains the
ratio to be equal
to image ratio
golden cut this option
constrains the
ratio to be
equal the golden
number
square this option
constrains the
ratio to be 1
86
 You can also select any other ratio after opening the combobox and typing it in the form
of “x:y”. If you want a certain aspect ratio to be added to the pre-defined ones you can do
so by including a line of the form

plugins/darkroom/clipping/extra_aspect_ratios/foo=x:y

into darktable's configuration file $HOME/.config/darktable/darktablerc. Here

“foo” defines the name of the new aspect ratio and “x” and “y” the corresponding
numerical values.
guides

Many self-explaining guides are available to help you compose your image.
guides flip

In case the chosen guidelines are not symmetrical relative to the image frame, you can flip
them on the horizontal,vertical or both axis.

Examples

A cropped image in center view when module crop

and rotate is in focus. The cropped area is visible as
well as some guiding lines.

3.4.1.2. Orientation

Overview
This module allows the user to modify the
orientation of an image. By default it is active for all
images and receives its standard settings from the
camera's orientation flag stored in the Exif data.

Usage
rotate

Clicking on one of the buttons causes a counter-clockwise or clockwise rotation in steps

of 90 degrees.

3.4.1.3. Shadows and Highlights

Overview
The shadows and highlights module allows
adjustment to the tonal range of darker parts of
an image (shadows) and lighter parts (highlights); it
can bring back details in shadows and highlights by
enhancing local contrast.

87
Usage

shadows

This slider controls the effect on shadows; positive values will lighten up shadows while
negative values will darken them.

highlights

This slider controls the effect on highlights; negative values will darken highlights while
positive values will lighten them up.

white point adjustment

By default the algorithm of this modules leaves black point and white point untouched.
In some cases an image might contain tonal variations beyond the white point, i.e. above
a luminance value of 100. A negative shift in the white point adjustment slider allows to
bring these values down into the proper range so that further details in the highlights get
visible.

soften with

This combobox chooses the underlying blurring filter, gaussian or bilateral. Try bilateral
filter if you experience halos with gaussian blur.

radius

This slider controls the radius of the involved blurring filter. Higher values give softer
transitions between shadows and highlights but might introduce halos. Lower values will
reduce the size of halos but may lead to an artificial look. As said, bilateral filter is much
less prone to halo artifacts.

compress

This slider controls how strong the effect extends to midtones; high values reduce the
effect to the extreme shadows and highlights; low values cause strong adjustments also
to midtones. You normally only need to touch this parameter if you want to limit the
effects to the extreme shadows and highlights; increase the value in this case. At 100%
this module has no visible effect any longer as only absolute black and absolute white are
affected.

shadows color adjustment

This slider controls the color saturation adjustment made to shadows; high values
cause saturation enhancements on lightened shadows; low values cause desaturation on
lightened shadows. It is normally safe to leave this at its default of 100%. This gives a
natural saturation boost on shadows – similar to the one you would also expect in nature
if shadows would receive more light.

highlights color adjustment

This slider controls the color saturation adjustment made to highlights; high values
cause saturation enhancements on darkened highlights; low values cause desaturation
on darkened highlights. Often highlights do not contain enough color information to give
convincing colors when darkened. You might need to play a bit with this parameter in
order to find the best fitting value depending on your specific image; but be aware that
sometimes results still might not be fully satisfying.
88
Examples

Original image exposed for the outer sunlit wall

to avoid clipped highlights. As a consequence the
interior of the barn has pitch black shadows.

Shadows get lightened; highlights are untouched;

overall effect toned down a bit by blend mode
“normal” and an opacity of 65%.

Resulting image.

3.4.1.4. Base curve

89
Overview

Camera sensors provide data in linear RGB format,

the original image appears flat and dull. That's
the reason why camera manufacturers apply their
characteristic base curves to the raw data when they
generate in-camera JPEG images with better colors
and contrast.

Usage

darktable comes with base curve presets that mimic the curves of various manufacturers.
These are automatically applied to raw images according to the manufacturer ID found
in Exif data. For several camera models darktable comes with base curves adapted for
that specific model. A configuration option in the core preferences dialog (see Section 8.2,
“Core options”) defines whether darktable by default should apply the per-camera base
curve or the manufacturer one.

You can adjust an existing base curve or create a new one. The base curve is defined by two
or more nodes. You can move any node to modify the curve. You can also create additional
nodes by clicking on a curve segment between two nodes. With Ctrl+click you generate a
new node at the x-location of the mouse pointer and the corresponding y-location of the
current curve – this adds a node without risking to accidentally modify the curve. In order
to remove a node move it outside of the widget area.

Tip: If you intend to take full manual control of the tonal values with the tone curve module
or the zone system module (see Section 3.4.2.3, “Tone curve” and Section 3.4.2.4, “Zone
system”) it may be easier to leave the image in linear RGB. Disable the base curve module
in this case.

scale

This combobox toggles between “linear” and “logarithmic” view. In the double logarithmic
view more space is given to the lower values allowing a more fine-grained adjustment of
the shadows.

fusion

This control triggers the exposure fusion [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_Fusion]

feature. You can choose to merge the image with one or two copies of itself after applying
the current base curve and boosting its exposure by a selectable number of ev units.
The resulting image is thus a combination of two or three different exposures of the
original image. Use this to compress dynamic range for extremely underexposed images
or for true HDR input. For best results, use the exposure module (see Section  3.4.1.5,
“Exposure”) to apply a suitable adjustment for correctly exposed highlights.

90
 exposure shift

This slider is only visible if the exposure fusion feature is activated. It allows you to set the
exposure difference between the merged images in ev units (default 1).
exposure bias

This slider is only visible if the exposure fusion feature is activated. It allows you to chose
how the multiple exposures are computed. With a bias of 1 (the default), the image is
fused with overexposed copies of itself. With a bias of -1, it is fused with underexposed
copies. A bias of 0 tries to preserve the overall lightness of the image by combining both
over and under-exposed copies of the image.

3.4.1.5. Exposure
Overview
This module is used to tweak the exposure. It
is directly linked to the histogram panel. If you
correct exposure graphically, using the histogram
(see Section  3.3.8, “Histogram”), you automatically
activate the exposure module. The histogram simply
acts as a view for the exposure module.

You can activate multiple instances of this module each with different parameters acting
on different parts of the image which you select by a drawn mask (see Section  3.2.4,
“Multiple instances” and Section 3.2.5.5, “Drawn mask”). The histogram is always linked to
the last instance in pixelpipe.

Usage
This module is responsible for one of the most basic steps in each raw image development.
An exposure adjustment value allows you – within certain limits – to correct for under- or
overexposure. A shift by 1EV is equivalent to a change of exposure time by a factor of 2.

Positive exposure corrections will make the image brighter. As a side effect noise level
gets higher. Depending on the basic noise level of your camera and the ISO value of
your image, positive exposure compensations with up to 1EV or 2EV still give reasonable
results.

Negative exposure corrections will make the image darker. Given the nature of digital
images this can not correct for fully blown out highlights but allows to reconstruct data in
case that only some of the RGB channels are clipped (see also Section 3.4.1.9, “Highlight
reconstruction”).

A black level adjustment is a basic tool to increase contrast and pop of an image. The
value defines at what threshold dark gray values are cut off to pure black. Use with care
as the clipped values can not be recovered in other modules further down the pixelpipe.
Please also have a look at the tone curve module (see Section 3.4.2.3, “Tone curve”) and
the levels module (see Section 3.4.2.2, “Levels”) which can produce similar results with less
side effects as they come later in pixelpipe.

The exposure module has two modes of operation.

In “manual” mode you directly define the value for exposure correction that you want to
apply to your image.

In “automatic” mode darktable analyses the histogram of your image. You select a
reference point within the histogram as a percentile and define a target level – darktable
91
 automatically calculates the exposure compensation that is needed to shift the selected
position to that target value. The computed exposure compensation value is displayed in
the module's GUI for your information.

The “automatic” mode has a black level adjustment that works as in manual mode.

Automatic adjustment is only available for raw images. A typical use case is deflickering
of time-lapse photographs [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-lapse_photography]. You
apply an automatic exposure correction with the same set of parameters to all images of
the series – differences in lighting get compensated so that the final video sequence does
not show any flickering.

mode

Defines the mode of operation. Defaults to “manual”.

black

Adjust the black level in both “manual” and “automatic” mode.

exposure

Adjust the exposure correction [EV] (only available in “manual” mode).

clipping threshold

darktable can calculate correct black level and exposure values for your image based on
the content of a rectangular area. The adjustment slider lets you define what percentage
of bright values are to be clipped out in the calculation. Pressing the icon starts the
calculation and lets you draw a rectangular area of your choice using your mouse. This
feature is only available in “manual” mode.

percentile

Defines a location in the histogram for automatic exposure correction. A percentile of

50% denotes a position in the histogram where 50% of pixel values are below and 50%
of pixel values are above. For more details see percentile [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Percentile]. Only available in “automatic” mode.

target level

Defines the target level for automatic exposure correction in terms of [EV] relative to
the white point of the camera. The white point is camera specific and defines the highest
lightness value that the camera sensor can detect. Only available in “automatic” mode.

3.4.1.6. Contrast Brightness Saturation

Overview

This module offers a very basic tool for adjusting an

image's contrast, brightness and saturation.

Usage
The module has sliders for each of the three affected attributes. In their neutral position
(zero) the image remains unchanged. Shifting sliders left to negative values reduces
92
 contrast, brightness and saturation, respectively. Shifting right to positive values leads to
an increase.

Much more versatility for contrast and brightness adjustment is offered by the tone
curve, levels, and zone system modules (see Section 3.4.2.3, “Tone curve”, Section 3.4.2.2,
“Levels”, and Section  3.4.2.4, “Zone system”). Likewise you may adjust color saturation
in a more detailed way with the tone curve, color contrast, and color zones modules (see
Section 3.4.2.3, “Tone curve”, Section 3.4.3.4, “Color contrast”, and Section 3.4.3.6, “Color
zones”).

contrast

This slider adjusts the image's contrast.

brightness

This slider adjusts the image's brightness.

saturation

This slider adjusts the color saturation.

3.4.1.7. Color reconstruction

Overview

The color reconstruction module is able to bring back

color into blown out highlights.

Usage

Due to the nature of digital sensors, overexposed highlights are lacking valid color
information. Most frequently they appear neutral white or exhibit some color cast  –
depending on which other image processing steps are involved. This module can “heal”
overexposed highlights by replacing their colors with better fitting ones. The module acts
on highlight pixels whose luminance values exceed a user defined threshold. Replacement
colors are taken from the neighborhood. Both, the spatial distance and the luminance
distance (range) are taken into account for color selection.

As a limitation of the underlying algorithm reconstructed colors may sometimes be

displayed incorrectly if you zoom into the image in the darkroom view. If this happens
you might observe a magenta shift in highlight areas close to high contrast edges, or
you might see colorless highlight areas if you combine this module with the “reconstruct
color” method of the “highlight reconstruction” module (see Section 3.4.1.9, “Highlight
reconstruction”). These artifacts only influence image display – the final output remains
unaffected. It is recommended that you finetune the parameters of this module while
viewing the full, not zoomed-in image.

threshold

The color reconstruction module replaces the color of all target pixels characterized by
luminance values above this threshold. Inversely, only pixels with luminance values below
this threshold are taken as valid source pixels for replacement colors. Too high settings
93
 of this parameter will cause the module to have no effect on any pixels. Too low values
will minimize the “pool” of replacement colors – if no suited ones are available the original
colors are maintained. Therefore, this parameter exhibits a “sweet spot” characteristic
with an optimum setting depending on the individual image.

spatial extent

Defines the spatial distance (x,y-coordinates) that source pixels may have from a target
pixel in order for them to contribute to color replacement. Higher values cause ever more
distant pixels to contribute; this increases the chance to find a replacement color but
makes that color more undefined and less clear.

range extent

Defines the range distance (difference in luminance values) that source pixels may have
from target pixels in order for them to contribute to color replacement. Higher values
cause more pixels to contribute even if their luminance differs more strongly from the
target pixels; this again increases the chance to find a replacement color but at the same
time increases the risk of unfitting colors creeping in.

preference

This combobox defines if certain replacement colors shall take precedence over others. In
its default setting “off ” all pixels contribute equally. Setting it to “saturated colors” makes
pixels contribute according to their chromaticity – the higher saturated a color the more
it contributes. By selecting “hue” you get a choice of giving precedence to a specific hue.

hue

This slider is visible if you set the preference combobox to “hue”. It allows you to select a
preferred hue of replacement colors. This only has an effect if the preferred hue is actually
present within the selected spatial and range distance of the target pixels (see above). A
typical use case is repairing highlights on human skin in situations where diverging colors
are in close proximity (e.g. textiles or hair with a luminance close to skin). Setting a hue
preference on skin tones avoids these other colors from creeping in.

Examples

Original image with overexposed highlights on head,

arm and shoulder of the statue.

Color reconstruction with default settings of all

module parameters.

3.4.1.8. Demosaic
94
Overview

This module allows you to control how the demosaic

is processed.

Usage

Demosaic is an essential step of any raw image development process.

A detailed description would be beyond the scope of this manual. In a nutshell, the sensor
cells of a digital camera are only able to record different levels of lightness, not different
color. In order to get a color image, each cell is covered by a color filter, either in red,
green or blue. Due to the color sensitivity of the human vision, there are two times
more green cells than red or blue. Filters are arranged in a certain mosaic, called Bayer
pattern. Therefore each pixel of your image originally only has information about one
color channel. Demosaic reconstructs the missing color channels by interpolation with
data of the neighboring pixels. For further reading see the Wikipedia article on the Bayer
filter [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayer_filter].

As interpolation is prone to produce artifacts, various different demosaic algorithms have

been developed in the past. Artifacts would typically be visible as moiré-like patterns
when you strongly zoom into your image. Currently darktable supports PPG, AMAZE, and
VNG4. All these algorithms produce high quality output with a low tendency to artifacts.
AMAZE is reported to sometimes give slightly better results. However, as AMAZE is
significantly slower, darktable uses PPG as a default. VNG4 produces the softest results
of the three algorithms, but if you see "maze" artifacts, try VNG4 to eliminate them.

There are a few cameras whose sensors do not use a Bayer filter. Cameras with an "X-
Trans" sensor have their own set of demosaicing algorithms. The default algorithm for X-
Trans sensors is Markesteijn 1-pass, which produces fairly good results. For a bit better
quality (at the cost of much slower processing), choose Markesteijn 3-pass. Though VNG
demosaic is faster than Markesteijn 1-pass on certain computers, it is more prone to
demosaicing artifacts.

Additionally, darktable supports a special demosaicing algorithm  – passthrough

(monochrome). It is not a general-purpose algorithm that is useful for all the images. It
is only useful for cameras with the color filter array physically removed from the sensor,
e.g. physically scratched off. Normally, demosaic reconstructs the missing color channels
by interpolation with data of the neighboring pixels. But since the color filter array is not
present, there is nothing to interpolate, so this algorithm simply sets all the color channels
to the same value, which results in pixels being gray, thus producing a monochrome image.
This method guarantees that there are no interpolation artifacts that would otherwise be
present should one of the standard demosaicing algorithm be used.

Some further parameters of this module can activate additional averaging and smoothing
steps. They might help to reduce remaining artifacts in special cases.

Demosaic is always applied when exporting images. Demosaic is done on monitor

display only when zoom is greater than 50% or when the according preference setting
“demosaicing for zoomed out darkroom mode” (see Section  8.2, “Core options”) is set
accordingly. Else color channels are taken from neighboring pixels without an expensive
interpolation.
95
 method

Set the demosaic method. darktable currently supports PPG, AMAZE, and VNG4 for Bayer
sensors. For X-Trans sensors darktable supports VNG, Markesteijn 1-pass, and Markesteijn
3-pass.

edge threshold

Set the threshold for an additional median pass. Defaults to “0” which disables median
filtering. This option is not shown for X-Trans sensors.

color smoothing

Activates a number of additional color smoothing passes. Defaults to “off”.

match greens

In some cameras the green filters have slightly varying properties. This parameter adds an
additional equalization step to suppress artifacts. Available options are “disabled”, “local
average”, “full average” and “full and local average”. This option is not shown for X-Trans
sensors.

3.4.1.9. Highlight reconstruction

Overview

This module tries to reconstruct color information

that is usually clipped because of incomplete
information in some of the channels. If you do
nothing, your clipped areas are often toned to the
not clipped channel. For example, if your green
and blue channels are clipped, then your image will
appear red in the clipped areas.

Usage
You can choose between three methods for highlight reconstruction.

“Clip highlights” just clamps all the pixels to the white level. Effectively this converts all
clipped highlights to neutral grey tones. This method is most useful in cases where clipped
highlights occur in non-colored areas like clouds in the sky.

“Reconstruct in LCh” analyses each pixel having at least one channel clipped and
transforms the information in LCh color space in an attempt to correct the clipped pixel
using the values of the other (3 for Bayer or 8 for X-Trans) pixels in the affected sensor
block. This method usually does a better job than “Clip highlights” as some details in the
clipped areas are preserved. However it is incapable to reconstruct any color information
 – the reconstructed highlights will all be monochrome, but brighter and with more detail
than with “Clip highlights”. This method works fairly well with a high-contrast base curve
(such as most manufacturers apply to their JPEG), which renders highlights desaturated.
This method is a good option on naturally desaturated objects such as clouds.

“Reconstruct color” uses an algorithm that transfers color information from the unclipped
surroundings into the clipped highlights. This method works very well on areas with
homogeneous colors and is especially useful on skin tones with smoothly fading
highlights. It fails in certain cases where it produces maze-like artifacts at highlights
behind high-contrast edges, such as fine, well-exposed structures in front of overexposed
background (for instance ship masts or flags in front of the blown-out sky).
96
 Tip: for highlight reconstruction to be effective you need to apply a negative EV correction
in the exposure module (see Section 3.4.1.5, “Exposure”). If you want to avoid a general
darkening of your image you can use darktable's mask feature in that module to limit the
EV correction to only the highlights (see Section 3.2.5.5, “Drawn mask” and Section 3.2.5.6,
“Parametric mask”).

method

Choose the method for highlight reconstruction.

clipping threshold

Manually adjust the clipping threshold against magenta highlights. The default is usually
satisfactory without any need for additional adjustments.

3.4.1.10. White balance

Overview

This module is used to set the white balance. You

have three ways to interact with it: (a) Set up tint and
temperature, (b) define the value of each channel, or
(c) choose from predefined white balances.

Usage
tint

Alter the color tint of the image, from magenta (value < 1) to green (value > 1). The channel
sliders will be updated when you adjust this parameter.

temperature

Set the color temperature (in Kelvin). The channel sliders will be updated when you adjust
this parameter. darktable derives the color temperature from the Exif data using some
model assumptions. The value given is not meant to be authoritative. In the end only the
updated channel values determine how the image is modified.

red, green and blue channels

Set the channel values on a scale from 0 to 8.

preset

Select a preset white balance.

camera white balance (default) White balance reported by the camera.

camera neutral Essentially sets temperature to 6502K. The actual
math: it computes such white balance channel
multipliers, so that pure white color in camera
colorspace is converted into pure white color in sRGB
D65. (pure white color here means having the same
equal value for each channel = 1.0)
spot white balance Select a square area in your image containing mostly
grey pixels. The white balance is calculated based on
the selected area.
97
 camera presets Camera specific white balance presets. Examples:
direct sunlight, flash, cloudy, shade and a number of
indoor lighting options.

finetune

Some cameras offer additional finetuning parameters if one of the camera presets is
selected. Depending on camera white balance, can be adjusted in steps within a certain
range. The adjustments are usually towards yellow (value < 1) or blue (value > 1).

3.4.1.11. Invert

Overview

The main purpose of this module is to invert scanned

negatives.

Usage
color of film material

The only control element of this module is a color selector which allows to adjust for
different colors of your film material. Clicking on the colored field will open a color
selector dialog which offers you a choice of commonly used colors, or allows to define a
color in RGB color space. You can also activate a color picker by pressing and take a color
probe from your image – preferably from the unexposed border of your negative.

3.4.1.12. Raw black/white point

Overview

This module is activated automatically for raw

images and makes sure that the camera specific black
and white points are taken into account. Default
settings are applied for all supported cameras.
Changes to the defaults are normally not required.

Usage
black level 0 to 3

The camera specific black level of the four pixels in the RGGB Bayer pattern. Pixels with
values lower than that level are considered to contain no valid data.

white point

The camera specific white level. All pixels with values above are likely to be clipped and
handled accordingly in the highlight reconstruction module (see Section 3.4.1.9, “Highlight
reconstruction”). Pixels with values equal to the white level are considered to be white.

3.4.2. Tone group
This group contains modules that operate on the tonal values of an image, modulating
brightness while leaving color values intact.

3.4.2.1. Fill light
98
Overview
This module allows local modification of the
exposure based on pixel lightness.

Usage
Pushes exposure by increasing lightness with a Gaussian curve of a specified width,
centered on a given lightness.

exposure

Sets fill-light exposure in [EV].

center

Sets the median lightness impacted by the fill-light. A color picker is activated by pressing
. It shows the picked lightness value in the gradient bar, which helps find the desired
center value. You can switch between point and area sampling mode from within the
global color picker panel (see Section 3.3.6, “Global color picker”).

width

Sets the width of the Gaussian curve. This number is expressed in zones, with the whole
dynamic range being 10 zones. As the Gaussian curve is symmetric, only even numbers
can be entered.

3.4.2.2. Levels

Overview
A tool for adjusting black, white, and mid-gray points.
This module is especially useful if the histogram of
an image does not span the whole horizontal range,
from pure black to pure white.

Usage
The levels tool offers two modes of operation: “manual” and “automatic”.

In “manual” mode the levels tool shows a histogram of the image, and displays three bars
with handles. Dragging the handles modifies the tones in the image. Those bars control
the black, middle gray and white points in absolute values of image lightness (the L value
from Lab).

You can move the black and white bars to match the left and right borders of the
histogram, which will make the output image span the full available tonal range. A
previously flat looking image will get more contrast and pop.
99
 Moving the middle bar will modify the middle gray tones. Shifting it left will make the
image look brighter, shifting it right will make it darker. This is often referred to as a
change of image gamma.

There are three color pickers in black, gray, and white, available by pressing the
respectively colored icon. You can use them to sample the corresponding level directly
from the image. You can switch between point and area sampling mode from within the
global color picker panel (see Section 3.3.6, “Global color picker”).

The “auto” button autoadjusts the black and white point and puts the gray point exactly
in the mean between them.

In “automatic” mode the module automatically analyses the histogram of the image,
detects the left and right histogram borders, and lets you define the black point, the gray
point and the white point in terms of percentiles [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percentile]
relative to these borders.

Tip: Under certain conditions, especially highly saturated blue light sources in the frame,
the levels module may produce black pixel artifacts. See the gamut clipping option
(Section 3.4.3.7, “Input color profile”) on how to mitigate this issue.

mode

Set the mode of operation of this module. Defaults to “manual”.

black

Sets the black point in percentiles relative to the left border of the histogram (only
“automatic” mode).

gray

Sets the gray point in percentiles relative to the left and right borders of the histogram
after having applied the black point and white point corrections (only “automatic” mode).

white

Sets the white point in percentiles relative to the right border of the histogram (only
“automatic” mode).

3.4.2.3. Tone curve

Overview
This module is a classic digital photography tool.
darktable's tone curve can work in three different
color spaces: RGB, XYZ or Lab.

100
Usage
In its default state, curves will be straight lines, defined by few anchor nodes. You can
move the nodes to modify the curve. You can generate new nodes by clicking on the
curve. With Ctrl+click you generate a new node at the x-location of the mouse pointer and
the corresponding y-location of the current curve – this adds a node without risking to
accidentally modify the curve. Up to 20 nodes per curve can be defined. To remove a node,
move it out of the widget area.

A color picker is activated by pressing and will show the picked values in the graph. You
can switch between point and area sampling mode from within the global color picker
panel (see Section 3.3.6, “Global color picker”). Numerical Lab values of input and output
(see below) at the selected spot or area are shown on top left of the widget.

color spaces

Depending on the desired intent, you can apply the tone curve in three different color
spaces:

• Lab, linked channels,

• Lab, separated channels,

• XYZ, linked channels,

• RGB, linked channels.

Lab is a perceptual color space that is designed to approximate the way human beings
perceive colors and lightness, and representing the color information independently of
the the lightness information. In “Lab, separated channels”, you get a fully independent
control over the chrominance (a/b-channels) and the luminance (L-channel). In “Lab,
linked channels”, only the luminance (L-channel) control is available. The color saturation
correction will be automatically computed, for each pixel, from the contrast correction
applied to the luminance channel. This works better in cases where a subtle contrast
correction is applied, but gives increasingly inaccurate saturation correction as the
contrast gets more dramatically enhanced.

XYZ is a linear technical color space designed to link the physiologic light response of
human eyes to RGB spaces. As Lab, it separates the lightness from the color information,
but it does so in a way that does not account for the role of the brain correction in
human perception. The “XYZ, linked channels,” mode offers an alternative for “Lab, linked
channels”. It works by applying the L-channel curve to all three channels in the XYZ
color space. Look at blend mode “coloradjustment” if you want to tune the strength of
automatic chroma scaling (see Section 3.2.5.4, “Blending operators”). This mode is known
to produce a slight hue shift towards yellow.

RGB spaces are linear color spaces designed to capture and display images in additive
synthesis. They are related to capture and display media and do not isolate color and
lightness information. The “RGB, linked channels,” works in ProPhoto RGB and applies the
L-channel curve to all three channels in the RGB color space. Adding contrast in RGB space
is known to desaturate highlights and boost saturation in lowlights, but this has proven
to be the most reliable way to edit contrast, and is the standard way to do it in most
software. This mode makes the tone curve module behave the same way as the basecurve
(see Section 3.4.1.4, “Base curve”), except the latter one works in camera RGB space.

Notice that the interface is controlled in Lab in all cases. This means that the middle gray
coordinate is always 50% in the graph, no matter what color space is used. The same
applies to the inset histogram displayed in the background of the curve. The controls are
101
 converted to the relevant color space before the corrections are applied – in RGB and XYZ,
the middle-gray is therefore remapped from 50% to 18%.
L-channel curve

The tone curve in L-channel works on Lightness. For a better overview a lightness
histogram is displayed in the diagram. When working in “Lab, linked channels”, “RGB,
linked channels” or “XYZ, linked channels”, the L-channel curve is the only one available.

The horizontal line represents the input image pixels' lightness. The vertical line
represents the lightness of the output image pixels. A straight line does not change
anything. A point above the default diagonal increases the lightness, whereas a point
under decreases it. Shifting the center of the curve upwards will lighten the image, shifting
it downwards will darken the image. An S-like curve will enhance the contrast of the image.
a/b-channel curves

The curves in the a and b channels work on color values and are available only in “Lab,
separated channels” color space. The horizontal line represents the color channel value of
the input image pixels. The vertical line represents the color channel value of the output
image pixels. Positive a-values correspond to more magenta colors; negative a-values
correspond to more greenish colors. Positive b-values correspond to more yellowish
colors; negative b-values correspond to more blueish colors.

A straight line does not change anything. Shifting the center of the curve will give the
image a color tint: shifting a-channel upwards gives a magenta tint; shifting b-channel
upwards gives a yellow tint; shifting a-channel downwards gives a green tint; shifting b-
channel downwards gives a blue tint.

Increasing/decreasing the steepness of the curves, without shifting its center, will
increase/decrease the color saturation of the respective channel. With properly defined
curves you can exert fine control on color saturation, depending on the input pixel's colors.
interpolation method

The interpolation is the process by which a continuous curve is derived from a few
punctual nodes. As this process is never perfect, several methods are offered that can
alleviate the potential issues you may encounter with some nodes setups.

Arguably, the most visually pleasing method is the “cubic spline”. Since it gives smooth
curves, the contrast in the image is better enhanced. However, this method is very
sensitive to the nodes position, and can produce cusps and oscillations when the nodes
are too close to each other, or when there are too many of them. This method works best
when there are only 4 to 5 nodes, evenly spaced.

The “centripetal spline” is a method designed specifically to avoid cusps and oscillations,
but as a drawback it will follow the nodes more loosely. It is very robust, no matter the
number of nodes and their spacing, but will produce a more faded and dull contrast.

The “monotonic spline” is a method designed specifically to give a monotonic

interpolation, meaning that there will be none of the oscillations the cubic spline may
produce. This method is very suitable when you try to build an analytical function from a
node interpolation (for example: exponential, logarithm, power, etc.). Such functions are
provided as presets. It is a good trade-off between the two aforementioned methods.
scale

The scale allows you to distort the graph display so that certain graphical properties
emerge to help you draw meaningful curves. Notice that the scaling option only affects
the curve display, not the actual parameters.
102
 By default, the “linear” scale is used. This scale uses evenly spaced abscissa and ordinates
axes.

The “log-log (x, y)” scale will compress the high values and dilate the low values, on both
the abcissa and the axis of ordinates, so that the nodes in lowlights get more space on the
graph and can be controlled more clearly.

The “semi-log (x)” is similar to the log-log scale, but the axis of ordinates is left linear and
only the abcissa is logarithmically scaled. This is useful when you want to draw a purely
exponential function: in semi-log (x) scale, exponential become identity lines.

The “semi-log (y)” is similar to the log-log scale, but the abscissa axis is left linear and
only the axis of ordinates is logarithmically scaled. This is useful when you want to draw a
purely logarithmic function: in semi-log (y) scale, logarithms become identity lines.

When using non-linear scales, a “base of the logarithm” slider appears that lets you control
the amount of compression/dilatation operated by the logarithmic scales. If you draw
purely exponential or logarithmic functions from identity lines, setting this values defines
the base of such functions.

Examples

Original image

Tone curve settings. Please note how the center

node of our b-curve was shifted down to negative
values. This gives the image its blue tint.

Resulting image

3.4.2.4. Zone system

103
Overview

This module is another way to change the lightness

of your image, based on Ansel Adams' system. It
allows modification of a zone's lightness taking into
account the effect on the adjacent zones. It divides
the lightness range into a user-defined number of
zones.

Usage

Following the concept of Ansel Adams the lightness (based on the L channel from Lab) is
divided into a number of zones ranging from pure black to pure white. These zones are
displayed in a zonebar. The number of zones can be changed by mouse-scrolling on that
bar (defaults to 10 zones).

The zonebar is split horizontally with the upper part showing the zones of the module's
output and the lower part the according zones of the module's input. In its default state
both parts are fully aligned. While the output zones are static you can left click and drag
a control point in the input zones to modify the zonemapping. Shifting a control point
proportionally expands the zones on one side and compresses the zones on the other side.
Any already existing control point stays in place, effectively preventing changes to the
zones beyond. Use right click to remove a control point.

The preview shows the image broken down in zones. When hovering above a zone on the
zonebar, that zone – either from input or output – is highlighted on the preview.

Examples

The original image.

Here, the darker and lighter zones were compressed

to increase contrast, then the upper parts of darker
zones were expanded to increase their visual impact.

3.4.2.5. Local contrast

104
Overview

This module allows enhancing local contrast. It

supports two modes of operation: the default one
uses a local laplacian filter, the other one uses the
unnormalized bilateral filter. Both work exclusively
on the L channel from Lab.

Usage

Local contrast boosts details of your image, much like the equalizer does (see
Section  3.4.4.2, “Equalizer”). However, it is easier to use as it does not require you to
work on different frequency bands. The local laplacian filter has been designed to be very
robust against unwanted halo effects and gradient reversals along edges.

mode

Choice of "local laplacian filter" or "unnormalised bilateral grid". The options for the
bilateral grid are: coarseness, contrast, and detail. The local laplacian filter supports:
detail, highlights, shadows, and midtone range. The local laplacian mode supports shadow
lifting and highlight compression, similar to the shadows and highlights module.

Bilateral grid

coarseness

Make the details you want to adjust finer or coarser.

contrast

How strongly the algorithm distinguishes between brightness levels. Increasing the value
results in a more contrasty look.

detail

Add or remove detail. Higher values will increase local contrast.

Local laplacian

To understand the parameters of the local laplacian filter, you can think of it as applying
a curve to the image, similar to this picture:

105
 It will then be applied to the image in a way that works locally and avoids halo artifacts.

detail

Add or remove detail. Higher values will increase local contrast. This will insert an S
shaped element in the center of the curve, to increase or decrease local contrast. For
monochrome images it is often possible to push this parameter to extreme settings
without ridiculous results or artifacts.

highlights

This affects one end of the curve, effectively increasing or compressing contrast in the
highlights. A low value will pull the highlights down.

shadows

Similar to the highlights parameter, this affects the other far end of the curve, and will
increase or decrease contrast in the shadows. A higher value gives more contrast in the
shadows. A lower value will lift the shadows and can effectively simulate a fill light.
Note that this is done via local manipulation of the image, however: this means that a
completely dark image cannot be brightened this way, only dark things in front of bright
things will be affected.

midtone range

This controls the extent of the S shaped part of the contrast curve. A larger value will make
the S wider, and thus classify more values to be midtone range and fewer values to belong
to the highlights and shadows part. In more high dynamic range settings it can be useful to
reduce this value to achieve stronger range compression by lowering the contrast in the
highlights and the shadows. Note however that for really strong HDR scenarios this may
work best in combination with a base curve which pre-compresses the range, maybe with
an approximately logarithmic base curve. Also the exposure fusion feature in the base
curve module may lead to more pleasing results at times, but is more prone to producing
halo effects.
106
 This setting can cause banding artifacts in the image if pushed to extreme values. This is
due to the way darktable computes the fast approximation of the local laplacian filter.

Example

Before

After, a little overdone to demonstrate the effect.

Use this sparingly, to avoid a cheap, overprocessed
look.

3.4.2.6. Tonemapping

Overview

This module compresses the tonal range of HDR

images, so they fit into the limits of a normal,
low dynamic range image, using Durand's 2002
algorithm. darktable can import HDR images if they
come in OpenEXR, RGBE or PFM format or as a DNG
generated by darktable's HDR creation mechanism
(see Section 2.3.7, “Selected image(s)”).

Usage

The underlying algorithm uses a bilateral filter to decompose an image into a coarse base
layer and a detail layer. The contrast of the base layer is compressed, while the detail layer
is preserved, then both layers are re-combined.

contrast compression

Sets the contrast compression level of the base layer. A higher compression will make the
image fit a lower dynamic range.

spatial extent

Sets the spatial extent of the bilateral filter. Lower values cause the contrast compression
to have stronger effects on image details.

3.4.2.7. Global tonemap

Overview

This module implements another approach to

compressing the tonal range of an HDR image into
the limited tonal range of a typical LDR output file.
It offers several implementations of global tonemap
operators.

107
Usage
Global tonemapping processes each pixel of an HDR image, without taking the local
surrounding into account. This is generally faster than local tonemapping, as implemented
in the tonemapping module but might lead to less convincing results with very high
dynamic scenes. As an enhancement to the original operators, darktable can preserve
detail of the input image, and transfer it back to the output image.

operator

Reinhard, Filmic and Drago global tonemap operators are available for use. Depending
on the selected operator, different parameters can be adjusted. Some operators are fully
self-adjusting, and do not require specific controls.

bias

Only offered for the Drago operator. This parameter influences the contrast of the output
image. It is an essential parameter for adjusting the compression of high values and
the visibility of details in dark areas. According to the original paper, a value of 0.85 is
recommended as a starting point.

target

Only offered for the Drago operator. This is a scale factor to adjust the global image
2
brightness to the brightness of the intended display. It is measured in cd/m , and should
match the according value of your output device. Higher values lead to a brighter image,
while lower values lead to a darker image.

detail

Offered as an addition to all operators. This parameter controls how much detail is
preserved and transferred back into the output image after tonemapping.

3.4.2.8. Filmic rgb

Overview

This module compresses the tonal range of an image

by reproducing the tone and color response of
classic film. Doing so, it protects the colors and
the contrast in mid-tones, recovers the shadows,
and compresses bright highlights. It is very suitable
in portrait photography, especially in back-lighting
situations, but needs extra care when details need to
be preserved in highlights (e.g. clouds).

The module is derived from the same named

module in Blender 3D modeller by T. J. Sobotka.
While it is primarily intended to recover high-
dynamic range from raw sensor data, it can be
used with any image in replacement of the base
curve module. The developer provided a detailed
explanation of the module in a video called Filmic
RGB: remap any dynamic range in darktable 3.0
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbPj_TqTF88].

Filmic rgb is the successor of the filmic module

provided in darktable 2.6.x. While the underlying
108
 principles did not change much, users of the previous
version should not expect a 1:1 translation of their
workflow, and may find the section called “Filmic rgb
for Darktable 2.6 filmic users” useful.

Prerequisites

In order to get the best out of filmic rgb, images need some preparation:

• In-camera, expose the shot “to the right”. This implies under exposing the shot so
that the highlights are at the right of the histogram, just on the verge of clipping,
but not clipped. It does not matter if the picture preview is very dark on your camera
screen: as long as highlights are unclipped, filmic rgb should be able to recover details
from the raw data. Beware that clipped data are not recoverable. Some cameras have
a clipping alert preview to help you diagnose this, and some even have an highlight-
priority exposure mode.

• In the exposure module, push the exposure until the midtones are clear enough. Do
not worry about losing the highlights: they will be recovered as part of the filmic
rgb processing. However, it is important to avoid negative pixels in black areas: the
computations done by filmic rgb will result in unpredictable results in this case.
For some cameras models (Canon, mainly), rawspeed (the raw decoding library of
darktable), may set an exaggerated black level, resulting in crushed blacks and negative
values. If so, brighten the blacks by setting a negative black level value in the exposure
module.

• If you plan on using filmic rgb's auto-tuners, use the white balance module first
to correct any color casts and get neutral colors. In RGB color spaces, luminance
and chrominance are linked, and filmic rgb's luminance detection relies on accurate
measures of both. If your picture is very noisy, add an initial step of denoising to help
the black exposure readings, and use a high quality demosaicing.

• If you plan on using filmic rgb's chrominance preservation mode, avoid using any tone
mapping module as well as the base curve module. These may produce unpredictable
color shifts that would make the chrominance preservation useless. Neither of these
modules is usually needed if you use filmic rgb.

Usage

The filmic rgb module aims at mapping the photographed scene (RAW image) dynamic
range to the (smaller) display dynamic range. This mapping is defined in three steps, each
handled in a separate tab in the interface:

• The scene tab contains the “input” settings of the scene: what constitutes middle grey,
white and black in the photographed scene.

• The look tab contains the parameters of the mapping applied to the input parameters
defined in the scene tab. Notably, this part of the module applies an S-shaped
parametric curve to enhance the contrast and remap the grey value to the middle grey
of the display. This is similar to what the base curve or tone curve modules do.

• The display tab defined the output settings to map the transformed image to the
display. In typical use cases, this tab should only be used very rarely.

The sliders' ranges of filmic rgb are limited to usual and safe values, but values are allowed
out of these ranges by clicking on the sliders with the right button and inputting values
109
 on the keyboard. Filmic rgb has no neutral parameters resulting in a no-operation: as soon
as the module is enabled, the image is always at least slightly affected.

The curves at the top of the module are read-only and serve as a guide for the operations
performed on the sliders. The bright curve is the tone mapping curve, where the abscissa
represents the scene exposure, and the ordinate represents the display exposure. The
dark curve is the desaturation curve, representing the percentage of saturation as
function of the scene exposure.

Middle-grey luminance (Scene tab)

The middle-grey luminance is the luminance in RGB space of the scene referred 18% grey.
Its color picker tool reads the average luminance over the drawn area. If you happen to
have a grey card or a color chart (IT8 chart or colorchecker) shot in the scene lighting
conditions, then the grey color picker tool can be used to quickly sample the luminance of
the grey patch on the picture. In other situations, the color picker can be used to sample
the average luminance of the subject.

This setting has an effect on the picture that is analogous to a lightness correction. Values
close to 100% do not compress the highlights but fail to recover shadows. Values close to
0% recover greatly the shadows but compress the highlights more harshly and result in
local-contrast losses. The standard middle-grey value for linearly encoded camera RGB is
18%. Good values of grey are usually the average luminance of the whole picture or of the
subject. In studio and indoors (low dynamic range scenes), proper grey values are found
between 15-18%. In high dynamic range scenes (landscapes, back-lit portraits), proper
grey values lie between 1.25 and 9%.

When modifying the middle-grey luminance, the white and black exposures are
automatically slid accordingly, to preserve the dynamic range from clipping and to help
you set the right parameter faster. If you are not happy with the auto adjustment
performed by the grey slider, you can correct again the white and black exposure
parameters afterwards.

White relative exposure (Scene tab)

The white relative exposure is the number of stops (EV) between pure white and the
middle grey. It is the right bound of the dynamic range. It should be adjusted to avoid
highlight clipping. The white exposure color picker tool reads the maximum luminance in
RGB space over the drawn area, assumes it is pure white, and sets the white exposure
parameter to remap the reading to 100% luminance.

When the grey is set at 18%, the white exposure will always be around 2.45EV. When the
grey is set at 100%, the white exposure should be set at 0EV.

Black relative exposure (Scene tab)

The black relative exposure is the number of stops (EV) between pure black and the
middle grey. It is the left bound of the dynamic range. The black exposure color-picker tool
reads the minimum luminance in RGB space over the drawn area, assumes it is pure black,
and sets the black exposure parameter to remap the minimum reading to 0% luminance.
The black color picker measurement is very sensitive to noise, and cannot identify if the
minimum luminance is pure black (actual data) or just noise. It works better on low ISO
pictures and with high quality demosaicing. When the color picker puts the black exposure
at -16EV, it is a sign that the measure failed and you need to adjust it manually.

The black relative exposure allows you to choose how far you want to recover lowlights.
Contrarily to the white exposure, it is not always possible to completely avoid clipping
110
 blacks. Every camera sensor has a maximum physical dynamic range for each ISO value (you
can find them measured on DXOmark [https://www.dxomark.com/] or DPreview [https://
www.dpreview.com/]), the software dynamic range in filmic rgb (dynamic range = white
exposure - black exposure) should generally not be greater than the physical dynamic
range of the sensor (10-14EV in most cases). Note that the dynamic range of the scene
can be lower than the camera's one, especially indoors.

Dynamic range scaling and auto-tune (Scene tab)

The auto-tune color picker combines all three color pickers above, and allows to set the
grey, white and black exposures all at once, using the average of the drawn region as the
grey estimation, the maximum as the white, and the minimum as the black. This gives good
results in landscape photography but usually fails for portraits and indoor scenes.

When no true white and no true black are available on the scene, the maximum and
minimum RGB values read on the image are not valid assumptions anymore, so the
dynamic range scaling symmetrically shrinks or enlarges the detected dynamic range and
the current parameters. This works with all color pickers, and adjusts the current values
of white and black relative exposures.

Contrast (Look tab)

The filmic rgb S-curve is created from the user parameters, by computing the position of
virtual nodes and interpolating them, similarly to the tone curve module (but here, the
nodes cannot be moved manually). The filmic rgb S-curve is split into three parts: a middle
linear part, and two extremities that transition smoothly from the slope of the middle part
to the ends of the exposure range.

The contrast slider controls the slope of the middle part of the curve, as illustrated in the
graph display.

The contrast parameter drives the slope of the central part of the curve. The larger the
dynamic range is, the greater the contrast should be set. This parameter mostly affects
mid-tones.

When the contrast is set to 1, this disables the S-curve.

Latitude (Look tab)

The latitude is the range between the 2 nodes enclosing the central linear portion of
the curve, expressed as a percentage of the dynamic range defined in the scene tab
(white-relative exposure minus black-relative-exposure). It is the luminance range that is
remapped in priority, and it is remapped to the luminance interval defined by the Contrast
parameter. It is usually advised to keep the latitude as large as possible, while avoiding
clipping. If clipping is observed, you can compensate the effects by either decreasing the
latitude, shifting the latitude interval with the shadow/highlights balance parameter, or
by decreasing the contrast.

The latitude also defines the range of luminances that is not desaturated at the
extremities of the luminance range (see the section called “Extreme luminance saturation
(Look tab)”).

Shadows/highlight balance (Look tab)

By default, the latitude is centered in the middle of the dynamic range. If this produces
clipping in one part of the other of the curve, the balance parameter allows to slide the
111
 latitude along the slopes, towards the shadows or towards the highlights. This allows more
room to be given to one extremity of the dynamic range than to the other, if the image
properties demand it.

Extreme luminance saturation (Look tab)

The darker curve in the graph of the module shows the desaturation of the extremities
of the luminance range (black and white): since black and white do not have a color, they
should normally be associated to 0% saturation. The default saturation is set to 100% in
the range defined by the latitude, and decreases down to 0% outside of that range. One of
the advantages of this operations is that, since color components do not clip at the same
rate in the image, desaturating them avoids fringes around the high exposures.

If the bright colors feel too desaturated, you should check that the white-relative
exposure setting does not clip the high luminance spots, and if not, increase the extreme
luminance saturation parameter.

Preserve chrominance (Look tab)

The preserve chrominance setting indicates how the chrominance should be handled by
filmic rgb: either not at all, or using one of the provided three norms.

When applying the S-curve transformation independently on each color, the proportions
of the colors get modified, which modifies the properties of the underlying spectrum, and
ultimately the chrominance of the image. This is what happens if you choose no in the
preserve chrominance parameter. This value may yield seemingly “better” results than the
other values, but it may negatively impact later parts of the pipeline, when it comes to
global saturation for example.

The other values of this parameter all work in a similar way. Instead of applying the S-
curve to the channels R, G and B independently, filmic rgb uses a norm N, divides all the
three components by that norm, and applies the S-curve to N. This way, the relationship
between the channels is preserved.

The different values of the preserve chrominance parameter indicate which norm is used
(the value used for N):

• max RGB is the maximum value of the three channels R, G and B. It is the behaviour of
the previous version of the filmic module. It tends to darken the blue, especially skies,
and to yield halos/fringes, especially if some channels are clipped.

• luminance Y is a linear combination of the three channels R, G and B. It tends to darkens

the reds, and to increase the local contrast in reds.

• RGB power norm is the sum of the cubes of the three channels R, G, and B, divided by
the sum of their squares - that is to say, (R³ + G³ + B³)/(R² + G² + B²). It is usally a good
compromise between the max RGB and the luminance Y values.

There is no "right" choice for the norm, depending on the picture to which it applies - you
should experiment and decide for yourself on case by case basis.

Target black luminance (Display tab)

The destination parameters set the target luminance values used to remap the tones
through filmic rgb. The default parameters will work 99% of the times, the remaining 1%
being when you output in linear RGB space (REC709, REC2020) for media handling log-
112
 encoded data. These settings are then to be used with caution because darktable does
not allow separate pipelines for display preview and for file output.

The target black luminance parameter allows to set the ground-level black of the target
medium. Set it greater than 0% if you want raised, faded blacks to achieve a retro look.

Target middle-grey (Display tab)

This is the middle-grey of the output medium, that is used as a target for the filmic rgb
S curve central node. On gamma corrected media, the actual grey is computed with the
gamma correction (middle-grey^(1/gamma)), so a middle-grey parameter of 18% with a
gamma of 2.2 gives an actual middle-grey target of 45.87%.

Target white luminance (Display tab)

The target white luminance parameter allows to set the ceiling level white of the target
medium. Set it lower than 100% if you want dampened, muted whites to achieve a retro
look.

Target power factor function

The power of the output transfer function, often improperly called the gamma (only
screen have a gamma), is the parameter used to raise or compress the mid-tones to
account for the display non-linearities or to avoid quantization artifacts when encoding in
8 bits file formats. This is a common operation when applying ICC color profiles (except for
linear RGB spaces, like REC 709 or REC 2020, which have a linear “gamma” of 1.0). However,
at the output of filmic rgb, the signal is logarithmically encoded, which is not something
ICC color profiles know to handle. As a consequence, if we let them apply a gamma 1/2.2
on top, it will result in a double up, and the middle-grey will be remapped to 76% instead
of 45% as it should.

To avoid double ups and washed pictures, filmic rgb applies a “gamma” compression
reverting the output ICC gamma correction, so the middle-grey is correctly remapped at
the end. To remove this compression, set the destination power factor to 1.0 and the
middle-grey destination to 45%.

Workflow

The filmic rgb module can seem pretty complex; here is a proposed workflow for
processing an image with filmic rgb to obtain a well-exposed picture from a RAW file.

1. Modify the exposure in the exposure module so that the midtones are clear enough.
Do not worry about losing details in the highlights: they will be recovered by the next
steps of the processing.

2. In filmic rgb, start with “neutral” parameters: set the the middle grey luminance to
18.45% in the scene tab, and set the contrast to 1 in the look tab.

3. Adjust the white-relative and black-relative exposures in the scene tab; set the middle
grey luminance as well.

4. In the look tab, experiment with the contrast parameter. Increase the latitude as much
as you can without clipping the curve, slide it with the shadows/highlights balance
parameter.

5. filmic rgb tends to compress the local contrast - you can compensate for that using the
local contrast module.
113
 6. You may also want to increase the saturation in the color balance module, and adjust
settings in the tone equalizer module.

7. Do the last adjustments in filmic rgb, and your picture is now ready for creative
processing.

Filmic rgb for Darktable 2.6 filmic users

Filmic rgb is a reimplementation of the filmic module, and some adjustments are
necessary to switch from one version to the other. This last section underlines the most
important differences; a more comprehensive overview is available as a video called
darktable 3.0 filmic explained to users of darktable 2.6 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=9awBFYcPgGU]. The major differences points when it comes to usage are the following:

• The default parameters of both modules are not comparable: activating the filmic rgb
module with default parameters does not yield the same results as the previous filmic
module with default parameters.

• The latitude is now expressed in percentage of the dynamic range instead of absolute
EV values.

• The saturation slider that was present in the previous version of filmic to avoid
oversaturation is not necessary anymore since filmic rgb does a much better job at
preserving colors.

• The previous version of filmic was always using the prophoto RGB profile; filmic rgb
respects the working color profile defined in the input color profile module. To keep the
same behaviour, you can set the working profile to linear prophoto RGB.

To achieve similar results between the previous version of filmic and filmic rgb, the
following steps are suggested:

1. Transfer the parameters from filmic to filmic rgb. The latitude parameter is now given
in percentage of the input dynamic range: compute that percentage from your filmic
input values.

2. Lower the contrast.

3. Set the extreme luminance saturation to 50%, unless you are using the chrominance
preservation.

4. Adjust the shadows/highlights balance to avoid clipping of the curve

5. Rais the middle grey luminance a bit, set the dynamic range scaling to approximately
6%.

6. The old preserve chrominance setting corresponds to the max RGB mode; in that case,
do not modify the extreme luminance saturation.

7. If you experience weird color shifts, change the working color space to prophoto RGB
in the input color profile module.

3.4.3. Color group
Modules for working specifically on your image's color are found here in the color group.

3.4.3.1. Channel mixer
114
Overview
This module is a powerful tool to manage channels.
It accepts red, green and blue channels as an input.
As output it provides red, green, blue, gray, hue,
saturation and lightness channels.

Usage
First select your output channel and then set the amount each input channel feeds into
that output channel. Among its many uses, this module can be used to see the RGB
channels individually: use the gray destination and put the value 1 on the input channel
you want to see and 0 on the others.

Examples

For skin tones the blue channel tends to represent

detail, with red tending to also have smoother tones
than green. Therefore tonal rendering is controlled
by how we blend of the three input channels.

Here a monochrome portrait is produced by simply

selecting the grey channel as output. A smooth skin
tone is achieved by reducing the blue channels input
and also emphasizing the red channels input relative
to green. An RGB mix of 0.9, 0.3, -0.3 was used
together with an 0.1 EV exposure increase to lighten
the image.

In this example an RGB mix of 0.4, 0.75, -0.15 uses

more green than red, bringing back some features.
We still reduce the blue channel in the mix to de-
emphasize unwanted skin texture.

Table of mixing values for some b/w films

Classic black and white films have different characteristic color responses. Select gray as
output mixing channel, and try out the values suggested below for your favorite film type.
115
 Film Type Red Green Blue
AGFA 200X 0.18 0.41 0.41
Agfapan 25 0.25 0.39 0.36
Agfapan 100 0.21 0.40 0.39
Agfapan 400 0.20 0.41 0.39
Ilford Delta 100 0.21 0.42 0.37
Ilford Delta 400 0.22 0.42 0.36
Ilford Delta 3200 0.31 0.36 0.33
Ilford FP4 0.28 0.41 0.31
Ilford HP5 0.23 0.37 0.40
Ilford Pan F 0.33 0.36 0.31
Ilford SFX 0.36 0.31 0.33
Ilford XP2 Super 0.21 0.42 0.37
Kodak T-Max 100 0.24 0.37 0.39
Kodak T-Max 400 0.27 0.36 0.37
Kodak Tri-X 400 0.25 0.35 0.40
Normal Contrast 0.43 0.33 0.30
High Contrast 0.40 0.34 0.60
Generic B/W 0.24 0.68 0.08

3.4.3.2. Color balance

Overview

This module offers a versatile tool for adjusting

an image's color balance. It can be used to revert
parasite color casts or to enhance the visual
atmosphere of a picture using color grading, a
popular technique in the cinema industry.

Usage

The color balance allows you to shift colors selectively by luminance range: shadows, mid-
tones, and highlights. It does so using two different methods:
116
 • lift, gamma, gain, the classic way, that allows a more separated control of shadows
versus highlights,

• slope, offset, power, the new standard defined by the American Society of
Cinematographers Color Decision List (ASC CDL), more suited for scene-referred
editing.

The master settings affect the whole image. They are not available in lift, gamma, gain
(sRGB) mode. The slider ranges are limited to usual values ([50%; 150%] for saturations,
[-50%; 50%] for contrast), but higher and lower values can be defined from keyboard
inputs after a right-click on the corresponding slider.

Side note: although this module acts on RGB colors its location in pixelpipe puts it into
the Lab color space. Accordingly the modules converts from Lab to RGB, does its color
adjustments, and then converts back to Lab.

Mode

• lift, gamma, gain (sRGB) is the legacy mode from darktable 2.4 and previous. In this
mode, the color transformations are applied in sRGB color space encoded with the sRGB
gamma (average gamma of 2.2).

• lift, gamma, gain (ProPhotoRGB) is the same as the previous but works in ProPhoto
RGB space, encoded linearly. In this mode, the RGB parameters are corrected in XYZ
luminance (Y channel) internally so they affect only the color, and only the “factors”
adjust the luminance.

• slope, offset, power (ProPhotoRGB) applies the ASC CDL in ProPhoto RGB space,
encoded linearly. Similarly to the previous mode, the RGB parameters are corrected
in XYZ luminance internally. In this mode, the slope parameter acts as an exposure
compensation, the offset acts as a black level correction, and the power acts as a gamma
correction. All parameters will have some impact on the whole luminance range, but the
slope will mostly affect the highlights, the offset will mostly affect the shadows, and
the power will mostly affect the mid-tones.

For better efficiency, in slope, offset, power, it is recommended to set the slope first, then
the offset, and finally the power, in this order. The name of the mode can be use as a
mnemonic to remember the order.

In slope, offset, power mode, the shadows parameter has a far heavier effect than in lift,
gamma, gain. Switching from the former to the latter, you should adapt the saturation in
shadows, dividing by around 10.

Color control sliders

These parameters affect the user interface used for the shadows, mid-tones and
highlights controls.

The RGBL controls allow direct access of the RGB parameters that will be sent to the
algorithm and internally adjusted in XYZ luminance, depending on the mode used. They
are the only ones stored in darktable's development history.

The HSL controls allow a more intuitive control, but are only an interface: the hues and
saturations are computed dynamically from and to the RGB parameters and never stored.
During the HSL to RGB conversion, the HSL lightness is always assumed to be 50%, so the
RGB parameters are always balanced to avoid lightness changes. However, during the RGB
to HSL conversion, the HSL lightness is not corrected.
117
 As a consequence, editing in RGB, then in HSL, then again in RGB will not retain the original
RGB parameters, but will normalize them so their HSL lightness is 50%. The difference is
barely noticeable in most cases, especially using the modes that already correct the RGB
parameters internally in XYZ luminance.

In both modes, additional “factor” sliders act on all RGB channels at once. Their effect is
similar to the controls of the levels module (see Section 3.4.2.2, “Levels”) and affect only
the luminance.

Input saturation

The input saturation is a saturation correction applied before the color balance. It
can be used to dampen colors before adjusting the balance, to make difficult pictures
easier to process. When you desaturate entirely the image, it creates a luminance-based
monochrome picture that can be used as a luminance mask, to create color filters with the
color balance settings, like split-toning or sepia effect (you might want to use blending
modes then).

Output saturation

The output saturation is a saturation correction applied just after the color balance. It is
useful once you have found a proper hue balance but find the effect too heavy, so you can
adjust the global saturation at once instead of editing each channel saturation separately
at the expense of possibly messing the colors.

Contrast and Contrast fulcrum

The contrast slider allows to increase the luminance separation. The fulcrum value defines
the luminance value that will not be affected by the contrast correction, so the contrast
will roll over the fulcrum. Luminance values above the fulcrum will be amplified almost
linearly. Luminance values below the fulcrum value will be compressed with a power
function (creating a toe). This correction comes after the output saturation and is applied
on all RGB channels separately, so hues and saturations might not be preserved in case of
dramatic settings (shadows might be resaturated, highlights might be desaturated, and
some color shift is to be expected).

Shadows, Mid-tones, Highlights

Depending on the mode set, the shadows settings will control either the lift or the offset,
the mid-tones ones will control either the gamma or the power, and the highlights ones
will control either the gain or the slope. Parameters are transferred as is when you change
the mode.

In RGBL mode, the RGB sliders range is limited to [-0.5; 0.5]. In HSL mode, the saturation
sliders range is limited to [0%; 25%]. Values outside of these bounds can be defined from
keyboard input after right-click on the slider.

Optimize luma

The color-picker close to the optimize luma label will select the whole image and optimize
the factors for shadows, mid-tones and highlights so the average luminance of the picture
is 50% Lab, the maximum is 100% and the minimum is 0%, at the output of this module.
This is essentially an histogram normalization, similar to what the levels module can
achieve. The optimizer is accurate only when used in slope, offset, power mode. It works
only fairly in the other modes.

In case you want more control, you can define three control patches using the color-
pickers in front of each factor slider, to sample luminance in selected areas. The shadows
118
 color-picker samples the minimum luminance, the mid-tones one samples the average, and
the highlights one samples the maximum luminance. The most sensitive parameter is the
mid-tones factor, since selecting a slightly different area can lead to dramatic parameter
changes. Using the factors color-pickers alone, without triggering the luma optimization,
will allow to perform adjustments without general optimization, but each parameter
is always computed accounting from the two others. Once patches are selected, the
label becomes “optimize luma from patches”. To reset one patch, you can just redo the
selection. Patches are not saved in the parameters and are kept only during the current
session.

It is important no note that the luminance adjustment performed targets only the output
of the color balance module and does not account for other luminance adjustments
performed in modules coming later in the pixelpipe (filmic, tone curve, color zones, levels,
global tonemapping, etc.). Using the color balance to remap the luminance globally on the
image is not recommended because it does not preserve the original colors, and modules
such as tone curves or filmic are better suited for this purpose. Luminance adjustments in
color balance are better suited for local correction, in combination with color adjustments,
for color-grading with masks.

Neutralize colors

In an image where some areas are exposed to direct sunlight and some areas are
exposed to reflected light (shadows), or when several artificial light sources are present
simultaneously, shadows and highlights often have different color temperatures. These
images are particularly difficult to correct since no general white balance will match
all the colors at once. The color neutralization optimizer aims at helping you find the
complementary color for shadows, midtones, and highlights so all the color casts are
reverted, and the average color of the picture is a neutral grey.

Similarly to the luma optimization, the color-picker next to the neutralize colors label
will trigger a general optimization over the whole picture. This works fairly in landscape
photography, or any photography with a full spectrum of colors and luminances. For night
and events photography, this will most likely fail and you will need to input manually
the sampling areas with the color-pickers in front of each hue slider. For the highlights
sample, use a color exposed to spotlights that should be neutral white or light grey. For
the shadows sample, use a color exposed to ambient light that should be neutral black or
dark grey. For the mid-tones sample, use a color exposed by both ambient and spot lights.

The success of the optimization depends on the quality of the samples. Not every set of
samples will converge to a good solution, you need to ensure the color patches you choose
are really neutral color in real life. In many cases the optimizer will output the correct hue
but an excessive saturation that will need some extra tweaking. In some cases, no valid
optimization will be delivered and you will need to reset the saturation parameters and
start over, or simply stop after the patches selection. Notice that in the auto-optimization
the maximum saturation is 25% which might not be enough in very few cases but will avoid
inconsistent results in most.

If you select color patches from the hues color-pickers, without triggering the
optimization, the software will only perform one round of optimization and stop so
it allows you to control each luminance range separately and avoid divergence of the
solution in corner cases. The hue and saturation corrections are computed accounting
for the two other luminance ranges and the three factors, and will always output the
complementary color of the selected area. If you want to reinforce the color of the area
instead, you can then add 180° to the computed hue. Once patches are selected the
label becomes “neutralize colors from patches”. To reset one patch you can just redo the
selection. Patches are not saved in the parameters and are kept only during the current
119
 session. The parameters found by the automatic neutralization are accurate only in slope,
offset, power mode, but can work to some extent in lift, gamma, gain too.

Examples

Several presets are provided in the module to help you understand how it can be used.

The teal/orange color-grading preset is a very popular look in cinema and a good showcase
model. It is meant to be used with two instances and masks: the first instance will exclude
skin tones and will shift neutral colors toward teal blue. The second will partially revert
the first one and add more vibrance on skin tones only. Together they will help creating
separation between subjects and backgrounds. The masking and blending parameters will
need to be tweaked to suit every picture, though.

Other presets provide Kodak film emulations. In the same way you can recreate any film
look you like with color balance.

3.4.3.3. Color look up table

Overview

This module implements a generic color look up table

in Lab space. The input is a list of source and target
points, the complete mapping will be interpolated
using splines. The resulting luts are editable by
hand and can be created using the darktable-
chart utility to match given input (such as hald-cluts
and RAW/JPEG with in-camera processing pairs). See
Section 10.3, “Using darktable-chart ” for details.

Usage
color board

When you select the module in darkroom mode, it should look something like the image
above (configurations with more than 24 patches are shown in a 7x7 grid instead). By
default, it will load the 24 patches of a color checker classic and initialise the mapping to
identity (no change to the image).

The grid shows a list of colored patches. The colors of the patches are the source points.
The target color of the selected patch is shown as offsets controlled by sliders in the GUI
under the grid of patches. An outline is drawn around patches that have been altered, i.e.
the source and target colors differ.

The selected patch is marked with a white square, and its number is displayed in the combo
box below. Select a patch by left clicking on it, or using the combo box, or using the color
picker.

interaction

To modify the color mapping, you can change source as well as target colors.
120
 The main use case is to change the target colors. You start with an appropriate palette of
source colors (either from the presets menu or from a style you download). You can then
change lightness (L), green-red (a), blue-yellow (b), or saturation (C) of the patches' target
values via sliders.

To change the source color of a patch you select a new color from your image by using
the color picker, and Shift+click on the patch you want to replace. You can switch between
point and area sampling mode from within the global color picker panel (see Section 3.3.6,
“Global color picker”).

To reset a patch, double-click it. Right-click a patch to delete it. Shift+click on empty space
to add a new patch (with the currently picked color as source color).

3.4.3.4. Color contrast

Overview

The color contrast module provides simplified

control for changing the contrast or separation
of colors between either green/magenta or blue/
yellow axis.

Usage

Higher values increase color contrast, lower values decrease it. The effect of this module's
sliders are similar to applying a steepened or flattened a- or b-curve in module tone curve
(see Section 3.4.2.3, “Tone curve”).

green vs. magenta

Changes color contrast for green versus magenta.

blue vs. yellow

Changes color contrast for blue versus yellow.

3.4.3.5. Color correction

Overview

This module can be used to modify the global

saturation, give a tint to the image or to split tone it.

121
Usage
color board

For split toning move the white dot to the desired highlight tint and then select a tint for
shadows with the dark spot. For a simple global tint set both spots to the same color.

saturation

Use the saturation slider to correct the global saturation.

3.4.3.6. Color zones

Overview

This module selectively modifies the colors in

your image. It is highly versatile and allows every
transformation possible in the LCh colorspace.

Usage

The horizontal axis represents the range of values you can work on. The vertical axis shows
the modifications you can apply by designing a curve. For both horizontal and vertical axes
you can work on lightness, saturation or hue.

You can click on any of the eight nodes on the curve and drag to adjust it vertically. A circle
indicates how strong adjacent nodes will be affected. Use the scroll wheel of your mouse
to change the circle diameter. You can also use the eight controlpoints (triangles which
define the vertical value of the nodes) at the bottom to adjust the curve.

A color picker is activated by pressing and will show the picked values in the diagram.
You can switch between point and area sampling mode from within the global color picker
panel (see Section 3.3.6, “Global color picker”).

tabbed controls

You can define curves for each of the three channels “lightness”, “saturation”, and “hue”
individually.

select by

Defines the horizontal axis, i.e. the range of values you work on. You can choose between
“lightness”, “saturation”, and “hue” (default). Changing this parameter resets any defined
curve to a straight horizontal line.

mix

Use this parameter to tune the strength of the overall effect.

3.4.3.7. Input color profile

122
Overview
This module can be used to override darktable's
automatic allocation of input color profile if there
is an alternative that more closely matches your
original image's color space.

Usage
In this module you define the input color profile, i.e. how colors of your input image are
to be interpreted. You also have an option to have colors confined to a certain gamut in
order to mitigate some (infrequent) color artifacts.
profile

Choose the profile or color matrix to apply, darktable offers many widespread matrices
along with an enhanced matrix for some camera models. The enhanced matrices were
processed by the darktable team in order to provide a look closer to the manufacturer's.

You can also supply your own input ICC profiles and put them into $DARKTABLE/
share/darktable/color/in or $HOME/.config/darktable/color/in. $DARKTABLE is used here
to represent darktable's installation directory and $HOME your home directory. One
common source of ICC profiles is the software that is shipped with your camera; it often
contains profiles specific to your camera model. You may need to activate module unbreak
input profile (see Section 3.4.3.11, “Unbreak input profile”) to use your extra profiles.

If your input image is a low dynamic range file like JPEG, or a raw in DNG format, it might
already contain an embedded ICC profile which darktable will use as a default. You can
always overrule darktable and select a different profile. Select “embedded icc profile” to
restore the default.
gamut clipping

This combobox lets you activate a color clipping mechanism. In most cases you can leave it
at its default “off” state. However, if your image shows some specific features like highly
saturated blue light sources, gamut clipping might be useful to avoid black pixel artifacts.
See Section 3.2.6.6, “Possible color artifacts” for more background information.

You can select from a list of RGB profiles. Input colors with a saturation that exceeds the
permissible range of the selected profile get clipped to a maximum value. “linear Rec2020
RGB” and “Adobe RGB (compatible)” allow for a broader range of unclipped colors, while
“sRGB” and “linear Rec709 RGB” produce a tighter clipping. You should select the profile
that prevents artifacts while still maintaining highest color dynamics.

Examples

Close-up of a blue light source (LED) with gamut

clipping off. The activated levels module produces a
ring of black pixel artifacts.

123
 The same image and processing with gamut clipping
set to “linear Rec2020 RGB ”.

3.4.3.8. 3D LUT

Overview

A 3D LUT is a tridimensional table which allows for

the transforming any RGB value into another RGB
value, normally used for film simulation and color
grading.

The module accepts .cube and .png (haldclut) files.

The 3D LUT data are not saved in database nor in the
XMP file, only the 3D LUT file path inside the 3D LUT
folder is saved (see below).

The module lut3d needs to find the 3D LUT file at the same place in your 3D LUT folder to
calculate the output image. This means you have to backup properly your 3D LUT folder.
Sharing an image with its XMP is useless if the recipient doesn't have the same 3D LUT
file in his 3D LUT folder.

Usage

file selection

File selection is inactive as long as the 3D LUT folder (where you have stored your LUT
files) is not defined in 3D LUT root folder under preferences/core options/miscellaneous.

application color space

A 3D LUT is relative to a specific color space. You have to select the one for which it has
been built. Cube files are usually related to REC.709 while most of others are related to
sRGB.

interpolation

The interpolation method defines how to calculate output colors when input colors are
not exactly on a node of the RGB cube (described by the 3D LUT). There are three
interpolation methods available: tetrahedral (the default one), trilinear and pyramid.
Usually you won't see any difference between the interpolation methods except with
small size LUTs.

3.4.3.9. Monochrome
124
Overview

This module is a quick way to convert an image into

black and white and provides a variable color filter
for that conversion.

Usage

A color picker is activated by pressing and will automatically set the position and size of
the filter. You can switch between point and area sampling mode from within the global
color picker panel (see Section 3.3.6, “Global color picker”).

The default central location of the filter has a neutral effect but dragging it to an alternate
position applies a filter analogously to taking a b&w photograph through a conventional
color filter.

As well as position you can change the filter size by scrolling with your mouse wheel. This
makes the filter's range of hues more or less selective.

Tip: First reduce the filter size to concentrate its effect and move it across the hue pallet
to find the best filter value for your desired image rendition. Then expand the filter to
include more hues and thus more natural tonality.

Under certain conditions, especially highly saturated blue light sources in the frame, this
module may produce black pixel artifacts. See the gamut clipping option (Section 3.4.3.7,
“Input color profile”) on how to mitigate this issue.

3.4.3.10. Output color profile

Overview

This module manages the output profiles for export

as well as the rendering intent to be used when
mapping between the different color spaces.

darktable comes with pre-defined profiles sRGB,

AdobeRGB, XYZ and linear RGB but you
can provide additional profiles by placing
these in $DARKTABLE/share/darktable/color/
out and $HOME/.config/darktable/color/
out. $DARKTABLE is used here to represent your
chosen darktable installation directory and $HOME
your home directory.

125
Usage

You can define the output color profile in two different places, either in this module, or in
the export panel in lighttable mode (see Section 2.3.13, “Export selected”).

output intent

Sets the rendering intent for output/export. For more details see Section  3.2.6.3,
“Rendering intent”).

Only rendering with LittleCMS2 gives you a choice of rendering intent. The option is
hidden, if darktable's internal rendering routines are used. Rendering with LittleCMS2 is
activated in the preferences dialog (see Section 8.2, “Core options”).

output profile

Sets the color profile for output/export, causing darktable to render colors with this
profile. darktable embeds the profile data into the output file if supported by the file
format – this allows other applications reading the file to correctly interpret its colors.

As not all applications, e.g. image viewers, are aware of color profiles, a general
recommendation is to stick to sRGB as the default output profile. You should only deviate
from sRGB if this is really required and if you know what you are doing.

3.4.3.11. Unbreak input profile

Overview

This module adds a correction curve to image data,

which is required if you have selected certain input
profiles in module input color profile.

Usage

If you decide in module input color profile to use an ICC profile from the camera
manufacturer, a correction curve very frequently needs to be pre-applied to image data –
or else the final output looks much too dark. This extra processing is not required if you
use darktable's standard or enhanced color matrices. The correction curve is defined with
a linear part extending from the shadows to some upper limit and a gamma curve covering
mid-tones and highlights. For further reading please also have a look at darktable's
neighbouring project UFRaw [http://ufraw.sourceforge.net].

linear

Set the upper limit for the region counted as shadows and where no gamma correction is
performed. Typically values between 0.0 and 0.1 are required by the profile.

gamma

Set the gamma value to compensate your input profile. Often the required value is 0.45
(the reciprocal of 2.2 gamma used by some manufacturer's profile).
126
3.4.3.12. Velvia

Overview

The velvia module enhances image saturation. Its

effect is tailored to increase saturation less on lower
saturated pixels than on highly saturated pixels.

Usage
strength

This slider controls the strength of the effect.

mid-tones bias

Velvia can reduce its effect for mid-tones to avoid unnatural skin tones. The mid-tones bias
slider controls this selectivity; reducing its value reduces mid-tone protection and makes
the overall velvia effect stronger.

3.4.3.13. Vibrance

Overview

Vibrance is a widely used term in image processing

but the mechanism and end result differ from
program to program. Vibrance in darktable saturates
and brings down the lightness of the most saturated
pixels to make the colors more vivid.

Usage

Vibrance only has one parameter which controls the amount applied.

vibrance

The amount of vibrance to apply to the image.

3.4.4. Correction group
The correction group contains the modules that will correct typical problems in an photo
such as hotpixels, spot removal, noise, lens correction among others. This group also
includes the basic sharpening tools.

3.4.4.1. Sharpen

Overview

This is an standard UnSharp Mask (USM) tool for

sharpening the details of an image.

127
Usage

This module works by enhancing the contrast around edges and thereby enhances the
impression of sharpness of an image. In darktable this module is only applied to the L-
channel in Lab color space.

radius

USM applies a gaussian blur to your image as part of its algorithm. This controls the blur
radius which in turn defines the spatial extent of edge enhancement. Too high values will
lead to ugly over-sharpening.

amount

This controls the strength of the sharpening.

threshold

Contrast differences below this threshold are excluded from sharpening. Use this to avoid
amplification of noise.

3.4.4.2. Equalizer

Overview

This versatile module can be used to achieve a

variety of effects, such as: bloom, denoising, clarity,
and local contrast enhancement. It works in the
wavelet domain and parameters can be tuned for
each frequency band separately.

Usage

Each frequency band can be tweaked independently. In particular, you can adjust contrast
boost and denoise threshold splines for both lightness and chromaticity (“luma” and
“chroma”), as well as the acuteness (“edges”) of the wavelet basis on each frequency scale.

Each spline can be dragged with a proportional

edit approach; use the mouse wheel to adjust the
radius in which your changes will have an effect. The
transparent area indicates where you would drag the
spline with the current mouse position and radius.
The small little triangles on the x-axis can be moved
to alter the x-position of the spline nodes.

Drag the upper line (bright circles, here for the

lightness channel) to affect local contrast. Pulling it
up, as shown here, will result in a contrast boost for
that frequency band. Higher frequencies, i.e. smaller
details, are to the right of the grid. Pulling it down
works, too.

128
 The bottom spline (black circles) is used to perform
denoising. It adjusts the wavelet shrinkage threshold
for each frequency band. Pull it up to see the effect.
In this example, the noise which has been amplified
by local contrast enhancement is removed.

This screen shows the effect of the edge parameter.

It is here pulled down to zero for all bands. This is
effectively a regular à trous wavelet, without edge
detection, and results in the characteristic halos
around sharp edges in the image.

This image is the other extreme. The wavelet basis

now oversharpens, which results in ugly gradient
reversals near the ridge of the rock.

Note that the edge parameter only affects the wavelet basis, not the image directly. You
will have to change some denoise/contrast boost parameters to see an effect following
adjustments to the edge parameter.

This module additionally has a “mix” slider below the spline GUI. Adjusting the slider will
upscale or downscale the splines on the y-axis. The slider was added as a convenience tool
to help you modify the strength of the effect. It is not a module parameter in itself; when
you leave darkroom mode all changes will be consolidated into the spline curves.

Have a look at the presets where there are a broad variety of examples that will provide
a good starting point to gain an intuitive understanding of the controls. Among others
there is preset to enhance an image's “clarity”.

3.4.4.3. Denoise – profiled

Overview

This module offers an easy to use and – at the same

time  – highly efficient denoise operation. Under
the hood it applies (your choice of) a non-local
means or edge-aware wavelet denoise algorithm
with parameters specifically profiled for certain
camera models and ISO settings.

129
Usage

The darktable team, with the help of many users, has measured noise profiles for various
cameras. Differentiated by ISO settings we evaluated how the noise statistics develop
with brightness for the three color channels. Our set of profiles covers well above 200
popular camera models from all major manufacturers.

darktable stores noise profiles in an external json file. This file can be
found in $DARKTABLE/share/darktable/noiseprofile.json where $DARKTABLE
represents the darktable installation directory. The json format is quite straightforward
and explained in depth in json.org [http://json.org/]. You can replace the default noise
profiles by your own ones and specify that file on the command line when starting
darktable. For more details see Section 1.1.1, “darktable binary”. If you generate your
own noise profiles don't forget to share your results with the darktable team!

/!\ WARNING /!\ The darkroom zoomed out preview is not completely accurate. Always
check your result at 100% zoom level!

Note that (almost) all sliders of this module can take values higher than their visible
bounds by entering values using Right-click and keyboard.

profile

Based on Exif data of your raw file, darktable will automatically determine the camera
model and ISO setting. If found in its database, the corresponding noise profile will
be used. If your image has an intermediate ISO value, the statistical properties will be
interpolated between the two closest datasets in the database, and this interpolated
setting will show up as the first line in the combo box. You also have the option to manually
overwrite this selection to suit your personal preferences better. The top-most entry in
the combo box brings you back to the profile darktable deems most suited.

mode

This module can eliminate noise by two different core algorithms. Both “non-local means”
and “wavelet” can tackle efficiently luma (lightness) noise and chroma (color) noise.
“wavelet” mode also lets you adjust the force of the denoising depending on the noise
coarseness. If needed you can apply two instances of this module (see Section  3.2.4,
“Multiple instances”): one instance to tackle luma noise with blend mode “lightness” or
“HSV lightness”, and another one to tackle chroma noise with blend mode “color” or
“HSV color ”. An example of the use of two instances with blending modes is available
within the presets of this module. For more information on blend modes have a look
at Section 3.2.5.4, “Blending operators”. The module also offers an automatic mode for
each algorithm. Automatic modes allow to set module's parameters in an easier way, as
it guesses several parameters from the profile. All sliders of this module can take values
higher than their bounds if needed using Right-click.

whitebalance-adaptive transform

As white-balance amplifies the RGB channels differently, they exhibit different noise
levels. This checkbox makes the algorithm adaptive to white balance. This option should
be disabled on the second instance if you use a first instance with a color blend mode.

patch size

This slider is only available if mode “non-local means” is selected. It controls the size of the
patches being matched when deciding which pixels to average (see also Section 3.4.4.4,
130
 “Denoise – non local means”). Set this to higher values as the noise gets higher. Beware
that high values may smooth out small edges though. Processing time will stay about the
same.

search radius

This slider is only available if mode “non-local means” is selected. It controls how far from
a pixel the algorithm will try to find similar patches. Increasing the value can give better
results for very noisy images when coarse grain noise is visible, but you should better use
the scattering slider instead. The processing time is hugely impacted by this parameter:
it depends on the square of the parameter. A lower value will make execution faster, a
higher value will make it slower.

scattering

This slider is only available if mode “non-local means” is selected. Like the search radius,
it controls how far from a pixel the algorithm will try to find similar patches, but does this
without increasing the number of patches considered. As such, processing time will stay
about the same. Increasing the value will reduce coarse grain noise, but may smooth local
contrast. This slider is particularly effective to reduce chroma noise.

central pixel weight

This slider is only available if mode “non-local means” or “non-local means auto” is
selected. It controls the amount of details which should be preserved by the algorithm. It
can be used as a way to control the amount of luma noise smoothing: giving a big value
to this slider will result mostly in chroma noise smoothing with little smoothing of luma
noise. This slider has no effect if patch-size is set to 0.

coarse/fine curves

These curves are only available if mode “wavelet” is

selected. The noise of an image is usually not only
fine grain, but also more or less coarse grain. These
curves allow to denoise more or less depending on
the coarseness of the visible noise. The left of the
curve will act on very coarse grain noise, while the
right of the curve will act on very fine grain noise.
Pushing up the curve will result in more smoothing,
pulling it down will result in less smoothing. As an
example, you can preserve very-fine grain noise by
pulling down the rightest point of the curve until
the minimum value. As another example, if you are
tackling chroma noise with a blend mode, you can
push up the right part of the curve, as colors are not
supposed to change a lot on fine grain scales: this
will help especially if you see some isolated pixel left
undenoised.

Considering R, G, and B curves, the best way to use them is to look at one of the channel
using the channel mixer module in gray mode, denoise this particular channel, and then
do the same for the other channels. This way, you can take into account the fact that some
channel may be noisier than others into your denoising. Be aware that guessing which
channel is noisy without actually seeing the channels individually is not straightforward
and can be counterintuitive: a pixel which is completely red may not be caused by noise
on the R channel, but actually by noise on B and G channels.
131
 strength

This parameter is here to fine-tune the strength of the denoise effect. The default value
has been chosen to maximize the peak signal to noise ratio. It's mostly a matter of taste
if you prefer a rather low noise level at the costs of a higher loss of detail, or if you accept
more remaining noise in order to have finer structures better preserved within your image.

preserve shadows

This option is available in “wavelets” and “non local means” modes. It allows to denoise
more agressively the shadows or the highlights. Lower the value to denoise more the
shadows than the highlights. Usually, as noise increases, you will need to lower this value.

bias correction

This option is available in “wavelets” and “non local means” modes. It allows to correct the
color cast that may appear in the shadows. Increase this value if dark shadows appear too
greenish, decrease it if they appear purple-ish.

adjust autoset parameters

This option is available in “auto” modes. In these modes, darktable tries to derive
denoising parameters from the camera profile. Depending on your image the
automatically derived parameters may not be optimal. E.g. if your image is heavily
underexposed and you lifted the exposure, you will have to increase this parameter to
get a proper denoising. This parameter should reflect the amplification you add to your
image: if you add 1EV of exposure, the signal is multiplied by 2, so this parameter should
be set to 2.

3.4.4.4. Denoise – non local means

Overview

This is a denoise algorithm, which will work on

chroma and/or luma.

Usage

This module reduces noise in your image but preserves structures. This is accomplished
by averaging each pixel with some surrounding pixels in the image. The weight of such
a pixel in the averaging process depends on the similarity of its neighborhood with the
neighborhood of the one pixel to be denoised. A patch with a certain size is used to
measure that similarity. As denoising is a resource hungry process, it slows down pixelpipe
processing significantly; consider activating this module late in your workflow.

patch size

The radius of the patch for similarity evaluation.

strength

The strength of the denoise. Higher values lead to a stronger effect.

132
 luma

Amount of denoise to apply to luma. Select carefully in order not to lose too much
structure.

chroma

Amount of denoise to apply to chroma. You can be much more aggressive with this
parameter compared to luma.

3.4.4.5. Denoise – bilateral

Overview

This module is used to denoise high ISO pictures.

It is flagged as a slow module due to its high
resource consumption, both in terms of CPU cycles
and in terms of memory usage. Quite counter-
intuitively, the greater the values for sliders, the
lesser resources.

Usage
This module reduces noise in your image but preserves sharp edges. This is accomplished
by averaging pixels with their neighbors, taking into account not only the geometric
distance but also the distance on the range scale, i.e. differences in the RGB values. As
denoising is a resource hungry process, it slows down pixelpipe processing significantly;
consider to activate this module late in your workflow. The module can be really effective
if some RGB channel is more noisy than the 2 other channels. In such a case, use the
channel mixer module to see the channels one by one, in order to set the blur intensities
accordingly.

radius

Set the spatial extent of the gaussian blur.

red

Blur intensity for red channel.

green

Blur intensity for green channel.

blue

Blur intensity for blue channel.

3.4.4.6. Liquify

Overview

The liquify module offers a versatile way of moving

pixels around by applying free style distortions to
parts of the image. There are three tools to help
doing that: points, lines, and curves.

Each of liquify's tools is based on nodes. A point is given by a single node, a line or a curve
consist of a set of nodes defining the path.
133
 There is a limit of 100 nodes in a single liquify instance. For more distortions one can
use multiple instances of the liquify module. However, take into account that the liquify
module requires a lot of computing resources.

Usage
The basic elements of all tools in liquify are nodes.

You can drag the central point of a node to move the node around. The radius describes
the area of the applied effect: the distortion occurs only inside this radius. To change the
radius drag the handle at the circumference. A strength vector starting from the center
describes the direction of the distortion, and its strength is depicted by the length of the
vector. You change the vector by dragging its arrowhead.
warps and nodes count

This information field displays the number of warps (individual distortion object) and
nodes currently used.
point tool

Click the icon to activate the point tool and left-click on the image to place it.

A point is formed by a single node. In a point the strength vector has three different modes
which are toggled using Ctrl+click over the arrowhead of the strength vector:

linear The linear mode produces a

linear distortion inside the circle.
Starting from the opposite side of
the strength vector and following
the strength vector's direction.
This is the default mode.

radial growing In this mode the strength vector's

effect is radial, starting with a
strength of 0% in the center and
growing when going away from the
center. This mode is depicted by
an additional circle with the arrow
pointing outwards.

134
 radial shrinking In this mode the strength vector's
effect is radial, starting with a
strength of 100% in the center and
shrinking when going away from
the center. This mode is depicted
by an additional circle with the
arrow pointing inwards.

Note that the strength by default varies linearly from 0% to 100% between the center and
the radius of the control point. It is possible to modify the feathering effect by clicking
on the center of the circle:

default Linear from the center to the

radius.

feathered Two control circles are

displayed and can be modified
independently to feather the
strength of the effect. Note that
clicking again the center of the
circle only hides the feathering
controls but does not return to the
default.

A point can be removed by right-clicking on the center.

line tool

Click the icon to activate the line tool and left-click on the image to place the first point,
move and left-click to place another point and start forming the path. To end the line just
right-click anywhere.

A line is a set of points. The points are linked

together, the effect is interpolated by a set of
strength vectors.

It is possible to add a control point on a line by Ctrl+Click on a segment. You may remove
a control point from a line by Ctrl+right click on the node center.
135
 A right-click on a segment will remove the shape completely.

A Ctrl+Alt+click on a segment will change it to a curve segment.

curve tool

Click the icon to activate the curve tool and left-click on the image to place the first
point, move and left-click to place another point and start forming the path. To end the
line just right-click anywhere.

A curve is a set of points. The points are linked

together, the effect is interpolated as a bezier curve
by a set of strength vectors.

It is possible to add a control point on a curve by Ctrl+click on a segment. You may remove
a control point from a curve by Ctrl+right click on the node center.

A right-click on a segment will remove the shape completely.

A Ctrl+Alt+click on a segment will change it to a line segment.

It is possible to change the way the points of the curve are linked together by using Ctrl
+click on the center. There are four modes which correspond to different ways of handling
the steepness of the bezier curve by control handles:

autosmooth This is the default mode in which the control

handles are not displayed as they are automatically
computed to always give a smooth curve.
cusp Control handles can be moved independently. This
mode is depicted by a triangle symbol in the node
center.
smooth Control handles are always giving a smooth curve.
This mode is depicted by a diamond symbol in the
node center.
symmetrical Control handles are always moved together. This
mode is depicted by a square symbol in the node
center.

node edit tool

Clicking the icon activates or deactivates the node edit tool displaying all defined
distortion objects and their controls. Alternatively you can at any time right-click on the
image for the same effect.

3.4.4.7. Perspective correction

136
Overview

This module is designed to automatically correct for

converging lines, a form of perspective distortions
frequently seen in architectural photographs. The
underlying mechanism is inspired by Markus Hebel's
ShiftN [http://www.shiftn.de/] program.

Perspective distortions are a natural effect when projecting a three dimensional scene
onto a two dimensional plane and cause objects close to the viewer to appear larger
than objects further away. Converging lines are a special case of perspective distortions
frequently seen in architectural photographs. Parallel lines when photographed at an
angle get transformed into converging lines that meet at some vantage point within or
outside the image frame.

This module is able to correct converging lines by warping the image in such a way that
the lines in question become parallel to the image frame. Corrections can be applied in
vertical and horizontal direction, either separately or in combination. In order to perform
an automatic correction the module analyzes the image for suitable structural features
consisting of line segments. Based on these line segments a fitting procedure is started
that determines the best values of the module parameters.

Usage

Clicking the “get structure” icon ( ) causes darktable to analyze the image for structural
elements. Line segments are detected and evaluated. Only lines that form a set of either
vertical or horizontal lines are used for further processing steps. The line segments are
displayed as overlays on the image base. A color code describes what type of line darktable
has found:

green lines that are selected as relevant vertical converging lines

red lines that are vertical but are not part of the set of converging lines
blue lines that are selected as relevant horizontal converging lines
yellow lines that are horizontal but are not part of the set of converging lines
grey other lines identified but not of interest to this module

Lines marked in red or yellow are regarded as outliers and are not taken into account
for the automatic fitting step. This outlier elimination involves a statistical process with
random sampling so that each time you press the “get structure” button the color pattern
of the lines will look a bit different. You can manually change the status of line segments:
left-clicking on a line selects it (turns the color to green or blue) while right-clicking
deselects it (turns the color to red or yellow). Keeping the mouse button pressed allows
for a sweeping action to select/deselect multiple lines in a row; the size of the select/
deselect brush can be changed with the mouse wheel. Holding down the Shift key and
keeping the left or right mouse button pressed while dragging selects or deselects all
lines in the chosen rectangular area.

Clicking one of the “automatic fit” icons (see below) starts an optimization process which
finds the best suited parameters. The image and the overlaid lines are then displayed with
perspective corrections applied.
137
 rotation

This parameter controls a rotation of the image around its center and can correct for a
skewed horizon.

lens shift (horizontal)

This parameter corrects converging lines horizontally.

lens shift (vertical)

This parameter corrects converging lines vertically. In some cases you get a more naturally
looking image if you correct vertical distortions not to their full extent but rather at an
80 to 90% level. If desired just reduce the value after having performed the automatic
correction.

shear

This parameter shears the image along one of its diagonals and is needed when correcting
vertical and horizontal perspective distortions simultaneously.

guides

If activated a number of guide lines is laid over the image to help you judge the quality
of the correction.

automatic cropping

When activated the automatic cropping feature clips the image to get rid of any black
corners. At your choice you can either clip to the “largest area” or to the largest rectangle
maintaining the original aspect ratio (“original format”). In the latter case you can
manually adjust the automatic cropping result: left click into to clip region and move it
around. The size of the region gets modified automatically excluding any black corners.

lens model

This parameter controls how lens and camera specifics are taken into account. If set to
“generic” a focal length of 28mm on a full-format camera is assumed. If set to “specific”,
focal length and crop factor can be set manually.

focal length

The focal length of the lens used. The default value is taken from the Exif data of your
image. This parameter is only effective and visible if the “specific” lens model has been
selected.

crop factor

The crop factor of the camera used. You will typically need to set this value manually. This
parameter is only effective and visible if the “specific” lens model has been selected.

aspect adjust

If the “specific” lens model has been selected this parameter allows for a free manual
adjustment of the image's aspect ratio.

automatic fit

Clicking on one of the icons starts an automatic fitting of the module parameters
based on the selected vertical and/or horizontal lines. You can choose to correct only
138
 vertical distortions ( ), only horizontal distortions ( ), or both types of distortions
simultaneously ( ). Ctrl+clicking on either icon only fits rotation. Shift+clicking on either
icon only fits vertical and/or horizontal lens shift.

get structure

Clicking on the icon causes the image to be (re-)analyzed for suitable line segments.
Shift+clicking applies a prior contrast enhancement step, Ctrl+clicking applies an edge
enhancement step. Both variations can be used alone or in combination if the default
is not able to detect a sufficient number of lines. Clicking on the icon discards all
collected structural data. By clicking on the icon you can switch the overlay display of
line segments on and off.

Examples

An input image with a skewed horizon and

converging lines caused by directing the camera
upwards.

The image after having corrected for vertical and

horizontal perspective distortions. Note the framing
by the automatic cropping feature and the still visible
overlay of structural lines.

3.4.4.8. Lens correction

Overview

This module is able to correct certain

lens flaws, namely distortions, transversal
chromatic aberrations (TCA) and vignetting.
It relies on the external library lensfun
[http://lensfun.sourceforge.net/], which comes with
correction profiles for many (but not all) common
cameras and lenses.

Usage

In order to perform lens corrections the module uses Exif data of your image to identify
the specific camera/lens combination and collects the needed correction parameters from
a profile in lensfun's database.

camera

The camera make and model as determined by Exif data. You can override this manually
and select your camera from a hierarchical menu.
139
 Only lenses with correction profiles matching the selected camera will be shown.

lens

The lens make and model as determined by Exif data. You can override this manually
and select your lens from a hierarchical menu. This is mainly needed for pure mechanical
lenses, but may also be needed for off-brand / third party lenses.

photometric parameters: focal length, aperture, focal distance

Corrections additionally depend on certain photometric parameters that are read from
Exif data: focal length (needed for distortion, TCA, vignetting), aperture (needed for TCA,
vignetting) and focal distance (needed for vignetting). Many cameras do not record focal
distance in their Exif data; most likely you need to set this manually.

You can manually override all automatically selected parameters. Either take one of the
predefined values from the pull-down menu; or – with the pull-down menu still open – just
type in your own value.

If your system's lensfun library has no correction profile for the automatically identified
camera/lens combination the controls for the three photometric parameters are not
displayed, and you get a warning message instead. You may try to find the right
profile yourself by searching for it in the menu. If you can't find your lens, check if
it is in the list of currently supported lenses [http://lensfun.sourceforge.net/lenslist/
], and refer to the lensfun-update-data tool [http://lensfun.sourceforge.net/manual/
lensfun-update-data.html]. If there is no matching profile for your lens, please visit this
lens calibration service [https://www.darktable.org/2013/07/have-your-lens-calibrated/]
offered by Torsten Bronger, one of darktable's users. Alternatively you may go to lensfun's
home page [http://lensfun.sourceforge.net/] and learn how to generate your own set of
correction parameters. Don't forget to share your profile with the lensfun team!

corrections

This combobox gives you a choice about which corrections (out of distortion, TCA and
vignetting) darktable shall apply. Change this from its default “all”, if your camera has
already done some internal corrections (e.g. of vignetting), or if you plan to do certain
corrections with a separate program.

geometry

In addition to the correction of lens flaws, this module can change the projection type
of your image. Set this combobox to the aimed projection type, like “rectilinear”, “fish-
eye”, “panoramic”, “equirectangular”, “orthographic”, “stereographic”, “equisolid angle”,
“thoby fish-eye”.

scale

This slider allows you to adjust the scaling factor of your image. Pressing the auto scale
button (right to the slider) will let darktable find the best fit to avoid black corners.

mode

The default behavior of this module is to correct lens flaws. Switch this combobox to
“distort” in order to simulate the behavior of a specific lens (inverted effect).

TCA red

This slider allows to override the correction parameter for TCA. You can also use this slider
to manually set the parameter in case the lens profile does not contain TCA correction.
140
 Look out for colored seams at features with high contrast edges and adjust this parameter
and the following one to minimize those seams.

TCA blue

This slider allows to override the correction parameter for TCA. You can also use this slider
to manually set the parameter in case the lens profile does not contain TCA correction.

corrections done

You will sometimes observe that for a given camera/lens combination only part of the
possible corrections (distortion, TCA, vignetting) are supported by lensfun's profiles. This
message box will tell you what corrections have actually been applied.

3.4.4.9. Scale pixels

Overview

Some cameras like the Nikon D1X have rectangular

instead of the usual square sensor cells. Without
correction this would lead to distorted images. This
module applies the needed scaling.

Usage

darktable detects images that need correction by their Exif data and automatically
activates this module. For other images the module always remains disabled. The modules
has no parameters.

3.4.4.10. Rotate pixels

Overview

The sensors of some cameras like the Fujifilm FinePix

S2Pro, F700, and E550 have a diagonally oriented
Bayer pattern instead of the usual orthogonal layout.
Without correction this would lead to a tilted image
with black corners. This module applies the needed
rotation.

Usage

darktable detects images that need correction by their Exif data and automatically
activates this module. For other images the module always remains disabled. The modules
has no parameters.

3.4.4.11. Spot removal

Overview

Spot removal allows you to correct an area in your

image by using another area as model.

141
Usage

This module uses some of the shapes that are offered in drawn masks, namely circles,
ellipses and path shapes. The user interface and the controls are the same as in drawn
mask and explained in more detail in Section 3.2.5.5, “Drawn mask”.

Select the desired shape by clicking the corresponding icon, then click on the canvas to
choose the area to be healed, i.e. the target area. A cross is displayed where the source
area will be positioned.

The source positioning has two modes: absolute or relative. To set the absolute mode,
while creating a shape, Shift+Ctrl+click on the desired position. From now on, all new
shapes will have the source created at that position. To set the relative mode, still while
creating a shape, Shift+click on the desired position. The current shape will have the source
created at that position and the subsequent ones will have the source created at the same
relative position.

After creation source area and target area can be shifted independently until the result
matches your expectations. An arrow helps to tell source from target area.

Use the shape specific controls to adjust its size, its border width, and other attributes.

Right-click on a shape to delete it.

Collapse the module to complete the changes.

Examples

Let's use this portrait as example; we want to remove

some dirt and unwanted catchlight from camera
popup strobe.

I have marked all the spots that I want to remove

from the image with circle shapes and appropriately
selected source areas.

And here is the result image of the spotremoval.

3.4.4.12. Retouch

142
Overview

Retouch allows to heal, clone, fill and blur certain

areas of the image. It can perform a wavelet
decomposition which separates the image into
different frequency scales, from fine to coarse, and
apply retouch operations to each wavelet scale
individually.

Usage

For a basic use, with default parameters, add the shapes to the image like with the spot
removal module (see Section 3.4.4.11, “Spot removal”). To use the wavelet decompose
first select one of the scales as the current scale (see below) and then add the shapes.

The GUI is divided in three main sections: wavelet decompose, retouch tools and shapes.

wavelet decompose section

The wavelet decompose toolbar controls the wavelet decompose algorithm. It has a
central area divided in boxes and two sliders. The first box, scale zero, represents the
original image, the second is the wavelet scale 1, and so on.

The bottom slider adjusts the number of scales, zero means no wavelet decompose is
done. The maximum number of scales depends on the image size, but any number can be
selected. If the image is not big enough for the selected number of scales the maximum
number of scales for this image size is used and the rest of the scales are ignored.

The image is decomposed to the selected number of scales plus the residual image, so if
5 is selected as the number of scales, scale zero is the original image, scales 1 to 5 are the
detail scales, and scale 6 is the residual image. As a visual aid, the original image is always
represented by a black box, detail scales are light gray, residual image white and inactive
scales dark gray.

The central area allows to select the current scale on which the user can then apply
retouch tools by left clicking any of the boxes. The selected scale is marked by a red frame.
Any scale can be selected as the current scale, even if it is greater than the number of
scales. If a shape is added to a scale greater than the residual image it will be ignored, as
the scale is not processed.

Only the shapes on the current scale are displayed, when the current scale is changed
shapes will be displayed accordingly.

A green line on top of each box indicates that the scale has shapes associated with it.

Fine detail scales can only be seen at certain zoom level, a light gray line on top of each
box will indicate that the scale is visible at current zoom level.

The top slider adjusts the merge scale feature. This setting allows to apply a common
edit on multiple consecutive scales within a group starting from the highest scale (not
including the residual image) down to the one selected by this slider. If the slider is set
to 3 and the maximum scale is 5 then all edits that are added to scale 5 will be applied
to scales 3 to 5. Edits added to scale 4 will be applied to scales 3 and 4, and edits added
143
 to scale 3 will be applied only to scale 3. Merged scales are represented by a green-yellow
color. A value of zero means that the merge feature is not used.

The display wavelet scale button ( ) allow to view the current wavelet scale. The
module's blend feature is temporary disabled when this option is set. If blending in the
module is active and the option to display masks is active this option cannot be set. When
this option is active a new section, “preview single scale”, will be displayed, allowing to
adjust the levels for the displayed image. This is purely a convenience feature so you can
adjust wavelet scale display to your needs. It does not have an effect on the final output
image. An auto levels button ( ) is also available; it works on the displayed image, so
different results can be expected depending on the image displayed when zoomed in/out.
Levels are only applied to detail scales, not the original or residual image.

The cut and paste buttons allow to move all the shapes from one scale to another. In order
to do this first select the current scale, click the cut button ( ), select the destination
scale and click paste ( ). This can be useful when there are edits on the residual image
and one has to change the number of scales; since the residual image is changed, shapes
need to be moved to the new one.

The switch off shapes button ( ) temporarily disables the processing of all shapes for a
simple before/after comparison.

The display masks button ( ) works similar to the one on the blend module, but it will
display only the shapes on the current scale. This option and display mask on the blend
module cannot be set at the same time.

retouch tools section

The shapes toolbar allows to add new shapes to the image. Shapes creation/editing
behaves like in the spot removal module. In addition, by Ctrl+click on any shape button, the
continuous add mode is activated. Once a shape is added, darktable will remain in creation
mode, allowing to add another shape of the same type. To change the shape type to be
added Ctrl+click on a different shape button to continue on continuous add mode or plain
click to add a single shape. To leave the continuous add mode right click on any clear area
of the image.

The algorithms toolbar allows to select between heal ( ), clone ( ), fill ( ) and blur (
) algorithms. Before actually creating a shape the algorithm must be selected – once a
shape is created the algorithm cannot be changed.

Any combination of shape type and algorithm can be added to the image.

shapes section

The shape selected field displays the selected shape (if any). To select a shape click on it,
to deselect click on a free area on the image.

Mask opacity is displayed when a shape is selected. It displays/sets the opacity of the mask.
Opacity is a property of the currently selected shape and won't be used as default value
for newly added shapes.

Different properties will be displayed depending on the selected algorithm:

fill algorithm fill mode

Can be erase or color. Erase is used to delete details from a wavelet

scale. Color allows to select a color to fill the area defined by the
shape.
144
 brightness

Adds the selected value to the color, allowing to make it brighter

or darker. Works the same with both fill modes.
blur algorithm blur type

Can be gaussian or bilateral.

blur radius

Sets the blur radius.

The value set on each one of these properties is used as a default when a new shape is
created.

3.4.4.13. Raw denoise

Overview

Raw denoise allows you to perform denoising on the

data before it gets demosaiced. It is ported from
dcraw [http://www.cybercom.net/~dcoffin/dcraw/].

Usage

noise threshold

Set the threshold for noise detection. Higher values lead to stronger noise removal and
higher loss of image detail.

coarse/fine curves

The noise of an image is usually not only fine grain, but also more or less coarse grain.
These curves allow to denoise more or less depending on the coarseness of the visible
noise. The left of the curve will act on very coarse grain noise, while the right of the
curve will act on very fine grain noise. Pushing up the curve will result in more smoothing,
pulling it down will result in less smoothing. As an example, you can preserve very-fine
grain noise by pulling down the rightest point of the curve until the minimum value. As
another example, if you are tackling chroma noise with a blend mode, you can push up
the right part of the curve, as colors are not supposed to change a lot on fine grain scales:
this will help especially if you see some isolated pixel left undenoised. Considering R,
G, and B curves, the best way to use them is to look at one of the channel using the
channel mixer module in gray mode, denoise this particular channel, and then do the same
for the other channels. This way, you can take into account the fact that some channel
may be noisier than others into your denoising. Be aware that guessing which channel
is noisy without actually seeing the channels individually is not straightforward and can
145
 be counterintuitive: a pixel which is completely red may not be caused by noise on the R
channel, but actually by noise on B and G channels.

3.4.4.14. Dithering

Overview

This module eliminates some of the typical banding

artifacts which can occur, when darktable's internal
32-bit floating point data are transferred into a
discrete 8-bit or 16-bit integer output format for
display or file export.

Banding is a problem which can arise, when an image is downsampled into a lower bit-
depth. Downsampling happens regularly, when darktable displays or exports the results
of a pixelpipe. In order to avoid banding, you may activate this module. As dithering
consumes significant resources this module is disabled by default.

Although banding is not an inherent problem of any of darktable's modules, some

operations may provoke it as they produce a lightness gradient in the image. To
mitigate possible artifacts you should consider to activate dithering when using the
vignette and the graduated density module, respectively (see Section 3.4.5.4, “Vignetting”
and Section  3.4.5.13, “Graduated Density”). This is especially relevant for images with
extended homogeneous areas like cloudless sky. Also when using a gradient mask (see the
section called “gradient”) you should watch out for possible banding artifacts.

Usage

Viewing from some distance an image dithered into a very low bit depth (like “floyd-
steinberg 1-bit b&w”) will give the impression of a homogeneous grayscale image. We try
to mimic this impression in darktable when you look at zoomed-out images in the center
view, in the navigation window and for thumbnails. This is accomplished by dithering
those images into a higher number of grayscale levels. Note that as a consequence the
histogram  – which is derived from the navigation window  – will show this increased
number of levels and is no longer a full match of the output image.

method

This combobox sets the dithering method. Floyd-Steinberg error diffusion – with some
typical output bit depths  – and random noise dithering are both supported. Floyd-
Steinberg systematically distributes quantization errors over neighboring pixels, whereas
random dithering just adds some level of randomness to break sharp tonal value bands.
The default setting is “floyd-steinberg auto”, which automatically adapts to the desired
output format.

damping

This slider is only displayed if you choose method “random”. It controls the level of added
random noise expressed as a damping factor in a 10*log 2 basis. A value of -80 is a good
fit for 8-bit output formats and -160 for 16-bit ones.

Examples

The visibility of the following examples depends on the quality of your monitor or the
print quality.
146
 Banding artifact caused by vignetting (100% crop of
a 8-bit PNG; effect heavily exaggerated by strong
contrast enhancement).

The same image area, processed as above but with

activated Floyd-Steinberg dithering.

3.4.4.15. Hotpixels

Overview

This module is able to automatically detect and

eliminate hotpixels. Hotpixels are pixels which failed
to record light level correctly. Detected hotpixels are
replaced by an average value of their neighbors.

Usage

You control the detection sensitivity with the threshold parameter and the level of
elimination with the strength parameter.

threshold

The threshold of the detection, i.e. how strong a pixel's value needs to deviate from its
neighbors to be regarded as a hotpixel.

strength

The strength of blending hotpixels with their surrounding.

detect by 3 neighbours

This will extend the detection of hotpixels, it will even regard a pixel as hot if a minimum
of only three (instead of four) neighbor pixels deviate by more than the threshold level.
147
 mark fixed pixels

This options will mark the pixels that have been corrected. It also displays the count of
detected and fixed pixels.

3.4.4.16. Chromatic aberrations

Overview

This module allows you to correct chromatic

aberrations.

Usage

The module has no parameters. On activation it will automatically try to optimize away
visible CA's.

The underlying model assumes as input an uncropped photographic image. The module is
likely to fail when you zoom into the image, as in that case it will only receive parts of your
photograph as input in darktable's pixelpipe. As a consequence, chromatic aberrations do
not get corrected properly in the center view. This limitation only applies to interactive
work, not to file export.

This module currently only works for images recorded with a Bayer sensor (which is the
sensor used in the majority of cameras).

3.4.4.17. Automatic haze removal

Overview

The haze removal module is designed to

automatically reduce the effect of dust and haze
in the air, which often reduces the color contrast
in landscape photographs. In general, this module
may be employed to give pictures a color boost
specifically in low-contrast image regions.

The higher the haze density in the air and the longer the distance between the camera and
the photographed object the less colorful the object appears in the image. Haze absorbs
light approaching from the objects into the direction of the camera but it is also a source
of diffusive background light. Thus the haze removal module estimates for each image
region the amount of haze in the scene first and then removes the diffusive background
light according to its local strength and recovers the original object light.

Usage

The haze removal module has two controls that determine the amount of haze reduction
and limit the distance up to which haze is removed. Setting both controls to unity
maximizes the amount of haze removal but this is also likely to produce some artifacts.
Removing the atmospheric light entirely may render the image flat and may result in an
unnatural looking style. Optimal values are typically below unity and these are rather
image dependent but also a matter of personal aesthetic preferences.

strength

The strength parameter controls the amount of haze removal. Setting it to unity, the
module removes 100 percent of the detected haze between the camera and up to the
148
 specified distance; see below. Negative values for the strength increase the amount of
haze in the image.

distance

This parameter limits the distance up to which haze is removed. For small values,
haze removal is restricted to the foreground of the image. Haze is removed from the
foreground to the far background if the distance parameter is set to unity. In case of a
negative strength the distance control has no effect.

3.4.4.18. Defringe

Overview

This module is designed to remove purple or

any other color of fringing which often results
from Longitudinal Chromatic Aberrations (LCA), also
known as Axial Chromatic Aberrations.

Usage

This module helps removing fringe via edge-detection. Where pixels are detected as a
fringe, it rebuilds the color from lower-saturated neighboring pixels.

operation mode

Set the operation mode for detecting fringes. “global average” is usually the fastest
but might show slightly incorrect previews in high magnification. It might also protect
the wrong regions of color too much or too little by comparison with local averaging.
“local average” is slower because it computes local color references for every pixel, which
might protect color better than global average and allows for rebuilding color where
actually required. The “static” method does not use a color reference but directly uses the
threshold as given by the user.

edge detection radius

Set the spatial extent of the gaussian blur used for an edge detection. The algorithm uses
the difference of gaussian-blurred and original image as an indicator for edges (a special
case of the “difference of gaussians” edge detection). Try increasing this value if you either
want a stronger detection of the fringes or the thickness of the fringe edges is too high.

threshold

Sets the threshold over which the edge of a pixel is counted as a “fringe”. The colors
of the affected pixels will be rebuild from neighboring pixels. Try lowering this value if
there is not enough fringe detected and try increasing this value if too many pixels are
desaturated. You may additionally want to play around with the edge detection radius.

3.4.5. Effect group

In the effect group you will find modules with a more artistic touch.

3.4.5.1. Watermark
149
Overview

The watermark module provides a way to render a

vector-based overlay onto your image. Watermarks
are standard SVG documents and can be designed
using Inkscape [http://www.inkscape.org].

The SVG processor of darktable also substitutes strings within the SVG document, which
gives the opportunity to include image dependent information in the watermark such as
aperture, exposure time and other metadata.

User-designed watermarks are placed into the directory $HOME/.config/darktable/

watermarks. Once in place, use the reload button at the right of the watermark file name
to update the list of available watermarks to use.

Here follows a list of available variable strings that is supported for substitution within
the svg document. Beside this list you can also use the variable strings defined in export
selected module.

$(DARKTABLE.NAME) The application name

$(DARKTABLE.VERSION) The version of darktable
$(WATERMARK_TEXT) A short free text (max. 63 characters)
$(WATERMARK_COLOR) The color to use for $WATERMARK_TEXT
$(WATERMARK_FONT_FAMILY) The font family to use for
$WATERMARK_TEXT
$(WATERMARK_FONT_STYLE) The font style (normal, oblique, italic)
$(WATERMARK_FONT_WEIGHT) The font weight (boldness)
$(IMAGE.ID) The unique image id within current library
$(IMAGE.FILENAME) The image filename
$(IMAGE.BASENAME) The image file basename
$(IMAGE.EXIF) The image Exif string
$(EXIF.DATE) The image date
$(EXIF.DATE.SECOND) Seconds from the image Exif data
$(EXIF.DATE.MINUTE) Minutes from the image Exif data
$(EXIF.DATE.HOUR) Hours from the image Exif data (24h)
$(EXIF.DATE.HOUR_AMPM) Hours from the image Exif data (12h, AM/
PM)
$(EXIF.DATE.DAY) Day of month from the image Exif data
(01 .. 31)

150
 $(EXIF.DATE.MONTH) Month from the image Exif data (01 .. 12)
$(EXIF.DATE.SHORT_MONTH) Month from the image Exif data localized
(Jan, Feb, .. Dec)
$(EXIF.DATE.LONG_MONTH) Month from the image Exif data localized
(January, February, .. December)
$(EXIF.DATE.SHORT_YEAR) Abbreviated year from the image Exif data
(2013 is "13")
$(EXIF.DATE.LONG_YEAR) Full year from the image Exif data
$(DATE) Current system date
$(DATE.SECOND) Current system time seconds
$(DATE.MINUTE) Current system time minutes
$(DATE.HOUR) Current system time hours (24h)
$(DATE.HOUR_AMPM) Current system time hours (12, AP/PM)
$(DATE.DAY) Current system time day of month (01 .. 31)
$(DATE.MONTH) Current system time month (01 .. 12)
$(DATE.SHORT_MONTH) Current system time month localized (Jan,
Feb, .. Dec)
$(DATE.LONG_MONTH) Current system time month localized
(January, February, .. December)
$(DATE.SHORT_YEAR) Current system time year (abbreviated)
$(DATE.LONG_YEAR) Current system time year
$(EXIF.MAKER) The maker of camera model
$(EXIF.MODEL) The camera model
$(EXIF.LENS) The specific lens used
$(Xmp.dc.creator) The creator string
$(Xmp.dc.publisher) The publisher string
$(Xmp.dc.title) The title of the image
$(Xmp.dc.description) The description of the image. This is the
field to use when you're looking for the
user-specified text that some cameras add
at shoot time to exif field “User Comment”
(also called “Exif.Photo.UserComment”).
$(Xmp.dc.rights) The rights assigned to the image
$(GPS.LATITUDE) The image latitude coordinate (N/S 0 .. 90)
$(GPS.LONGITUDE) The image longitude coordinate (E/W
0 .. 180)
$(GPS.ELEVATION) The image elevation level (meters)
$(GPS.LOCATION) All three coordinates (latitude, longitude,
elevation)

Usage

marker

Choose the watermark of interest. You can use the reload button next to the combobox
to update the list with all newly added watermarks.
151
 text

A free text field with up to 63 characters which gets printed if the corresponding
watermark references it. An example is supplied as simple-text.svg.

text color

This field shows the text color. Clicking on the colored field will open a color selector dialog
which offers you a choice of commonly used colors, or allows to define a color in RGB color
space.

text font

This field lets you select the text font. Clicking on the field opens a dialog box which shows
the fonts available to your system. Fonts can be searched by name and a preview of each
available font is shown next to the font name; you may specify your own sample text. The
font defaults to “DejaVu Sans Book”.

opacity

Set the opacity of the watermark's rendering.

scale

Scale the watermark pixel-independently.

rotate

Set the rotation angle of the watermark.

scale on

Defines the reference for the scale parameter. The default setting “image” scales the
watermark relative to the horizontal image size. Alternatively you can scale the watermark
relative to the “larger border” and “smaller border”, respectively.

alignment

Use these controls to align the watermark to any edge or center of the image.

x offset

Pixel-independent offset relative to the choice of alignment on the x-axis.

y offset

Pixel-independent offset relative to the choice of alignment on the y-axis.

3.4.5.2. Framing

Overview

This module is an artistic feature to generate a frame

around your image. The frame consists of a border
with a user defined color and a frame line inside that
border, which has another user defined color. There
are various options for you to control the geometry
of your frame.

152
Usage

border size

This slider controls the size of the frame in percent of the underlying full image.

aspect

With this combobox you can choose between different aspect ratios for the final output
of this module, i.e. underlying image plus frame.

orientation

If you select a non-square aspect ratio this combobox defines the orientation – portrait or
landscape. Set to “auto” if you want darktable to select the most reasonable orientation
based on the underlying image.

horizontal position

Select from a set of pre-defined ratios where you want your underlying image be
positioned on the horizontal axis. You can also right click and enter your own ratio as “x/y”.

vertical position

Select from a set of pre-defined ratios where you want your underlying image be
positioned on the vertical axis. You can also right click and enter your own ratio as “x/y”.

frame line size

The percentage of the frame line size relative to the border size at its smallest part.

frame line offset

Where the frame line is positioned relative to the underlying image. Select a value of 0 for
a frame line touching the image, 100% for a frame line touching the outer border limits.

border color

A color selector which allows to define a color for the border. Clicking on the colored field
will open a color selector dialog which offers you a choice of commonly used colors, or
allows to define a color in RGB color space.

You can also activate a color picker by pressing and take a color probe from your image.
You can switch between point and area sampling mode from within the global color picker
panel (see Section 3.3.6, “Global color picker”).

frame line color

A color selector which allows to define a color for the frame. Clicking on the colored field
will open a color selector dialog which offers you a choice of commonly used colors, or
allows to define a color in RGB color space.

You can also activate a color picker by pressing and take a color probe from your image.
You can switch between point and area sampling mode from within the global color picker
panel (see Section 3.3.6, “Global color picker”).

153
Examples

Example image with a user defined frame.

3.4.5.3. split-toning

Overview

darktable's split-toning method creates a two

color linear toning effect where the shadows and
highlights are represented by two different colors.
In the example image below you can see an original
black and white image and one where a split-toning
effect is applied with blue in shadows and a yellowish
color in highlights.

Compared to traditional split-toning our module has more parameters to influence its
behavior. We have parameter “balance”, which offsets the 50% gray level in your image – at
your choice – more to the shadows or more to the highlights. Additionally, with parameter
“compression” you can compress toning in the shadows and highlights and leave a gap in
the mid-tones, which remain untouched by the effect.

The split-toning module does not convert images to black and white and has limited
benefits on color images. So, if you want to do traditional split-toning, use the
monochrome module (see Section 3.4.3.9, “Monochrome”) to make the image black and
white before playing around with split-toning effect.

Usage
shadows and highlights color

These controls are used to set the color of the split-toning effect, you select the desired
color and saturation for both shadows and highlights. Clicking on the colored squares will
open a color selector dialog which offers you a choice of commonly used colors, or allows
to define a color in RGB color space.

balance

This parameter represents the ratio of toning between shadows and highlights. For a value
of 50% half of the lightness range in image is used for shadows toning and the other half
for highlights toning.

compression

Compression is a percentage of total lightness range that is not affected by color toning.
Default value is set to 33%; this is not the default behavior of an original split-toning which
154
 would be 0% compression. The choice of 33% as a default is to invite you experimenting
with these parameters and how it extends the original split-toning method.

Examples

Original black and white image.

split-toning with blue shadows and yellow highlights.

3.4.5.4. Vignetting

Overview

This module is an artistic feature which

creates vignetting (modification of the brightness/
saturation at the borders).

Usage

The vignetting module has an extensive set of parameters to precisely tune its effect. It
also will display graphical controls within the image if the module is in focus. Give it a try
to get a feeling of how it works. On-screen controls and parameter sliders will stay in sync.

This module is known to provoke banding artifacts under certain conditions; you should
consider to activate the dithering module (see Section 3.4.4.14, “Dithering”).

scale

Set the radius of the vignetting area.

fall-off strength

Sets the progressiveness of the fall-off. Higher values will cause a steeper transition.
155
 brightness

Sets the intensity of brightening (positive values) or darkening (negative values).

saturation

Controls how strong colors become when desaturated or saturated in the darkened or
brightened vignetting area.

horizontal center

Shifts the center of the vignetting area horizontally.

vertical center

Shifts the center of the vignetting area vertically.

shape

Influences the shape of the vignetting area. The default value of 1 causes a circular or
elliptical area. Smaller values will shift the shape into a more square one; higher values
turn it into a cross-like shape.

automatic ratio

Click this button to automatically adjust the width/height ratio of the vignetting area
to the aspect ratio of the underlying image. The vignetting area will typically become
elliptical.

width/height ratio

Manually adjust the width/height ratio of the vignetting area.

dithering

With this combobox you can activate random noise dithering to overcome banding
artifacts caused by vignette gradients. Select “8-bit output” to prevent banding on
monitor display and for JPEGs. When set to “16-bit output”, only a little dithering will
be applied, just strong enough to compensate for banding on the fine grained 16-bit
level. This feature is mostly obsoleted by our new module dithering (see Section 3.4.4.14,
“Dithering”).

Examples

An image with vignetting and with graphical

vignetting controls displayed.

3.4.5.5. Soften
156
Overview

This module is an artistic feature that creates a

softened image, commonly known as the Orton
effect.

Usage

Michael Orton achieved his results on slide film by using two exposures of the same scene:
one well exposed and one overexposed; he then used a darkroom technique to blend
those into a final image where the overexposed image was blurred.

This module is almost a copy of Orton's analogue process into the digital domain. You
can control brightness and blur with the provided parameters; we also add a control for
saturation of the overexposured image for more play.

size

Set the size of blur of the overexposed image in the process, the bigger the softer.

saturation

Set the saturation of the overexposed image.

brightness

Expressed in [EV], the brightness slider selects the increase in brightness.

mix

Controls the mix of the overexposed image and the overall effect.

Examples

This is the original image, use it as reference for the

changes below...

In this image I used the default values, and added

0.33EV to brightness for a little more light in the soft
layer.

157
 This version is the same as above but with 25%
saturation.

3.4.5.6. Grain

Overview

This module is an artistic feature which simulates the

grain of a film.

Usage

The grain is processed on the L channel from CIELAB.

coarseness

Set the grain size, which has been scaled to simulate an ISO number.

strength

Set the strength of the effect.

3.4.5.7. Highpass

Overview

Highpass acts as a high pass filter. The primary

usage for this filter is in combination with a blending
operator. Try out blend mode “soft light” to get
highpass sharpening. Use the opacity slider to adjust
the strength of the effect or use a drawn mask (see
Section  3.2.5.5, “Drawn mask”) or parametric mask
(see Section 3.2.5.6, “Parametric mask”) to limit the
effect to only parts of your image.

Usage

sharpen

Set the sharpness. The higher, the more details.

contrast boost

Set the contrast boost.

158
3.4.5.8. Lowpass

Overview

A lowpass filter (eg. gaussian blur) with additional

control of the outcome both of contrast and
saturation. The primary usage for lowpass filter
is in combination with a blending operator (see
Section  3.2.5.4, “Blending operators”). Try out the
preset named “local contrast mask” with an “overlay”
blending operation.

Usage

This module offers enormous artistic potential, albeit, with results that are sometimes
difficult to predict.

radius

Set the radius of the blur.

soften with

This combobox defines the blur algorithm; you can choose between “gaussian” blur
(default) and “bilateral” filter. The latter leads to an edge preserving blur. “gaussian” will
blur all image channels: L, a and b. “bilateral” will only blur L channel.

contrast

Changes the contrast. Negative values result in an inverted negative image. Higher
absolute values increase contrast; lower absolute values reduce contrast. A value of zero
leads to a neutral plane.

brightness

Changes the brightness. Negative values result in a darker image. Positive values increase
the image's brightness.

saturation

Changes the color saturation. Negative values result in complementary colors by inverting
the a/b-channels. Higher absolute values increase color saturation; lower absolute values
reduce color saturation. A value of zero leads to a desaturated black&white image.

Examples

The original image, already heavily processed. The

boat is almost a silhouette.

159
 Bilateral blur with high radius. Desaturated, inverted
and with high contrast.

Intermediate result after lowpass filter ...

... and final image after this was applied with blend
mode "vividlight".

3.4.5.9. Low light

Overview

The low light module allows one to simulate human

lowlight vision, thus providing ability to make
lowlight pictures look closer to reality. It can also be
used to perform a day to night conversion.

The idea is to calculate a scotopic vision [http://

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotopic_vision] image which
is perceived by rods rather than than cones in
the eye under low light. Scotopic lightness then
is mixed with photopic value (regular color image
pixel) using some blending function. Also this module
is able to simulate the Purkinje effect [http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purkinje_effect] by adding
some blueness to the dark parts of the image.

Usage

This module comes with several presets. Give them a try to get a better feeling how it
works.

curve

The horizontal axis is about pixel lightness from dark (left) to bright (right). The vertical
axis represents the kind of vision from night vision (bottom) to day vision (top)
160
 blue

Set the blue hint in shadows (Purkinje effect).

Examples

Image 1. This is the original image.

Image 1. With low light module on.

Image 2. This is the original image.

Image 2. With low light module on.

3.4.5.10. Bloom

Overview

This module takes highlights, blurs them and then

blends (screen blend lightness) with the original to
create a soft blooms over the image, hence the name
of the effect. There are numerous ways to use this
module depending on the image's actual scenery
lighting.

Usage
Starting from the default settings change the strength value for a pleasant look, then
change the size to control the spread of light.
161
 size

Represents the spatial extent of the bloom effect.

threshold

Set the threshold for the increase in brightness.

strength

Set the strength of overlightning for the effect.

Examples

This is the original image, use it as reference for the

changes below...

Here we have chosen to use a size of 10%, which

is a rather small radius for the soft light spread.
We boosted up the strength to 50% for a more
exaggerated effect.

3.4.5.11. Colorize

Overview

This module is an artistic feature that adds a solid

layer of color to your image.

Usage
Several parameters control the effect of this module. Much more versatility can be
reached if you apply blending and masks. (see Section 3.2.5, “Blending”).

hue

Selects the hue of the color layer.

saturation

Selects the color saturation of shadow tones.

lightness

Selects the lightness of the color layer.

162
 source mix

This slider controls how the lightness of the input image is mixed in. If you set this to zero
a uniformly colored plane will result.

3.4.5.12. Color mapping

Overview

This module transfers the look and feel from one

image onto another. It statistically analyses the color
characteristics of a source image and a target image.
The colors of the source image are then mapped to
corresponding colors of the target image.

Usage

To use this module two steps are required.

First you open the source image in darkroom mode and acquire its color characteristics by
pressing the “acquire as source” button. A set of color clusters is generated and displayed
in the “source clusters” area. Each cluster is represented by a set of color swatches with
the mean value in the center surrounded by swatches indicating the color variance within
that cluster. The clusters are sorted in ascending order by their weight, i.e. the number of
pixels that contribute to the clusters.

Next you open your target image in darkroom mode. darktable has remembered the
previously collected source clusters; if they are not yet displayed, press the button. You
now press the “acquire as target” button to generate a corresponding set of color clusters
for your target image, which gets displayed in the “target clusters” area.

When both source and target clusters are collected an automatic color mapping is applied
to the target image. In its default settings the overall effect is quite exaggerated. A set
of sliders gives you control of the effect's strength. You can also use blending operator
“normal” to tame the effect (see Section  3.2.5.4, “Blending operators”). As the color
mapping module comes early in the pixelpipe, you can finetune the colors with modules
like tone curve (see Section 3.4.2.3, “Tone curve”) or color correction (see Section 3.4.3.5,
“Color correction”).

acquire as source/target

Press these buttons to generate color clusters for the source and target image,
respectively. The processing takes a few seconds during which the GUI remains
unresponsive.

number of clusters

Sets the number of color clusters to use. If you change this parameter all collected color
clusters are reset and need to be acquired anew.
163
 color dominance

This parameter controls the mapping between source and target clusters. At the lowest
value mapping is based on color proximity. This typically leads to very subtle effects on
the target image. At the maximum value mapping is based on the relative weight of the
color clusters – dominant colors of the source image are mapped to dominant colors of the
target image. This typically leads to a very bold effect. In-between values incrementally
shift between the extremes.

histogram equalization

Besides mapping of color characteristics this module can modify the target image's
contrast by matching its histogram with the histogram of the source image. This slider
controls the extent of the effect.

Examples

The source image taken shortly after sunset under

front lighting conditions.

The target image taken in the afternoon with a partly

clouded sky. Our goal is to transfer the evening
atmosphere of the source image.

The target image with color mapping applied. A

number of 2 clusters was used. “color dominance”
is set to 100% for a bold but still credible effect.
“histogram equalization” is set to 80%.

3.4.5.13. Graduated Density

Overview

This module aims at simulating a graduated density

filter, in order to correct exposure and color in a
progressive manner.

164
Usage
The module uses a gradient to modify the exposure and the color cast of the image in a
non-homogeneously manner.

This module is known to provoke banding artifacts under certain conditions; you should
consider to activate the dithering module (see Section 3.4.4.14, “Dithering”).
density

Set the density of the filter in [ev]. A low value underexposes slightly whereas a high value
creates a strong filter.

It is expressed as [ev] that is equivalent to f-stops. Lens filters are often referred as ND2,
ND4, ND8 and so on. Each time you add an [ev] you double the ND. So ND2 is 1 ev, ND4 is 2
ev, and so on. You can also express it in optical density or transmittance. The table below
sums up the different approach for the most common filters:

ND [ev] or f-stop absorbance transmittance

ND2 -1 0.3 50%
ND4 -2 0.6 25%
ND8 -3 0.9 12.5%
ND400 -9 2.7 0.195%

compression

Set progressiveness of the gradient. A low value creates a smooth transition, whereas a
high value makes the transition abrupt.
hue

Set the hue to add a color cast to the gradient.

saturation

Set the saturation to add a color cast to the gradient.

position

You can set the position of the gradient directly on

the image by moving the white line. For fine tuning,
you can also use the rotation slider. Negative values
turn clockwise.

Examples
Here is an example that shows various options of darktable's graduated density filter:

This is the original image with a pretty overexposed

sky, use it as reference for the changes below...

165
 And now we have added a neutral ND8 filter which
does a pretty good job on the image..

And at last, we added an orange colored filter

rotating it -180 degrees, applying it on water/trees
for a more artistic use of the filter.

darktable's graduated density filter is a powerful tool. Nevertheless, hardware filters have
some advantages over a pure software solution. With a physical GND filter you can in fact
reduce the dynamic range of your scene to make it better fit the limits of your camera
sensor.

In this example a hardware GND filter (Hitech ND0.6,

soft edge) helped to prevent over-exposure in the
sky and tree tops, while at the same time getting
a well exposed image of the ground. A rather
disturbing element is the decay of brightness in the
tree trunks from bottom to top.

darktable's graduated density filter together with

the parametric mask feature (see Section  3.2.5.6,
“Parametric mask”) comes in handy. We can add a
brightness gradient that is just inverted in relation to
the hardware filter. As we only want to compensate
the unnatural decay of brightness in the tree trunks,
we combine the module with a suited blend mask.

The resulting image.

Tip: If you know you intend to use the graduated density filter before actually making a
shot with your camera you might want to underexpose by one or two thirds of an f-stop
to make sure detail remains in the highlights. When all detail has truly been blown out
the graduated density filter cannot produce a pleasing results, this is a limitation that is
inherent to digital postprocessing. For instructions on how to intentionally underexpose,
please consult your camera's manual, look for “exposure compensation”.

166
3.5. Examples

3.5.1. Converting to black and white

3.5.1.1. Overview

Black and white conversion can be achieved in several

ways with darktable. Indeed, darktable comes with a
lot of modules, especially for color manipulation. In
this manual, I will show you 4 ways to perform a black
and white conversion.

3.5.1.2. The obvious way: monochrome module

To perform the conversion, just activate the monochrome module (Section  3.4.3.9,
“Monochrome”). You can then simulate a color filter, by dragging the circle above the
colors you want to filter. Filter size can be modified via scrolling the mouse wheel.

3.5.1.3. The simple way: color correction module

To perform such conversion we use the color correction module (Section 3.4.3.5, “Color
correction”).

1. Activate the color correction module

2. Use the bottom slider to set saturation to zero

3.5.1.4. The LAB way: color contrast module

To perform such conversion we use the color contrast module (Section  3.4.3.4, “Color
contrast”).

1. Activate the color contrast module

2. Set both steepness sliders to zero

3.5.1.5. The artistic way: color zones module

To perform the conversion we use the color zone module (Section 3.4.3.6, “Color zones”).

1. Activate the color zones module

2. By default, the active tabbed control is set to “saturation” whereas the “select by”
combobox is set to “hue”. This means that color are selected according to their hue
(horizontal scale) and you can change for each hue its “saturation” (vertical scale). You
simply need to set all points to the minimum of the vertical scale to de-saturate every
hue.

3. But now if you want, you can keep some hues a little bit saturated, so your image will be
all black and white but some hue. A classical use for portrait is to keep red hue saturated
in order to make the lips standing out.

You can also use one of the available presets that perform black and white conversion,
keeping some hues saturated.
167
3.5.1.6. The sophisticated way: channel mixer module
To perform the conversion we use the channel mixer module (Section 3.4.3.1, “Channel
mixer”).

1. Activate the channel mixer module

2. Select the gray output channel

3. Set the proportion of each color, the sum having to equal 1 if you want to keep your
global lightness.

3.5.2. Cross-processing
3.5.2.1. Overview

Cross-processing is an analog processing technique

where slide film (normally developed thanks to an
E6 solution) is processed in chemicals used for
processing print film (C41). The resulting images
get skewed colors usually a cyan hue and increased
contrast and saturation.

The standard way for doing digital cross-processing is to use a channel curve tool but
darktable lacks this tool for the moment and another way to accommodate the effect is
used.

3.5.2.2. Procedure
This procedure uses tone curve, channel mixer and split-toning modules.

1. Image preparation

Prepare the image for the cross process steps by adjusting the base settings such as
exposure, whitebalance etc. for a correctly looking image.

2. Boost contrast

Select the medium contrast curve preset for tone curve module (Section 3.4.2.3, “Tone
curve”) to boost the overall contrast in the image. You might later return here to tune
the curve for better result.

3. Color cast

This step changes the color cast as the base for the effect using the channel mixer
module (Section  3.4.3.1, “Channel mixer”). You might later again return to this and
finetune the colorcast of the final result.

a. Enable the channel mixer module

b. Select the blue channel and set the blue color value to 0.8

c. Select the red channel and change the blue color value to 0.1

d. Select the green channel and change the blue color value to 0.1

4. split-toning

168
 We use split-toning (Section 3.4.5.3, “split-toning”) to add some more coloring to the
result for cyan/blue shadows and yellow highlight.

a. Enable the split-toning module

b. Select a cyan/blue tone for shadows and set saturation around 50%

c. Select a yellow/orange tone for highlights and set saturation around 70%

d. Set compression to 10%

e. Use the balance slider to tune the split-toning effect. This differs on every image due
to it's exposure, motive etc.

3.5.3. Cyan toned image

3.5.3.1. Overview

Cyan is a nice color touchup for black and white

images, this example guides you through how to
make this with darktable and how to control the
tone. You can choose any tone of your like for this
tutorial...

3.5.3.2. Procedure

This procedure uses monochrome, channel mixer and split-toning modules.

1. Image preparation

Prepare the image for the cyan toned steps by adjusting the base settings such as
exposure,black level, contrast etc. for a correctly looking image.

2. Black and white

Enable the monochrome module (Section 3.4.3.9, “Monochrome”) to make the image

black and white.

3. Add color tone

This step selects the base tone of the image using channel mixer (Section  3.4.3.1,
“Channel mixer”), we are going for cyan tone but you can choose any tone that you like
here.

a. Enable the channel mixer module

b. Select the red channel destination and set the red color value to 0.7

c. Select the green channel destination and set the green color value to 1.15

d. Select the blue channel destination and set the blue color value to 1.15

As you notice we mix blue and green color to get a cyan tone, we substract 0.3 from
the red channel and add them to blue and green.

169
 4. split-toning

The result of the previous step does also add a color cast on highlights that we actually
want to have white for a prettier result. We also want to add some blue color cast to the
shadows in order to emphasis them. Module split-toning (Section 3.4.5.3, “split-toning”)
can accomplish this.

a. Enable the split-toning module

b. Select a blue/cyan tone for shadows and set saturation around 50%

c. Set highlights saturation to zero, to remove saturation on highlights

d. Set compression to zero

e. Use the balance slider to tune the effect, our example uses a balance of 70/30

3.5.4. Removal of red-eye effect

3.5.4.1. Overview
The red-eye effect in photography is the common
appearance of red pupils in color photographs of
eyes. It occurs when using a photographic flash very
close to the camera lens (as with most cameras with
built-in flash), in ambient low light.

We use the channel mixer module to reduce the red

color of the pupil. To limit the processing to the
pupils we have to apply two masks.

3.5.4.2. Masking
1. Enable the channel mixer module (see
Section 3.4.3.1, “Channel mixer”).

2. Activate blending

Modules with blending support exhibit an

additional combobox “blend” at the bottom
of their GUI. Blending is activated with this
combobox. Set value to “drawn mask”. Additional
controls are displayed which allow you to draw a
mask.

3. Masking the pupil

Clicking the symbol adds a circle shape.

Click into the canvas to place the circle. Left-click

and drag the circle to the position of the first pupil.
Use the scroll-wheel of your mouse while in the
circle to change the diameter. Scroll within the
circle border to minimize the width of the gradual
decay.

Alternatively you can use an elliptical shape. See

Section 3.2.5.5, “Drawn mask” for further details.

170
 4. Repeat step 3.

Clicking the symbol adds another circle shape.

Mark the second pupil.

3.5.4.3. Desaturation

1. Approach - Modifying the output channel “red”.

a. Set output channel “destination” to “red”

(default)

b. Set red color value to 0.00

c. Set green color value to 0.50

d. Set blue color value to 0.50

You are free to experiment what gives you the

most realistic pupil, but this is a good starting
point. Another proposal is 0.10/0.60/0.30. The
sum of the three values should be 1.

2. Approach - Modifying the output channel “gray”.

a. Set output channel “destination” to “gray”

b. Set red color value to 0.24

c. Set green color value to 0.68

d. Set blue color value to 0.08

You are free to experiment what gives you the

most realistic pupil, but this is a good starting
point. The sum of the three values should be 1.

171
172
Chapter 4. Tethering
The tethering view allows you to capture images directly into darktable from your
connected camera.

173
4.1. Overview
To use the tethering feature you need to connect your camera to your PC using a USB
cable. Your computer might ask to mount or view the connected camera. Do not mount
or view the camera. If that happens automatically, you will need to “unmount/eject” the
camera. This is required to unlock the camera so darktable can lock it for usage.

After the USB cable is connected, look at the import panel in lighttable mode (see
Section 2.3.1, “Import”). If your camera is not visible in this panel, click the “scan devices”
button and it will appear with two functions: “import from camera” and “tethered shoot”.
Click “tethered shoot” to enter the tethering mode.

darktable uses gphoto2 to interface with your camera. If you have problems finding the
connected camera as described above, check the troubleshoot section in this chapter in
order to verify your camera has tethering support.

4.1.1. Tethering

In the center view images are shown while

you capture them. You can get an exposure by
either using darktable's userinterface or manually
triggering a capture on your camera. If you are using
LiveView it will be shown in darktable's center view.

When entering tethering view, a film roll will be created using the same structure as
defined when you import from the camera. Job code will be predefined as “capture”.

If you want to group your captures into different film rolls, you should use the session
panel in right side. When entering a new name and pressing enter, a new film roll will be
created and captured images will go into this new film roll.

darktable provides some nifty tools to setup a capture in the user interface. You can setup
timelapse captures and brackets for HDR creations. The configuration is so dynamic that
you can create sequential capture of brackets – go figure... For more information read the
documentation about the capture panel and the examples in this chapter.

174
4.2. Tethering panels
This section contains documentation for panels that are specific to the tethering view.

4.2.1. Session

A session is a sequence of exposures taken in

tethering mode and going into a single film roll. A
new session equals a new film roll. A film roll is
created with the same storage structure that is used
when you import images from camera into darktable.

It's a bit awkward, but configuring this storage

structure is done in the camera import dialog for
now.

4.2.2. Live view

This panel gives you control of your camera's live

view mode. Functionality such as focus setting,
rotation, adding guides and overlays are supported.

4.2.3. Camera settings

The camera settings section allows you to set up

a capture job. This can include sequence, bracket
and delayed captures. You are also able to control
other camera settings such as focus mode, aperture,
shutter speed, ISO and white balance.

175
4.3. Examples
This section contains examples of typical usages of tethering.

4.3.1. Studio setup with screening

This is a pretty common use case. You have your studio and subject set up, the camera
is connected to your computer and tethering view is active in darktable. You work at the
camera and take images. Whenever you want, you can screen the image directly on your
computer monitor instead of using the camera LCD for validation.

This workflow is efficient and effective, since you can immediately review your captures
instead of waiting until after the shoot when everyone is gone. If you're shooting a model
this is a pretty nice way to pre-view the captures with the client instead of fumbling around
with your camera.

Working in the tethered mode can save you time and aggravation. Set a session name,
shoot your images and they will save in the correct film roll for the session for easy on-
site review.

4.3.2. Capturing a timelapse
A timelapse is a video clip composed of images taken in a time sequence. A typical example
is to take a timelapse of cityscapes where you capture clouds and traffic etc.

To setup a timelapse capture, create a new session as described previously. Now decide if
you want to shoot in manual or auto mode. Only use auto in situations were the ambient
light will change significantly during the time of the shoot, eg. shooting a timelapse over
24 hours might give you easier control of light in that kind of captured sequence.

The camera settings panel is where you define delay and sequence. Sequence will give you
the opportunity to choose how many images you want to capture and delay will set the
time in seconds between captures.

To start the capture click the capture button in the same panel and watch the filmstrip fill
up with images. The latest captured image is always displayed in center view.

176
4.4. Troubleshoot

4.4.1. Verify that your camera is supported

This troubleshooting guide will give you steps to verify your camera can be used with
tethering. This is done using the gphoto2 commandline tools. This is what darktable uses
to interface with your camera.

1. Verify that camera is detected

The following command will verify a camera that is connected to the computer and
detected by gphoto2. Find your camera port name to use it in the following tests below.
Usually port “usb:” will be enough and therefore used in these examples.

env LANG=C gphoto2 --auto-detect

2. Verify camera driver abilities

Execute the following command and verify that the capture choices ability supports
“Image” and configuration support is “yes”. darktable will check these two abilities and
decide if “tethered shoot” button should be shown or not.

env LANG=C gphoto2 --port usb: --abilities

3. Verify camera remote capture

This step will verify that your camera can be remotely controlled; that it can capture an
image, download it to your computer and display it within darktable.

env LANG=C gphoto2 --port usb: --capture-image-and-download

4. Verify camera tethered capture

And this last step tests if your camera supports events which darktable heavily relies
on. Running this command will make the gphoto2 process wait for an image capture
event which you must manually trigger on your camera. If successful, the image will be
downloaded to your computer.

env LANG=C gphoto2 --port usb: --capture-tethered

4.4.2. So, now what?

If any of the steps above failed, there are problems with your specific camera and driver.
Please report the issues to gphoto2 mailing list for further help. You can find the mailing
list at www.gphoto.org [http://www.gphoto.org/mailinglists/]. Add the following flags to
the failed command above for better support and attach the log output to your mail:

--debug --debug-file gphoto2_debug.log

If you successfully went through all the tests above, your camera will most likely be
supported by darktable. Even if successful, if you stumble upon a problem in darktable,
please file a bug on the bugtracker [https://github.com/darktable-org/darktable/issues].
Please attach the log outputs from the steps above and the log file output generated
after starting darktable with the following command.

darktable -d camctl 2>1 >camctl.log

177
178
Chapter 5. Map
The Map view is were you geotag your images.

179
5.1. Overview
Map view will show you a world map with the currently open image, or film roll of
images, pinned to their geotagged location. This requires that the image was geotagged
by a camera with that feature. Some newer cameras, including smartphones, are already
equipped with GPS receivers. Other cameras may need additional GPS hardware to do this.

Even if your camera doesn't support this feature, there is an alternative method. darktable
can match the Exif time and date data in your image(s) to a separate GPX data tracking
file created by a GPS tracker recording your movements. These can be handheld devices
or a GPS tracker app on your smartphone. This is all done in the lighttable view (see
Section 2.3.10, “Geotagging”).

5.1.1. Center map view

In the center of the map view you will see a map.

Map data are taken from open map sources on the internet. New map data are only
available if you are connected to the internet. darktable keeps a disk cache of previously
loaded map data.

Your mouse will allow navigation in the map. Left-click will drag the map; using the scroll-
wheel will zoom in or out.

There are on-screen controls and displays that assist you to find your way. A navigation
area is located on top left of the map. Use it as an alternative to mouse-dragging and
scrolling. The scale of your map is displayed on bottom left. On bottom right you see the
geographical coordinates for the center of the map.

Images that already have geo location attributes in their metadata are displayed as small
icons on the map.

In order to assign geo coordinates to an image, activate the film-strip on the lower panel
(press Ctrl+F). You can simply assign a geo location to an image by dragging the image icon
from the film-strip and position it onto the map. darktable will record the new geo location
(longitude and latitude) as part of the image metadata. Exported images will include this
data.

In order to remove geo coordinates from an image just drag it from the map and drop it
onto the filmstrip.

Left and right to the central map there are panels for additional control.

5.1.2. Undo/redo
All image moves in the map view are recorded by darktable. It is then possible to undo
or redo such changes to recover a previous state. Note that this undo/redo facility is
unlimited while moving images but it is reset each time the map view is left.

The default key shortcuts are:

180
• Ctrl+Z : undo last move

• Ctrl+Y : redo last undo (does nothing if undo has not been used yet)

181
5.2. Map panels

This section contains documentation for panels that are specific to the map view.

5.2.1. Left panels

The panels on the left side we already know from

lighttable mode (Section 2.3, “Lighttable panels”).

Choose your image selection rules with the collect

images panel. Recently used collections can be
chosen with their respective names in a separate
panel. You can also get an overview of the
information of the image under your mouse cursor in
a panel labeled image information.

5.2.2. Find location

The find location module is used to search for a place

on map. You need to be connected to the internet to
use this feature.

To use, type in a place or address, press enter

and a list of results will be shown. Click on one
of the resulting items and the map will zoom to
that location. Additionally, an outline covering that
location, or a pin pointing at the location will be
displayed. Now drag images from the film strip at the
bottom of the screen to their location on the map.
The GPS location will be embedded in the image.

5.2.3. Map settings

In the map settings panel you can select your

preferred map data from various providers. Some
will provide different layers, such as satellite view
etc., which you can toggle.

182
5.2.4. Tagging

The tagging panel allows you to attach or detach

different tags to an image as well as creating or
deleting a tag. It is divided into two parts. The upper
part contains tags that are currently attached to the
image. The lower part contains all available tags. You
must select or mouse over an image for the data to
be displayed. See Section 2.3.12, “Tagging” for more
details.

183
184
Chapter 6. Slideshow
The slideshow view starts a slideshow of your current collection.

185
6.1. Overview
Entering the slideshow view starts a slideshow of the images of the current collection with
filtering rules and sort order applied. To learn more on how to define the collection, the
filtering and the sort order see Section 2.3.2, “Collect images” and Section 2.2.5, “Filtering
and sort order”.

The image display is optimized to take full advantage of your screen size. You should
therefore put darktable into fullscreen mode which is toggled by pressing F11. You may
press Tab key in order to hide all remaining panels – namely the filtering option in the top
panel.

186
6.2. Usage
The slideshow view is in an early stage of development with a basic set of features.

+ or Up increase delay between each image

- or Down decrease delay between each image
left-click or right or switch to the next image of the collection
Shift+right
right-click or left or switch to the previous image of the collection
Shift+left
spacebar start and stop auto-advance mode which automatically switches to
the next images every five seconds by default.
ESC leave slideshow mode and return to lighttable view

Depending on the complexity of the history stack and the power of your hardware,
processing an image with high resolution can take a significant amount of time. darktable
prefetches the next image in the background in order to minimize latencies. If you
still experience long delays when switching between images or if you intend to quickly
advance in your collection consider to disable the option “do high quality processing for
slideshow” which gives a much higher processing speed at the expense of a possible slight
loss in quality (see Section 8.1, “GUI options”).

187
188
Chapter 7. Print
The print view lets you output a selected image to your printer.

189
7.1. Overview
This view is about printing – or the joy of giving birth to a photograph which can be put
on the wall. Because printing is not easy, there are many technical aspects to be taken
into account.

After selecting an image in the lighttable view (see Section 2.1, “Overview”) one can enter
the print module where there are several options for the print layout and for selecting
which printer to use.

The central area displays the image layout on the paper (the white area). Some gray
borders may be displayed around the image to represent the printable area (the page
minus the borders) not filled by the image.

On the left side you find the collect images panel which is described in more detail in
Section 2.3.2, “Collect images”. This panel lets you define which images are present in the
filmstrip. Visibility of the filmstrip – located in the bottom panel – is toggled by pressing
Ctrl+F (see Section 1.2.3, “Filmstrip”). On the left side you also have an image information
panel which displays useful Exif data of the image in the center area, or the filmstrip image
under the pointer, respectively (see Section 2.3.5, “Image information”).

On the right panel the print settings module has many options to layout the image on the
page, select the paper, options for exporting, etc. This module is described in depth in the
section below.

This module supports the printer's ICC profile which is somewhat mandatory if you want
to get a high quality print close to the image displayed on the screen.

It is important to note that ICC profiles provided by the paper and/or printer
manufacturers cannot be used on GNU/Linux as they depend on the printer drivers. The
darktable print module is using CUPS [http://www.cups.org/] and there is no ready-to-use
ICC profiles for this driver.

190
7.2. Usage
The print module has many options. We describe the
panel in this section.

7.2.1. Printer section
printer
This entry is to select one of the installed printers.

media
The media kind loaded on the printer (Plain Paper, Luster Photo Paper, etc.).

profile
The printer's ICC profile for the loaded paper. This is the profile specific to the printer
and printer's paper. This profile is the last color space transformation done to the picture
whose goal is to create a high quality print.

intent
The print rendering intent (“perceptual”, “relative colorimetric”, “saturation” or “absolute
colorimetric”). See Section 3.2.6.3, “Rendering intent” for more information.

black point compensation

Whether to adjust the black point of the output profile which is often lighter than the
input profile. This should be “on” when the above intent is set to “relative colorimetric”.

7.2.2. Page section
paper size
The size of the paper on which to print.

orientation
Portrait or landscape (note that darktable chooses by default the best fit).
191
units

The unit to use for setting the margins. “mm”, “cm”, and “inch” are available options.

margins

It is possible to set each margin separately or all together by clicking on the middle “lock”
button.

image width/height

This information field displays the actual image width and height (given with the selected
units) on the paper.

scale factor

This information field displays the scaling of the image to fit on the paper. If this value is
less than 1 the image is down-scaled otherwise it is up-scaled. This is an important factor
to watch – a too large value (up-scale) may result in a low quality print. The corresponding
dpi (dots per inch) is also displayed.

alignment

This option allows you to select the alignment of the image on the paper.

7.2.3. Print settings
profile

This allows you to select the export profile to use. This profile is the entry point used for
the next transformation using the printer's ICC profile above. Usually it is better to prefer
a large gamut like AdobeRGB rather than a smaller one as sRGB.

intent

This option sets the rendering intent to use when exporting the image. For more
information see Section 3.2.6.3, “Rendering intent”.

style

Defines a style to apply when exporting the image and defaults to “none”. See the export
panel (Section 2.3.13, “Export selected”) for a more detailed discussion of applying a style
during export.

mode

This selects whether the style is appended to the existing history stack or replacing it
completely. See Section 2.3.13, “Export selected” for more details.

7.2.4. Print button
At the bottom of the right panel you find the “print” button. When clicked the image is
exported using the selected options and sent to the printer.

192
Chapter 8. Preferences and settings
darktable comes with a number of settings that can be configured by users. You reach the
configuration menu by clicking at the top of the screen.

193
8.1. GUI options
These options control the look and feel of darktable.

interface language

set the language of the user interface. the system default is marked with an * (needs a
restart)

theme

set the theme for the user interface

8.1.1. Import
ignore JPEG images when importing film rolls

When having RAW+JPEG images together in one directory it makes no sense to import
both. With this flag one can ignore all JPEGs found (default off).

recursive directory traversal when importing film rolls

Not only import images from the directory selected but recursively go through all
subdirectories as well (default off).

creator to be applied when importing

If provided, automatically add this string as a creator tag when importing images (default
none).

publisher to be applied when importing

If provided, automatically add this string as a publisher tag when importing images
(default none).

rights to be applied when importing

If provided, automatically add this string as a copyrights tag when importing images
(default none).

comma separated tags to be applied when importing

If you want to add further tags when importing images, you can give them as a comma
separated list (default none).

initial import rating

Initial star rating (from 0 to 5) for all images when importing a film roll (default 1).

8.1.2. Lighttable
don't use embedded preview JPEG but half-size raw

Check this option to not use the embedded JPEG from the raw file but process the raw
data. This is slower. (default off).

high quality thumb processing from size

If the thumbnails size is greater than this value, it will be processed using the full quality
rendering path which is better but slower (default 720p).
194
 enable extended thumb overlay

If enabled adds additional information to the thumbnail under the mouse cursor: image
name, exposure time, aperture, focal length, ISO value (default off).

use single-click in the collect panel

(default off). In single-click mode, you can select range of value directly with the mouse.

expand a single lighttable module at a time

Controls how lighttable panels are expanded. If this option is enabled, expanding a panel
by clicking collapses any currently expanded panel. If you want to expand a panel without
collapsing the others you do so with Shift+click. Disabling this option reverts the meaning
of click and Shift+click (default off).

scroll to lighttable modules when expanded/collapsed

With this option enabled the lighttable side panels will scroll a module to the top when
it is expanded or collapsed (default off).

rating an image one star twice will not zero out the rating

Normally clicking a one star rating twice will set a zero star rating to that image. When
checking this option a second click on a one star rating will keep that rating (default off).

8.1.3. Darkroom
pen pressure control for brush masks

Controls how the pressure reading of a graphics tablet impacts newly generated brush
strokes (see Section 3.2.5.5, “Drawn mask”). You can control the brush width, its hardness
and its opacity. “Absolute” control means that the pressure reading directly defines the
attribute with a value between 0% and 100%. “Relative” means that the pressure reading
adjusts the attribute between zero and the pre-defined default value (default off).

smoothing of brush strokes

Sets the level for smoothing of brush strokes. Stronger smoothing leads to less nodes and
easier editing at the expense of lower accuracy.

display of individual color channels

Controls how individual color channels are displayed when activated in the parametric
masks feature. You can choose between “false color” and “grey scale” (default false color).

pattern for the image infos line

See for available values.

position of the image info line

Controls in which panel we display the image info line. You can choose between “top left”
“top right” “top center” “bottom” and “hidden” (default bottom).

show search module text entry

Controls how to determine which modules are shown at the same time in the right panel.
You can choose between “groups icons” “search entry” “both” (default both). (need a
restart)
195
 expand a single darkroom module at a time

Controls how darkroom modules are expanded. If this option is enabled, expanding a
module by clicking collapses any currently expanded module. If you want to expand a
module without collapsing the others you do so with Shift+click. Disabling this option
reverts the meaning of click and Shift+click (default on).

expand the module when it is activated, and collapse it when disabled

This option allows to expand or collapse automatically modules when they are enabled or
disabled. (default off)

scroll to darkroom modules when expanded/collapsed

With this option enabled the darkroom side panel will scroll a module to the top when it
is expanded or collapsed (default on).

border around image in darkroom mode

Process the image in darkroom mode with a small border of the given number of pixels
(default 20).

8.1.4. Map/geolocalisation
only draw images on map that are currently collected and filtered

Use the current filter settings to select the geotagged images drawn in the map view. This
limits the images drawn to those currently shown in the filmstrip and thus reduces the
time needed (default off).

maximum number of images drawn on map

The maximum number of geotagged images drawn on the map. Increasing this number
can slow down the drawing of the map. Needs a restart if changed (default 100).

pretty print the image location

Show a more readable representation of the geo location in the image information
module (default on).

8.1.5. Security
ask before removing images from database

Always ask the user before any image is removed from the database (default on).

ask before erasing images from disk

Always ask the user before any image file is deleted (default on).

send files to trash when erasing images

Instead of physically deleting images from disk put them into the system's trash bin
(default on).

ask before moving images from film roll folder

Always ask the user before any image file is moved (default on).
196
 ask before copying images to new film roll folder

Always ask the user before any image file is copied (default on).

ask before removing empty folders

Always ask the user before removing any empty folder. This can happen after moving or
deleting images (default off).

ask before deleting a tag

Always ask user before deleting a tag from an image (default on).

ask before deleting a style

Always ask user before deleting a style (default on).

8.1.6. Miscellaneous
width of the side panels in pixels

This controls the size of side panels in pixels. Side panels are found left and right to the
center view (default 350).

waiting time before each picture in slideshow

The number of seconds before displaying the next image (default 5).

do not show april 1st game

(default on).

number of folder levels to show in lists

The number of folder levels to show in film roll names, starting from the right (default 1).

enable filmstrip

Enable the filmstrip in darkroom, tethering, geomapping and lighttable culling modes
(default on).

enable timeline

Enable the timeline lighttable mode (default on).

overlay txt sidecar over zoomed images

When there is a text file next to an image it can be shown as an overlay over zoomed
images on the lighttable. The text file has the same base name as the image file with file
extension “.txt”. It either has to be there at import time or the crawler has to be enabled –
see option “look for updated xmp files on startup” in Section 8.2, “Core options” (default
off).

mouse wheel scrolls modules side panel by default

When enabled, mouse wheel scroll modules side panel, and Ctrl+Alt+mouse wheel scroll
data entry. When disabled, this behavior is reversed (default off).

show scrollbars for center view

Defines in which modes scrollbars should be displayed (default lighttable).

197
 always show panels scrollbars

Defines whether the panel scrollbars should be always visible or activated only depending
on the content (default on). (need a restart)

method to use for getting the display profile

This option allows to force a specific way of getting the current display profile for
color management (see Section 3.2.6.2, “Rendering method”). In the default setting “all”
darktable will either query the X display server's xatom or the colord system service. You
can set this option to “xatom” or “colord” to enforce a specific method if the alternative
gives wrong results.

198
8.2. Core options

These options control some of the internals of darktable.

8.2.1. Quality
color manage cached thumbnails

If activated darktable generates thumbnails in a general color space (AdobeRGB) in order

to render them independently of the individual monitor. Conversion to the monitor color
space is done at display time. If this option is not activated thumbnails are directly stored
in the specific monitor color space valid at generation time and are subsequently displayed
without further corrections (default on).

always use LittleCMS 2 to apply output color profile

If this option is activated, darktable will use system library LittleCMS 2 instead of its own
routines. This is significantly slower than the default but might give more accurate results
in some cases (default off).

Note that if the given ICC is LUT-based or contains both, a LUT and a matrix, darktable will
use LittleCMS 2 to render the colors regardless of this configuration parameter's value.

do high quality processing for slideshow

Controls how images are processed for the slideshow view. It this option is enabled, the
image will first be processed in full resolution, and downscaled at the very end. This can
result in better quality sometimes, but will always be slower (default on).

demosaicing for zoomed out darkroom mode

Interpolation when not viewing 1:1 in darkroom mode: “always bilinear (fast)” is fastest,
but not as sharp. “at most ppg (reasonable)” is using ppg + interpolation modes specified
below, “full (possibly slow)” will use exactly the settings for full-size export (default “at
most ppg (reasonable)”).

pixel interpolator

Pixel interpolator used in rotation, lens correction, up-and-down scaling; options are
“bilinear”, “bicubic”, “lanczos2”, “lanczos3” (default).

auto-apply basecurve

Use a basecurve by default. For more details see Section 3.4.1.4, “Base curve” (default on).
(need a restart)

auto-apply per camera basecurve presets

Use the per-camera basecurve by default instead of the generic manufacturer one if there
is one available. For more details see Section 3.4.1.4, “Base curve” (default off).

auto-apply sharpen

This added sharpen is not recommended on cameras without a low-pass filter. The default
is to not add any sharpening automatically as most recent cameras have no low-pass filter.
(need a restart)
199
8.2.2. xmp
write sidecar file for each image

These redundant XMP files can later be re-imported into a different database, preserving
your changes to the image. It's strongly recommended to have this option activated so
you don't lose data in case of a database corruption. Backing up your raw file plus the
accompanying XMP file will allow you to fully restore your work (default on).

store xmp tags in compressed format

Entries in XMP tags can get rather large and may exceed the available space to store
the history stack in output files on export. This option allows binary XMP tags to be
compressed in order to save space. Available options are “never”, “always”, and “only large
entries” (default).

look for updated xmp files on startup

Check file modification times of all XMP files on startup to find out if any got updated
in the meantime by some other software. If updated XMP files are found a menu opens
for the user to decide which of the XMP files to be reloaded  – replacing darktable's
database entries by the XMP file contents – and which of the XMP files to be overwritten
by darktable's database. Activating this option also causes darktable to check for text
sidecar files that have been added after import time – see option “overlay txt sidecar over
zoomed images” in Section 8.1, “GUI options” (default off).

8.2.3. cpu/gpu/memory
memory in megabytes to use for thumbnail cache

In order to speed-up display of film rolls, darktable stores thumbnails in a cache file on
disk (primary cache) and loads it into memory at startup. This value controls the cache size
in megabytes. It needs a restart if changed (default 256MB).

enable disk backend for thumbnail cache

If activated darktable stores all thumbnails on disk as a secondary cache, and thereby
keeping thumbnails accessible in case they get dropped from the primary cache. This
needs more disk space but speeds up lighttable view as it avoids reprocessing of
thumbnails (default on).

enable disk backend for full preview cache

If enabled, darktable write full preview to disk (.cache/darktable/) when evicted from the
memory cache. Note that this can take a lot of memory (several gigabytes for 20k images)
and darktable will never delete cached images. It's safe though to delete these manually,
if you want. Lighttable performance will be increased greatly when zooming image in full
preview mode (default off).

number of background threads

This controls how many parallel threads are used to create thumbnails during import. On
32bit systems it is strongly recommended to set this to 1. Needs a restart if changed
(default 2).

host memory limit (in MB) for tiling

In order to manage large images on systems with limited memory darktable does tile-wise
processing. This variable controls the maximum amount of memory (in MB) a module may
200
 use during image processing. Lower values will force memory hungry modules to process
an image with increasing number of tiles. Setting this to 0 will omit any limits. Values below
500 will be treated as 500. On a 32bit system you should set this to 500. Needs a restart
if changed (default 1500).

minimum amount of memory (in MB) for a single buffer in tiling

If set to a positive, non-zero value, this variable defines the minimum amount of memory
(in MB) that darktable should take for a single tile. On a 32bit system you should set this
to 8. 64bit systems can live with higher values. Needs a restart if changed (default 16).

activate OpenCL support

darktable can use your GPU to speed up processing significantly. Interface OpenCL
requires suitable hardware and matching OpenCL drivers on your system. If one of those
is not found the option is greyed out. Can be switched on and off at any time and takes
immediate effect (default on).

OpenCL scheduling profile

Defines how preview and full pixelpipe tasks are scheduled on OpenCL enabled systems.
“default”: the GPU processes the center view pixelpipe and the CPU processes the preview
pipe; “multiple GPUs”: both pixelpipes are processed in parallel on two different GPUs;
“very fast GPU”: both pixelpipes are processed sequentially on the GPU.

8.2.4. Miscellaneous
omit hierarchy in simple tag lists

When exporting images the hierarchical tags are also added as a simple list of non-
hierarchical ones to make them visible to some other programs. When this option is
checked darktable will only include their last part and ignore the rest. So “foo|bar|baz”
will only add “baz”.

force exportation of private tags

This option force darktable to export private tags to XMP-dc Subject and XMP-lr
Hierarchical Subject (default off).

request exportation of synonyms

This option force darktable to export synonyms along with tags to XMP-dc Subject
(default off).

disable the entry completion

The entry completion is useful for those who enter tags from keyboard only. For others
the entry completion can be embarrassing (default off). (need a restart)

password storage backend to use

The storage backend for password storage. Options: “auto” (default), “none”, “libsecret”,
“kwallet”.

executable for playing audio files

Defines an external program which is used in the lighttable view to play audio files that
some cameras record to keep notes for images (default “aplay”).
201
 3D lut root folder

This folder (and sub-folders) contains Lut files used by lut3d modules. (need a restart)

202
8.3. Session options
These options define a naming pattern to organize images on disk when importing from
a connected camera (see Section 2.3.1, “Import”) and when taking photos in the tethering
view (see Chapter 4, Tethering).

The naming pattern consists of three parts: a base part defining the parent folder, a
session part defining a sub directory which is specific to the individual import session, and
a file name part defining the filename structure for each imported image.

Several pre-defined variables can be used in the pattern as placeholders:

$(HOME) the home folder as defined by the system

$(PICTURES_FOLDER) the pictures folder as defined by the system
(usually “$HOME/Pictures”)
$(DESKTOP) the desktop folder as defined by the system
(usually “$HOME/Desktop”)
$(USERNAME) your user account name on the system
$(FILE_NAME) basename of the imported image
$(FILE_EXTENSION) extension of the imported image
$(JOBCODE) unique identifier of the import job
$(SEQUENCE) a sequence number within the import job
$(MAX_WIDTH) maximum image width to limit within
export session
$(MAX_HEIGHT) maximum image height to limit within
export session
$(ID) unique identification number of the image
in darktable's database
$(YEAR) year at the date of import
$(MONTH) month at the date of import
$(DAY) day at the date of import
$(HOUR) hour at the time of import
$(MINUTE) minute at the time of import
$(SECOND) second at the time of import
$(EXIF_YEAR) year the photo was taken (from Exif data)
$(EXIF_MONTH) month the photo was taken (from Exif data)
$(EXIF_DAY) day the photo was taken (from Exif data)
$(EXIF_HOUR) hour the photo was taken (from Exif data)
$(EXIF_MINUTE) minute the photo was taken (from Exif data)
$(EXIF_SECOND) seconds the photo was taken (from Exif
data)
$(EXIF_ISO) ISO value of the photo (from Exif data)

base directory naming pattern

The base directory part of the naming pattern (default “$(PICTURES_FOLDER)/

Darktable”).
203
sub directory naming pattern

The sub directory part of the naming pattern (default “$(YEAR)$(MONTH)$(DAY)_

$(JOBCODE)”).

file naming pattern

The file name part of the naming pattern (default “$(YEAR)$(MONTH)$(DAY)_

$(SEQUENCE).$(FILE_EXTENSION”).

204
8.4. Shortcuts
darktable has a large set of keyboard shortcuts that is user configurable through the
preference dialog.

When you open the shortcuts menu you are presented with a hierarchical list of all actions
that can receive a keyboard shortcut. Go to the action you want to change and double click.
You are then prompted to press the new key combination to be mapped to the selected
action. In order to remove an existing keyboard shortcut, click on the action and press
backspace.

In addition to classic shortcuts, you can set dynamic shortcuts to some darkroom module
sliders. This allow you to change the value of the mapped slider with key + mouse scroll.

You can export your mappings to a file or import mappings from a file. Press “default” to
reset all keyaccelerators to their default state.

Below is a table with the default keybindings for actions available in darktable.

global/quit Ctrl+Q
global/lighttable view L
global/darkroom view D
global/tethering view T
global/map view M
global/slideshow view S
global/print view P
global/switch view Period (.)
global/toggle header Ctrl+H
global/toggle side borders Tab
global/toggle fullscreen F11
global/leave fullscreen Escape
global/zoom in Ctrl+Plus sign
global/zoom out Ctrl+Minus sign
global/shortcut window H
image operations/clipping/commit Return
image operations/flip/rotate 90 degrees CCW bracketleft
image operations/flip/rotate 90 degrees CW bracketright
modules/copy_history/copy all Ctrl+C
modules/copy_history/copy Ctrl+Shift+C
modules/copy_history/paste all Ctrl+V
modules/copy_history/paste Ctrl+Shift+V
modules/export/export Ctrl+E
modules/filmstrip/color blue F4
modules/filmstrip/color green F3
modules/filmstrip/color purple F5
modules/filmstrip/color red F1
modules/filmstrip/color yellow F2
205
 modules/filmstrip/copy history Ctrl+C
modules/filmstrip/copy history parts Ctrl+Shift+C
modules/filmstrip/duplicate image Ctrl+D
modules/filmstrip/invert selection Ctrl+I
modules/filmstrip/paste history Ctrl+V
modules/filmstrip/paste history parts Ctrl+Shift+V
modules/filmstrip/rate 0 0
modules/filmstrip/rate 1 1
modules/filmstrip/rate 2 2
modules/filmstrip/rate 3 3
modules/filmstrip/rate 4 4
modules/filmstrip/rate 5 5
modules/filmstrip/rate reject R
modules/filmstrip/select all Ctrl+A
modules/filmstrip/select none Ctrl+Shift+A
modules/image/duplicate Ctrl+D
modules/image/group Ctrl+G
modules/image/remove from collection Delete
modules/image/ungroup Ctrl+Shift+G
modules/import/import folder Ctrl+Shift+I
modules/lighttable_mode/invert selection Ctrl+I
modules/lighttable_mode/select all Ctrl+A
modules/lighttable_mode/select none Ctrl+Shift+A
modules/lighttable_mode/zoom in Alt+2
modules/lighttable_mode/zoom max Alt+1
modules/lighttable_mode/zoom min Alt+4
modules/lighttable_mode/zoom out Alt+3
modules/live_view/toggle live view V
modules/metadata_view/jump to film roll Ctrl+J
modules/recentcollect/jump back to previous collection Ctrl+K
modules/tagging/tag Ctrl+T
views/darkroom/undo Ctrl+Z
views/darkroom/redo Ctrl+Y
views/darkroom/decrease brush hardness braceleft
views/darkroom/decrease brush opacity less
views/darkroom/decrease brush size bracketleft
views/darkroom/export Ctrl+E
views/darkroom/full preview Z
views/darkroom/gamut check Ctrl+G
views/darkroom/image back BackSpace
views/darkroom/image forward Spacebar

206
views/darkroom/increase brush hardness braceright
views/darkroom/increase brush opacity greater
views/darkroom/increase brush size bracketright
views/darkroom/overexposed O
views/darkroom/softproof Ctrl+S
views/darkroom/toggle film strip Ctrl+F
views/darkroom/zoom close-up Alt+1
views/darkroom/zoom fill Alt+2
views/darkroom/zoom fit Alt+3
views/lighttable/color blue F4
views/lighttable/color green F3
views/lighttable/color purple F5
views/lighttable/color red F1
views/lighttable/color yellow F2
views/lighttable/navigate down Shift+G
views/lighttable/navigate page down Page_Down
views/lighttable/navigate page up Page_Up
views/lighttable/navigate up G
views/lighttable/preview W
views/lighttable/preview with focus detection Ctrl+W
views/lighttable/rate 0 0
views/lighttable/rate 1 1
views/lighttable/rate 2 2
views/lighttable/rate 3 3
views/lighttable/rate 4 4
views/lighttable/rate 5 5
views/lighttable/rate reject R
views/lighttable/realign images to grid L
views/lighttable/scroll center apostrophe
views/lighttable/scroll down Down
views/lighttable/scroll left Left
views/lighttable/scroll right Right
views/lighttable/scroll up Up
views/lighttable/select single image Return
views/lighttable/select toggle image Spacebar
views/lighttable/sticky preview Alt+W
views/lighttable/sticky preview with focus detection Ctrl+Alt+W
views/map/undo Ctrl+Z
views/map/redo Ctrl+Y
views/map/toggle film strip Ctrl+F
views/map/undo Ctrl+Z

207
 views/print/toggle film strip Ctrl+F
views/slideshow/start and stop Spacebar
views/tethering/toggle film strip Ctrl+F

208
8.5. Presets
This menu gives you an overview of the presets that are defined for darktable's modules.
In this dialog you can select whether a certain user defined preset shall be auto-applied
to matching images. By pressing the “import” button at the bottom of the window you
can import a saved preset.

darktable already comes with a set of pre-defined presets for several modules. In addition
you can define your own presets from within each module in darkroom mode (see
Section 3.2.3, “Module presets”).

Pre-defined presets are shown with a lock symbol. Their auto-apply properties can not be
changed.

Double clicking on a user-defined preset will open a menu. This allows editing the preset
or saving it to an external .dtpreset file.

auto apply this preset to matching images

activate this checkbutton to automatically apply the preset on newly imported images; a
set of fields is displayed where you can define patterns to be matched against Exif data.

only show this preset for matching images

activate this checkbutton to hide the preset in darkroom mode if it does not match the
defined patterns.

model
a pattern to be matched against the Exif field that describes your camera model; use "%"
as wildcard.

maker
a pattern to be matched against the Exif field that describes the maker of your camera;
use "%" as wildcard.

lens
a pattern to be matched against the Exif field that describes your lens; use "%" as wildcard.

iso
only apply the preset if the ISO value of your image lies within the given range.
209
exposure

only apply the preset if the exposure time of your image lies within the given range; set
"+" as the upper value to match arbitrarily long exposures.

aperture

only apply the preset if the aperture of your image lies within the given range; set "f/0" as
the lower value to match arbitrarily open apertures; set "f/+" as the upper value to match
arbitrarily closed apertures.

focal length

only apply the preset if the focal length of your image lies within the given range (from
0 to 1000).

210
Chapter 9. Scripting with Lua
darktable comes with a versatile scripting interface for functionality enhancement.

211
9.1. Lua usage
Lua can be used to define actions which darktable will perform whenever a specified event
is triggered. One example might be calling an external application during file export in
order to apply additional processing steps outside of darktable.

darktable uses Lua [http://www.lua.org/], which is an independent project founded in

1993, providing a powerful, fast, lightweight, embeddable scripting language. Lua is
widely used by many open source applications, in commercial programs, and for games
programming.

darktable uses Lua version 5.2. Describing the principles and syntax of Lua is beyond
the scope of this usermanual. For a detailed introduction see the Lua reference manual
[http://www.lua.org/manual/5.2/manual.html].

9.1.1. Basic principles
At startup, darktable will automatically run two Lua scripts:

• a script called luarc in $DARKTABLE/share/darktable

• a script called luarc in the user's configuration directory

$DARKTABLE is used here to represent your system's darktable installation directory.

This is the only time darktable will run Lua scripts by itself. The script can register callbacks
to perform actions on various darktable events. This callback mechanism is the primary
way to trigger lua actions.

9.1.2. A simple lua example

Let's start with a simple example. We will print some code on the console. Create a file
called luarc in darktable's configuration directory (usually ~/.config/darktable/) and add
the following line to it:

print("Hello World !")

Start darktable and you will see the sencence Hello World ! printed on the console. Nothing
fancy but it's a start...

At this point, there is nothing specific to darktable in the script. We simply use the
standard print function to print a string. That's nice and all, but we can do better than
that. To access the darktable API you first need to require it and save the returned
object in a variable. Once this is done you can access the darktable API as subfields of the
returned object. All of this is documented in darktable's Lua API reference manual (see
Section 9.2, “Lua API”).

local darktable = require "darktable"

darktable.print_error("Hello World !")

Run the script ... and nothing happens. The function darktable.print_error is just
like print but will only print the message if you have enabled lua traces with -d lua on the
command line. This is the recommended way to do traces in a darktable lua script.

9.1.3. Printing labeled images

This first example showed us the very basics of lua and allowed us to check that everything
is working properly. Let's do something a little bit more complex. Let's try to print the list
of images that have a red label attached to them. But first of all, what is an image?
212
local darktable = require "darktable"
local debug = require "darktable.debug"
print(darktable.debug.dump(darktable.database[1]))

Running the code above will produce a lot of output. We will look at it in a moment, but
first let's look at the code itself.

We know about requiring darktable . Here, we need to separately require

darktable.debug which is an optional section of the API that provides helper functions
to help debug lua scripts.

darktable.database is a table provided by the API that contains all images in the
database (currently visible or not, duplicate or not...). Each entry in the database is an
image object. Image objects are complex objects that allow you to manipulate your image
in various ways (it is all documented in the types_dt_lua_image_t section of the API
manual). To display our images, we use darktable.debug.dump which is a function that
will take anything as its parameter and recursively dump its content. Since images are
complex objects that indirectly reference other complex objects, the resulting output is
huge. Below is a cut down example of the output.

toplevel (userdata,dt_lua_image_t) : /images/100.JPG

publisher (string) : ""
path (string) : "/images"
move (function)
exif_aperture (number) : 2.7999999523163
rights (string) : ""
make_group_leader (function)
exif_crop (number) : 0
duplicate_index (number) : 0
is_raw (boolean) : false
exif_iso (number) : 200
is_ldr (boolean) : true
rating (number) : 1
description (string) : ""
red (boolean) : false
get_tags (function)
duplicate (function)
creator (string) : ""
latitude (nil)
blue (boolean) : false
exif_datetime_taken (string) : "2014:04:27 14:10:27"
exif_maker (string) : "Panasonic"
drop_cache (function)
title (string) : ""
reset (function)
create_style (function)
apply_style (function)
film (userdata,dt_lua_film_t) : /images
1 (userdata,dt_lua_image_t): .toplevel
[......]
exif_exposure (number) : 0.0062500000931323
exif_lens (string) : ""
213
 detach_tag (function): toplevel.film.2.detach_tag
exif_focal_length (number) : 4.5
get_group_members (function): toplevel.film.2.get_group_members
id (number) : 1
group_with (function): toplevel.film.2.group_with
delete (function): toplevel.film.2.delete
purple (boolean) : false
is_hdr (boolean) : false
exif_model (string) : "DMC-FZ200"
green (boolean) : false
yellow (boolean) : false
longitude (nil)
filename (string) : "100.JPG"
width (number) : 945
attach_tag (function): toplevel.film.2.attach_tag
exif_focus_distance (number) : 0
height (number) : 648
local_copy (boolean) : false
copy (function): toplevel.film.2.copy
group_leader (userdata,dt_lua_image_t): .toplevel

As we can see, an image has a large number of fields which provide all sort of information
about it. We are interested in the red label. This field is a boolean, and the documentation
tells us that it can be written. We now just need to find all images with that field and print
them out.

darktable = require "darktable"

for _,v in ipairs(darktable.database) do
if v.red then
print(tostring(v))
end
end

This code should be quite simple to understand at this point, but it contains a few
interesting aspects about lua that are worth highlighting:

• ipairs is a standard lua function that will iterate through all numeric indices of a
table. We use it here because darktable.database has non-numeric indices which are
functions to manipulate the database itself (adding or deleting images, for example).

• Iterating through a table will return both the key and the value used. It is conventional
in lua to use a variable named “ _ ” to store values that we don't care about.

• Note that we use the standard lua function tostring here and not the darktable
specific darktable.debug.dump . The standard function will return a name for the
object whereas the debug function will print the content. The debug function would
be too verbose here. Once again, it is a great debug tool but should not be used for
anything else.

9.1.4. Adding a simple shortcut

So far, all our scripts have done things during startup. This is of limited use and doesn't
allow us to react to real user actions. To do more advanced things we need to register
214
a function that will be called on a given event. The most common event to react to is a
keyboard shortcut.

darktable = require "darktable"

local function hello_shortcut(event, shortcut)

darktable.print("Hello, I just received '"..event..
"' with parameter '"..shortcut.."'")
end

darktable.register_event("shortcut",hello_shortcut,
"A shortcut that print its parameters")

Now start darktable, go to preferences => shortcut => lua => A shortcut
that print its parameters assign a shortcut and try it. You should have a nice
message printed on the screen.

Let's look at the code in details. We first define a function with two parameters. These
parameters are strings. The first one is the type of event that is triggered ( "shortcut"
) and the second one is what shortcut specifically ( "A shortcut that print its
parameters" ). The function itself calls darktable.print that will print the message
as an overlay in the main window.

Once that function is defined, we register it as a shortcut callback. To do that we call

darktable.register_event which is a generic function for all types of events. We tell
it that we are registering a shortcut event, then we give the callback to call and last, we
give the string to use to describe the shortcut in the preference window.

Let's try a shortcut a little more interactive. This one will look at the images the user is
currently interested in (selected or moused-over) and will increase their rating.

darktable = require "darktable"

darktable.register_event("shortcut",function(event,shortcut)
local images = darktable.gui.action_images
for _,v in pairs(images) do
v.rating = v.rating + 1
end
end,"Increase the rating of an image")

At this point, most of this code should be self explanatory. Just a couple of notes:

• Instead of declaring a function and referencing it, we declare it directly in the call to
darktable.register_event this is strictly equivalent but slightly more compact.

• image.rating is a field of any image that gives its rating (between 0 and 5 stars, -1
means rejected).

• darktable.gui.action_images is a table containing all the images of interest.

darktable will act on selected images if any image is selected, and on the image under
the mouse if no image is selected. This function allows to easily follow darktable's UI
logic in lua.
215
 If you select an image and press your shortcut a couple of time, it will work correctly at
first but when you have reached five stars, darktable will start showing the following error
on the console:

LUA ERROR : rating too high : 6

stack traceback:
[C]: in ?
[C]: in function '__newindex'
./configdir/luarc:10: in function <./configdir/luarc:7>
LUA ERROR : rating too high : 6

This is lua's way of reporting errors. We have attempted to set a rating of 6 to an image,
but a rating can only go as high as 5. It would be trivial to add a check, but let's go the
complicated way and catch the error instead.

darktable.register_event("shortcut",function(event,shortcut)
local images = darktable.gui.action_images
for _,v in pairs(images) do
result,message = pcall(function()
v.rating = v.rating + 1
end)
if not result then
darktable.print_error("could not increase rating of image "..
tostring(v).." : "..message)
end
end
end,"Increase the rating of an image")

pcall will run its first argument and catch any exception thrown by it. If there is no
exception it will return true plus any result returned by the function; if there is an
exception it will return false and the error message of the exception. We simply test
these results and print them on the console...

9.1.5. Exporting images with Lua

We have learned to use lua to adapt darktable to our particular workflow, let's look at
how to use lua to easily export images. darktable can easily export images to quite a few
online services but there are always more. If you are able to upload an image to a service
via the command line then you can use lua to integrate it into darktable's user interface.

In this next example we will use lua to export via scp. A new storage will appear in
darktable's UI which will export images to a remote target via ssh's copy mechanism.

darktable = require "darktable"

216
 darktable.preferences.register("scp_export","export_path",
"string","target SCP path",
"Complete path to copy to. Can include user and hostname","")

darktable.register_storage("scp_export","Export via scp",

function( storage, image, format, filename,
number, total, high_quality, extra_data)
if coroutine.yield("RUN_COMMAND","scp "..filename.." "..
darktable.preferences.read("scp_export",
"export_path","string")) then
darktable.print_error("scp failed for "..tostring(image))
end
end)

darktable.preferences.register will add a new preference to darktable's

preference menu. scp_export and export_path allow us to uniquely identify our
preference. These fields are reused when we read the value of the preference. The
string field tells the lua engine that the preference is a string. It could also be an integer,
a filename or any of the types detailed in API manual relating to types_lua_pref_type
. We then have the label for the preference in the preference menu, the tooltip when
hovering over the value and a default value.

darktable.register_storage is the call that actually registers a new storage. The

first argument is a name for the storage, the second is the label that will be displayed in
the UI and last is a function to call on each image. This function has a lot of parameters,
but filename is the only one we use in this example. It contains the name of a temporary
file where the image was exported by darktable's engine.

This code will work but it has a couple of limitations. This is just a simple example after all:

• We use preferences to configure the target path. It would be nicer to add an element
to the export UI in darktable. We will detail how to do that in the next section

• We do not check the returned value of scp. That command might fail, in particular if the
user has not correctly set the preference.

• This script can't read input from the user. The remote scp must use password-less copy.
Scp can't be provided a password easily, so we will leave it that way

• There is no message displayed once the example is done, only the progressbar on the
lower left side tells the user that the job is done.

• We use coroutine.yield to call an external program. The normal os.execute would

block other lua codes from happening.

9.1.6. Building User Interface elements

Our previous example was a bit limited. In particular the use of a preference for the export
path wasn't very nice. We can do better than that by adding elements to the user interface
in the export dialog.

UI elements are created via the darktable_new_widget function. This function takes
a type of widget as a parameter and returns a new object corresponding to that widget.
You can then set various fields to that widget to set its parameters. You will then use
that object as a parameter to various functions that will add it to the darktable UI. The
following simple example adds a lib in the lighttable view with a simple label

217
 local my_label = darktable.new_widget("label")
my_label.label = "Hello, world !"

dt.register_lib("test","test",false,{
[dt.gui.views.lighttable] = {"DT_UI_CONTAINER_PANEL_LEFT_CENTER",20},
},my_label)

There is a nice syntactic trick to make UI element code easier to read and write. You can
call these objects as functions with a table of key values as an argument. This allows the
following example to work. It creates a container widget with two sub-widgets. A label
and a text entry field.

local my_widget = darktable.new_widget("box"){

orientation = "horizontal",
darktable.new_widget("label"){ label = "here => " },
darktable.new_widget("entry"){ tooltip = "please enter text here" }
}

Now that we know that, let's improve our script a bit.

darktable = require "darktable"

local scp_path = darktable.new_widget("entry"){

tooltip ="Complete path to copy to. Can include user and hostname",
text = "",
reset_callback = function(self) self.text = "" end
}

darktable.register_storage("scp_export","Export via scp",

function( storage, image, format, filename,
number, total, high_quality, extra_data)
if coroutine.yield("RUN_COMMAND","scp "..filename.." "..
scp_path.text
) then
darktable.print_error("scp failed for "..tostring(image))
end
end,
nil, --finalize
nil, --supported
nil, --initialize
darktable.new_widget("box") {
orientation ="horizontal",
darktable.new_widget("label"){label = "target SCP PATH "},
scp_path,
})

9.1.7. Sharing scripts
So far, our lua code was in luarc. That's a good way to develop your script but not very
practical for distribution. We need to make this into a proper lua module. To do that, we
save the code in a separate file (scp-storage.lua in our case):
218
--[[
SCP STORAGE
a simple storage to export images via scp

AUTHOR
Jérémy Rosen ([email protected])

INSTALLATION
* copy this file in $CONFIGDIR/lua/ where CONFIGDIR
is your darktable configuration directory
* add the following line in the file $CONFIGDIR/luarc
require "scp-storage"

USAGE
* select "Export via SCP" in the storage selection menu
* set the target directory
* export your images

LICENSE
GPLv2

]]
darktable = require "darktable"
darktable.configuration.check_version(...,{2,0,0})

local scp_path = darktable.new_widget("entry"){

tooltip ="Complete path to copy to. Can include user and hostname",
text = "",
reset_callback = function(self) self.text = "" end
}

darktable.register_storage("scp_export","Export via scp",

function( storage, image, format, filename,
number, total, high_quality, extra_data)
if coroutine.yield("RUN_COMMAND","scp "..filename.." "..
scp_path.text
) then
darktable.print_error("scp failed for "..tostring(image))
end
end,
nil, --finalize
nil, --supported
nil, --initialize
darktable.new_widget("box") {
orientation ="horizontal",
darktable.new_widget("label"){label = "target SCP PATH "},
scp_path,
})

darktable will look for scripts (following the normal lua rules) in the standard directories
plus $CONFIGDIR/lua/?.lua . So our script can be called by simply adding require
"scp-storage" in the luarc file. A couple of extra notes...

219
 • The function darktable.configuration.check_version will check compatibility
for you. The ... will turn into your script's name and {2,0,0} is the API version you
have tested your script with. You can add multiple API versions if you update your script
for multiple versions of darktable.

• Make sure to declare all your functions as local to not pollute the general namespace.

• Make sure you do not leave debug prints in your code. darktable.print_error in
particular allows you to leave debug prints in your final code without disturbing the
console.

• You are free to choose any license for your script but scripts that are uploaded on
darktable's website need to be GPLv2.

Once you have filled all the fields, checked your code, you can upload it to our script page
here [https://darktable.org/redmine/projects/darktable/wiki/LuaScripts].

9.1.8. Calling Lua from DBus

It is possible to send a lua command to darktable via its DBus interface. The method
org.darktable.service.Remote.Lua takes a single string parameter which is interpreted as a
lua command. The command will be executed in the current lua context and should return
either nil or a string. The result will be passed back as the result of the DBus method.

If the Lua call results in an error, the DBus method call will return an error
org.darktable.Error.LuaError with the lua error message as the message attached to the
DBus error.

9.1.9. Using darktable from a lua script

Warning: This feature is very experimental. It is known that several elements don't work in
library mode yet. Careful testing is highly recommended.

The lua interface allows you to use darktable from any lua script. This will load darktable
as a library and provide you with most of the lua API (darktable is configured headless, so
the functions related to the user interface are not available).

As an example, the following program will print the list of all images in your library:

#!/usr/bin/env lua
package = require "package"
package.cpath=package.cpath..";./lib/darktable/lib?.so"

dt = require("darktable")(
"--library", "./library.db",
"--datadir", "./share/darktable",
"--moduledir", "./lib/darktable",
"--configdir", "./configdir",
"--cachedir","cachedir",
"--g-fatal-warnings")

require("darktable.debug")

for k,v in ipairs(dt.database) do

print(tostring(v))
end
220
Note the third line that points to the location of the libdarktable.so file.

Also note that the call to require returns a function that can be called only once and
allows you to set darktable's command line parameter. The :memory: parameter to --
library is useful here if you don't want to work on your personal library.

221
9.2. Lua API
darktable's Lua API is documented in its own manual with a detailed description of all data
structures and functions. You can download the API manual from darktable's webpage
[https://www.darktable.org/resources/].

222
Chapter 10. Special topics
This chapter touches several technical topics which might help you to get darktable
running on specific hardware or optimize its performance. A lot of additional technical
background information and many tips and tricks are also covered in an extensive blog
section that you can find on our homepage [https://www.darktable.org].

223
10.1. darktable and memory

darktable's memory requirements are high. A simple calculation makes this clear. If you
have a 20MPix image, darktable for precision reasons will store this internally as a 4 x 32-
bit floating point cell for each pixel. Each full image of this size will need about 300MB
of memory. As we want to process the image, we will at least need two buffers for
each module   – one for input and one for output. If we have a more complex module,
its algorithm might additionally require several intermediate buffers of the same size.
Without further optimization, anything between 600MB and 3GB would be needed only
to store and process image data. On top we have darktable's code segment, the code and
data of all dynamically linked system libraries, and not to forget further buffers where
darktable stores intermediate images for quick access during interactive work (mip map
cache). All in all, darktable would like to see a minimum of about 4GB to run happily.

10.1.1. Total system memory

From what I said before, it is evident that your computer needs a sane memory setup to
properly run darktable. We suggest that you have a least 4GB of physical RAM plus 4 to
8GB of additional swap space installed. The latter is required, so that your system can
swap out temporarily unneeded data to disk in order to free physical RAM.

Theoretically, you could also run darktable with lower amounts of physical RAM and
balance this with enough swap space. However, you should be prepared that your system
could then heavily “thrash”, as it reads or writes data pages to and from the hard disk.
We have positive reports that this functions well for several users, but it still might get
extremely slow for others...

10.1.2. Available address space

Besides the total amount of system memory there is another limiting factor: the available
address space of your hardware architecture. How much memory can be addressed by
a process depends on the number of address bits your CPU offers. For a CPU with 32-
bit address registers, this is 2^32 bytes, which makes a total of 4GB. This is the absolute
upper limit of memory that can be used by a process and it constitutes a tight situation
for darktable as we have seen above.

darktable's escape route is called tiling. Instead of processing an image in one big chunk,
we split the image into smaller parts for every processing step (module). This will still
require one full input and output buffer, but intermediate buffers can be made small
enough to have everything fit into the hardware limits.

10.1.3. Memory fragmentation

Unfortunately this is not the full story yet. There is an effect called memory
fragmentation, which can and will hit software that needs to do extensive memory
management. If such a program allocates 5 times 300MB at a time and frees it again,
that memory should normally be available for one big 1.5GB allocation afterwards. This
however is often not the case. The system's memory allocator may no longer see this area
as one contiguous 1.5GB block but as a row of 300MB areas. If there is no other free area of
1.5GB available, the allocation would fail. During a program run this mechanism will take
away more and more of the larger memory blocks in favor of smaller ones. darktable 2.0
mip map cache allocates several small memory blocks per each thumbnail, so this problem
is even bigger. For this reason, as of darktable 2.0, 32-bit support is soft-deprecated.

224
10.1.4. Further limitations
As if this were not challenging enough, there are further things that might limit your
access to memory. On some older boards you need to activate BIOS option “memory
remapping” in order to have all physically installed memory enabled. In addition if
you are on a 32-bit OS you will probably need a kernel version that has “Physical
Address Extension” (PAE) enabled. This is often but not always the case for Linux. Many
distributions deliver different kernels, some with and some without PAE activated; you
need to choose the right one. To check if the system is setup correctly, use the command
“free” in a terminal and examine the output. If the output reports less RAM than you have
installed, you have an issue needing correction; for example you have 4GB on your board,
but your kernel is only seeing 3GB or less. You need to consult your BIOS manual and the
information about your Linux variant for further help.

10.1.5. Setting up darktable on 32-bit systems

As we've seen 32-bit systems are difficult environments for darktable. Still some users are
running darktable on them, if the basic requirements in terms of total system memory
and the topics mentioned in the paragraphs above are addressed properly.

There are several adjustment parameters to get it running. If you install fresh, darktable
will detect your system and set conservative values by default. However, if you upgrade
darktable from an older version (e.g. coming from 0.9.3 and going to 1.0), chances are
you have unfavorable settings in your preferences. The consequences might be darktable
aborting due to allocation failures or – very typically – darktable not being able to properly
import a new film roll. As a frequent symptom you get skulls displayed instead of thumbs
for many of your pictures.

If this is the case, take a minute to optimize the preference settings in this case.
You will find them under “core options” (Section  8.2, “Core options”) in darktable's
preference dialog. You should also find these parameters as configuration variables in
$HOME/.config/darktable/darktablerc and edit them there.

Here is a short explanation of the relevant parameters and their proposed settings:

number of background threads

This parameter defines the maximum number of threads that are allowed in parallel
when importing film rolls or doing other background stuff. For obvious reasons on 32-
bit systems you can only have one thread eating resources at a time. So you need set
this parameter to 1; anything higher will kill you.

host memory limit (in MB) for tiling

This parameter tells darktable how much memory (in MB) it should assume is available
to store image buffers during module operations. If an image can not be processed
within these limits in one chunk, tiling will take over and process the image in several
parts, one after the other. Set this to the lowest possible value of 500 as a starting
point. You might experiment later whether you can increase it a bit in order to reduce
the overhead of tiling.

minimum amount of memory (in MB) for a single buffer in tiling

This is a second parameter that controls tiling. It sets a lower limit for the size of
intermediate image buffers in megabytes. The parameter is needed to avoid excessive
tiling in some cases (for some modules). Set this parameter to a low value of 8. You
might tentatively increase it to 16 later.
225
 memory in megabytes to use for thumbnail cache

This controls how many thumbnails (or mip maps) can be stored in memory at a time.
As a starting point set this to something like 256MB. Since darktable 2.0, the cache
does allocate a few small buffers per each thumbnail in cache, thus causing significant
memory fragmentation. As explained before, this poses a problem for 32-bit systems.
For this reason, as of darktable 2.0, 32-bit support is soft-deprecated.

10.1.6. darktable on 64-bit systems

There's not much to be said here. Of course also 64-bit systems require a sufficient amount
of main memory, so the 4GB plus swap recommendation holds true. On the other hand,
64-bit architectures do not suffer from the specific 32-bit limitations like small address
space and fragmentation madness.

Most modern Intel or AMD 64-bit CPUs will have available address space in the range of
several Terabytes. The word “modern” is relative in this context: all AMD and Intel CPUs
introduced since 2003 and 2004, respectively, offer a 64-bit mode. Linux 64-bit has been
available for many years.

All relevant Linux distributions give you the choice to install a 32-bit or a 64-bit version
with no added costs. You can even run old 32-bit binaries on a 64-bit Linux. The only thing
you need to do: invest some time into the migration. In the end we strongly recommend
moving to a 64-bit version of Linux. There really is no reason not to upgrade to 64-bit.

On a 64-bit system you can safely leave the tiling related configuration parameters at their
defaults: “host memory limit (in MB) for tiling” should have a value of 1500 and “minimum
amount of memory (in MB) for a single buffer in tiling” should be set to 16. In case you
are migrating from a 32-bit to a 64-bit system you will need to check these settings and
manually change them if needed in darktable's preference dialog.

Typically there is no need to restrict oneself in the number of background threads on a

64-bit system. On a multi-processor system a number of two to eight threads can speed
up thumbnail generation considerably versus only one thread. The reason is not so much
taking maximum advantage of all your CPU cores – darktable's pixelpipe anyhow uses all
of them in parallel – but hiding I/O latency.

One exception is worth to be mentioned. If you use darktable to process stitched

panoramas, e.g. TIFFs as generated by Hugin, these images can reach considerable sizes.
Each background thread needs to allocate enough memory to keep one full image plus
intermediates and output in its buffers. This may quickly run even a well equipped 64-bit
system out of memory. In that case lower the number of background threads to only one.

226
10.2. darktable and OpenCL
darktable can use GPU acceleration via OpenCL to improve performance.

10.2.1. The background
Processing high resolution images is a demanding task needing a modern computer. Both
in terms of memory requirements and in terms of CPU power, getting the best out of a
typical 15, 20 or 25 Megapixel image can quickly bring your computer to its limits.

darktable's requirements are no exception. Our decision to not compromise processing

quality, has led to all calculations being done on 4 x 32bit floating point numbers. This
is slower than “ordinary” 8 or 16bit integer algebra, but eliminates all problems of tonal
breaks or loss of information.

A lot of hand optimization has been invested to make darktable as fast as possible. If
you run a current version of darktable on a modern computer, you might not notice any
“slowness”. However, there are conditions and certain modules where you will feel (or
hear from the howling of your CPU fan) how much your poor multi-core processor has to
struggle.

That's where OpenCL comes in. OpenCL allows us to take advantage of the enormous
power of modern graphics cards. Gamer's demand for high detailed 3D worlds in modern
ego shooters has fostered GPU development. ATI, NVIDIA and Co had to put enormous
processing power into their GPUs to meet these demands. The result is modern graphics
cards with highly parallelized GPUs to quickly calculate surfaces and textures at high frame
rates.

You are not a gamer and you don't take advantage of that power? Well, then you should at
least use it in darktable! For the task of highly parallel floating point calculations modern
GPUs are much faster than CPUs. That is especially true, when you want to do the same few
processing steps over millions of items. Typical use case: processing of megapixel images.

10.2.2. How OpenCL works

As you can imagine, hardware architectures of GPUs can vary significantly. There
are different manufacturers, and even different generations of GPUs from the same
manufacturer may differ. At the same time GPU manufacturers don't normally disclose all
hardware details of their products to the public. One of the known consequences is the
need to use proprietary drivers under Linux, if you want to take full advantage of your
graphics card.

Fortunately an industry consortium lead by The Khronos Group has developed an open,
standardized interface called OpenCL. It allows the use of your GPU as a numerical
processing device. OpenCL offers a C99-like programming language with a strong focus
on parallel computing. An application that wants to use OpenCL will need OpenCL source
code that it hands over to a hardware specific OpenCL compiler at run-time. This way the
application can use OpenCL on different GPU architectures (even at the same time). All
hardware “secrets” are hidden in this compiler and are normally not visible to the user (or
the application). The compiled OpenCL code is loaded onto your GPU and – with certain
API calls – it is ready to do calculations for you.

10.2.3. How to activate OpenCL in darktable

Using OpenCL in darktable requires that your PC is equipped with a suitable graphics card
and that it has the required libraries in place. Namely modern graphics cards from NVIDIA
227
 and AMD come with full OpenCL support. The OpenCL compiler is normally shipped as part
of the proprietary graphics driver; it is used as a dynamic library called “libOpenCL.so”.
This library must be in a folder where it is found by your system's dynamic linker.

When darktable starts, it will first try to find and load libOpenCL.so and – on success –
check if the available graphics card comes with OpenCL support. A sufficient amount of
graphics memory (1GB+) needs to be available to take advantage of the GPU. If that is
OK, darktable tries to setup its OpenCL environment: a processing context needs to be
initialized, a calculation pipeline to be started, OpenCL source code files (extension is .cl)
need to be read and compiled and the included routines (called OpenCL kernels) need to
be prepared for darktable's modules. If all that is done, the preparation is finished.

Per default OpenCL support is activated in darktable if all the above steps were successful.
If you want to de-activate it you can do so in “core options” (Section 8.2, “Core options”)
by unchecking “activate opencl support”. This configuration parameter also tells you if
OpenCL initialization failed: it is greyed out in that case.

You can at any time switch OpenCL support off and on; this will happen immediately.
Depending on the type of modules you are using, you will notice the effect as a general
speed-up during interactive work and during export. Most modules in darktable can take
advantage of OpenCL but not all modules are demanding enough to make a noticeable
difference. In order to feel a real difference, take modules like shadows and highlights,
sharpen, lowpass, highpass or even more extreme equalizer and profiled denoise.

If you are interested in profiling figures, you can start darktable with command line
parameters “-d opencl -d perf”. After each run of the pixelpipe you will get a detailed
allocation of processing time to each module plus an even more fine grained profile for
all used OpenCL kernels.

Besides the speed-up you should not see any difference in the results between CPU and
GPU processing. Except of rounding errors, the results are designed to be identical. If, for
some reasons, darktable fails to properly finish a GPU calculation, it will normally notice
and automatically (and transparently) fall back to CPU processing.

10.2.4. Setting up OpenCL on your system

The huge diversity of systems and the marked differences between OpenCL vendors and
driver versions makes it impossible to give an comprehensive overview of how to setup
OpenCL. We only can give you an example, in this case for NVIDIA driver version 331.89
on Ubuntu 14.04. We hope that this will serve you as a first impression and will help to
solve possible problems of your specific setup.

The principle OpenCL function flow is like this:

darktable -> libOpenCL.so -> libnvidia-opencl.so.1 -> kernel driver module(s) -> GPU

• darktable dynamically loads libOpenCL.so, a system library which must be accessible

to the system's dynamic loader (ld.so).

• libOpenCL.so will read the vendor specific information file (/etc/OpenCL/

vendors/nvidia.icd) to find the library which contains the vendor specific OpenCL
implementation.

• The vendor specific OpenCL implementation comes as a library libnvidia-

opencl.so.1 (which in our case is a symbolic link to libnvidia-
opencl.so.331.89).
228
• libnvidia-opencl.so.1 needs to talk to the vendor specific kernel modules nvidia
and nvidia_uvm via device special files /dev/nvidia0, /dev/nvidiactl, and /dev/
nvidia-uvm.

At system startup the required device special files (/dev/nvidia*) need to be created. If
this does not happen on your system by default, the easiest way to set them up and make
sure all modules are loaded is installing the nvidia-modprobe package (which, at the
time of this writing, is only available for “utopic”, but works well with “trusty” and “Mint
17”). You can grab it at this site [http://packages.ubuntu.com/utopic/nvidia-modprobe].

A user account which wants to make use of OpenCL from within darktable needs to have
read-write access to NVIDIA's device special files. On some systems these files allow world
read-write access by default, which avoids permission issues but might be debatable in
terms of system security. Other systems restrict the access to a user group, e.g. “video”.
In that case your user account has to be member of that group.

To summarise, the packages which needed to be installed in this specific case were:

• nvidia-331 (331.89-0ubuntu1~xedgers14.04.2)

• nvidia-331-dev (331.89-0ubuntu1~xedgers14.04.2)

• nvidia-331-uvm (331.89-0ubuntu1~xedgers14.04.2)

• nvidia-libopencl1-331 (331.89-0ubuntu1~xedgers14.04.2)

• nvidia-modprobe (340.24-1)

• nvidia-opencl-dev:amd64 (5.5.22-3ubuntu1)

• nvidia-opencl-icd-331 (331.89-0ubuntu1~xedgers14.04.2)

• nvidia-settings (340.24-0ubuntu1~xedgers14.04.1)

• nvidia-settings-304 (340.24-0ubuntu1~xedgers14.04.1)

• nvidia-libopencl1-331 (331.89-0ubuntu1~xedgers14.04.2)

• nvidia-opencl-dev:amd64 (5.5.22-3ubuntu1)

• nvidia-opencl-icd-331 (331.89-0ubuntu1~xedgers14.04.2)

• opencl-headers (1.2-2013.10.23-1)

The list of NVIDIA related kernel modules as reported by lsmod is:

nvidia
nvidia_uvm

The list of NVIDIA related device special files (ls -l /dev/nvidia*) should read like:

crw-rw-rw- 1 root root 195, 0 Jul 28 21:13 /dev/nvidia0

crw-rw-rw- 1 root root 195, 255 Jul 28 21:13 /dev/nvidiactl
crw-rw-rw- 1 root root 250, 0 Jul 28 21:13 /dev/nvidia-uvm

Beware that the major/minor numbers (e.g. 250/0 for /dev/nvidia-uvm in this example)
may vary depending on your system.
229
10.2.5. Possible problems and solutions
darktable will detect OpenCL run-time problems automatically. It will then reprocess
everything on CPU; only speed is affected, the final result should not be endangered.

There can be various reasons why OpenCL could fail during initialization phase. We depend
on hardware requirements and on the presence of certain drivers and libraries. In addition
all these have to fit in terms of maker model and revision number. If anything does not fit,
e.g. your graphics driver (loaded as a kernel module) does not match the version of your
libOpenCL.so, OpenCL support is likely not available.

In that case, the best thing to do is start darktable from a console with

darktable -d opencl

This will give additional debugging output about the initialization and use of OpenCL.
First see if you find a line that starts with “[opencl_init] FINALLY ...” This should tell you,
if OpenCL support is available for you or not. If initialization failed, look at the messages
above for anything that reads like “could not be detected” or “could not be created”. Check
if there is a hint about where it failed.

Here are a few cases observed in the past:

• darktable might tell you that no OpenCL aware graphics card is detected or that the
available memory on your GPU is too low and the device is discarded. In that case you
might need to buy a new card, if you really want OpenCL support.

• darktable might find your libOpenCL.so but then tell you that it couldn't get a platform.
NVIDIA drivers will often give error code -1001 in that case. This happens because
libOpenCL.so is only a wrapper library. For the real work further libraries – specific to
vendor, device and driver  – need to be loaded. This failed for some reason. There is
a structure of files in /etc/OpenCL on your system that libOpenCL.so consults to find
these libraries. Check if you find something fishy in there and try to fix it. Often the
needed libraries cannot be found by your system's dynamic loader. Giving full path
names might help.

• darktable might also tell you that a context could not be created. This often indicates
a version mismatch between (loaded) graphics driver and libOpenCL. Check if you have
left-over kernel modules or graphics libraries of an older install and take appropriate
action. In doubt, make a clean reinstall of your graphics driver. Sometimes, immediately
after a driver update, the loaded kernel driver does not match the newly installed
libraries: reboot your system in that case.

• darktable might crash in very rare cases directly during startup. This can happen if your
OpenCL setup is completely broken or if driver/library contains a severe bug. If you can't
fix it, you can still use darktable with option “--disable-opencl”, which will skip the entire
OpenCL initialization step.

• darktable might fail to compile its OpenCL source files at run-time. In that case you will
get a number of error messages looking like typical compiler errors. This could indicate
an incompatibility between your OpenCL implementation and our interpretation of the
standard. In that case visit us in IRC in #darktable on FreeNode or on the developers
mailing list at [email protected] and report the problem. Chances are
good that we can help you. Please also report if you see significant differences between
CPU and GPU processing of an image!

There also exists a few on-CPU implementations of OpenCL. These come as drivers
provided by INTEL or AMD. We observed that they do not give us any speed gain versus
230
 our hand-optimized CPU code. Therefore we simply discard these devices by default. This
behavior can be changed by setting the configuration variable opencl_use_cpu_devices
to TRUE.

10.2.6. Setting up OpenCL for AMD/ATI devices

While NVIDIA devices and most modern AMD/ATI devices will most often run out of the
box, there is more to do for older AMD/ATI graphics cards, namely those prior to the
HD7xxx series. This starts with the fact that those devices will only report to darktable
part of their total GPU memory. For a 1GB device this typically amounts to 512MB, a value
which darktable in its standard configuration will refuse as not being sufficient for its
tasks. Consequence: the device will not be used.

On the web you might find as a tip to set environment variable GPU_MAX_HEAP_SIZE to
a value of 100 in this case. Indeed this will cause the AMD/ATI driver to report the full
installed memory to darktable. However, there is a problem. On many (most?) cards this
will cause buffers to be allocated on your computer (host) not on the video card! In this
case all memory accesses will need to go through the slow PCIe bus. This will cost you a
factor of 10x or more in performance and will render OpenCL useless for you, especially
when exporting files.

Another environment variable which changes driver behavior is

GPU_MAX_ALLOC_PERCENT. You could set this to 100 in order to allow memory
allocations as high as 1GB on your AMD/ATI card. The problem is, this tends to cause
darktable to crash sooner or later.

Our recommendation is to leave these settings untouched. Often your card will be
recognized with 512MB memory and a maximum allocation size of 128MB. There are three
configuration parameter which you set in file $HOME/.config/darktable/darktablerc to
get things running. Here are the details:

opencl_memory_requirement

Set this parameter to 500 so that darktable will accept your 512MB graphics memory
as being sufficient in memory.

opencl_memory_headroom

This parameter controls how much graphics memory (out of the reported one)
darktable should leave untouched for driver and display use. As for AMD/ATI devices
we anyhow only can get half of the available RAM it's safe to set this to zero. So all of
the 512MB can be used by darktable.

opencl_avoid_atomics

Atomic operations in OpenCL are a special way of data synchronization. They are only
used in a few kernels. Unfortunately, some (most?) AMD/ATI devices are extremely
slow in processing atomics. It's better to process the affected modules on CPU
rather than accepting an ultra-slow GPU codepath. Set this parameter to TRUE if you
experience slow processing of modules like shadows and highlights, monochrome, local
contrast, or global tonemap or if you even get intermittent system freezes.

These recommendations do not apply to the more recent Radeon HD7xxx series with GCN
architecture. Besides being very fast in terms of GPU computing they normally run out of
the box. You only might consider to try some of the performance optimization options
which are described in the following section.
231
10.2.7. OpenCL performance optimization
There are some configuration parameters in $HOME/.config/darktable/darktablerc that
help to finetune your system's OpenCL performance. Performance in this context mostly
means the latency of darktable during interactive work, i.e. how long it takes to reprocess
your pixelpipe. For a comfortable workflow it is essential to keep latency low.

In order to get profiling info you start darktable from a terminal with

darktable -d opencl -d perf

After each reprocessing of pixelpipe  – caused by module parameter change, zooming,

panning, etc.  – you will get the total time and the time spent in each of our OpenCL
kernels. The most reliable value is the total time spent in pixelpipe. Please note that
the timings given for each individual module are unreliable when running the OpenCL
pixelpipe asynchronously (see opencl_async_pixelpipe below).

To allow for a fast pixelpipe processing with OpenCL it is essential that we keep the GPU
busy. Any interrupts or a stalled data flow will add to the total processing time. This is
especially important for the small image buffers we need to handle during interactive
work. They can be processed quickly by a fast GPU. However, even short-term stalls of the
pixelpipe will easily become a bottleneck.

On the other hand darktable's performance during file exports is more or less only
governed by the speed of our algorithms and the horse-power of your GPU. Short-term
stalls will not have a noticeable effect on the total time of an export.

darktable comes with default settings that should deliver a decent GPU performance on
most systems. However, if you want to fiddle around a bit by yourself and try to optimize
things further, here is a description of the relevant configuration parameters.

opencl_async_pixelpipe

This boolean flag controls how often we block the OpenCL pixelpipe and get a status
on success/failure of all the kernels that have been run. For optimum latency set
this to TRUE, so darktable runs the pixelpipe asynchronously and tries to use as few
interrupts as possible. If you experience OpenCL errors like failing kernels, set the
parameter to FALSE. darktable will then interrupt after each module so you can more
easily isolate the problem. Problems have been reported with some older ATI/AMD
cards, like HD57xx, which can produce garbled output if this parameter is set to TRUE.
If in doubt, leave it at its default FALSE.

opencl_number_event_handles

Event handles are used so we can monitor success/failure of kernels and profiling
info even if the pixelpipe is run asynchronously. The number of event handles is a
limited resource of your OpenCL driver. For sure we can recycle them, but there is a
limited number that we can use at the same time. Unfortunately, there is no way to
find out what the resource limits are; so we need to guess. Our default value of 25 is
quite conservative. You might want to try if higher values like 100 give better OpenCL
performance. If your driver runs out of free handles you would experience failing
OpenCL kernels with error code “-5 (CL_OUT_OF_RESOURCES)” or even crashes or
system freezes; reduce the number again in that case. A value of 0 will block darktable
from using any event handles. This will prevent darktable from properly monitoring
the success of your OpenCL kernels but saves some driver overhead. The consequence
is that any failures will likely lead to garbled output without darktable taking notice;
232
 only recommended if you know for sure that your system runs rock-solid. You can also
set this parameter to -1, which means that darktable assumes no restriction in the
number of event handles; this is not recommended.

opencl_synch_cache

This parameter, if set to "true", will force darktable to fetch image buffers from
your GPU after each module and store them in its pixelpipe cache. This is a resource
consuming operation, but makes sense depending on your GPU (including if the GPU
is rather slow). In that case darktable might in fact save some time when module
parameters have changed, as it can go back to some cached intermediate state and
reprocess only part of the pixelpipe. In many cases this parameter should be set to
"active module" (default), which will only cache the input of the currently focused
module.

opencl_micro_nap

In an ideal case you keep your GPU busy at 100% when reprocessing the pixelpipe.
That's good. On the other hand your GPU is also needed to do regular GUI updates. It
might happen that there is no sufficient time left for this task. Consequence would by
a jerky reaction of your GUI on panning, zooming or when moving sliders. darktable
can add small naps into its pixelpipe processing to have the GPU catch some breath
and do GUI related stuff. Parameter opencl_micro_nap controls the duration of these
naps in microseconds. You need to experiment in order to find an optimum value for
your system. Values of 0, 100, 500 and 1000 are good starting points to try. Defaults
to 1000.

opencl_use_pinned_memory

During tiling huge amounts of memory need to be transferred between host and
device. On some devices (namely AMD) direct memory transfers to and from an
arbitrary host memory region may give a huge performance penalty. This is especially
noticeable when exporting large images. Setting this configuration parameter to
TRUE tells darktable to use a special kind of intermediate buffer for host-device data
transfers. On some devices this can speed up exporting of large files by a factor of
2 to 3. NVIDIA devices and drivers seem to have a more efficient memory transfer
technique even for arbitrary memory regions. As they may not show any performance
gain and even may produce garbled output, opencl_use_pinned_memory should be
left at its default FALSE for those devices.

10.2.8. OpenCL scheduling profile

darktable can use the CPU and one or several OpenCL capable GPUs. Depending on the
relative performance users can choose among certain scheduling profiles to optimize
performance. This is done by the configuration parameter “OpenCL scheduling profile” in
the “core options” dialog (Section 8.2, “Core options”) which offers the following choices:

default If an OpenCL capable GPU is found darktable uses it for

processing the center image view while the preview window
(see Section  3.3.2, “Navigation”) is processed on the CPU in
parallel. This is the preferred setting for systems with a reasonably
fast CPU and a moderately fast GPU. The exact allocation of
devices to the various pixelpipe types can be finetuned with the
“opencl_device_priority” configuration parameter (see below).
very fast GPU With this scheduling profile darktable processes the center image
view and the preview window on the GPU sequentially. This
233
 is the preferred setting for systems with a GPU that strongly
outperforms the CPU.
multiple GPUs This setting addresses systems with multiple GPUs whose relative
performance does not differ significantly. Whenever a processing
job is started darktable uses any currently idle GPU but not
the CPU. Users of systems with a variety of GPUs will need
better control on their relative priority. They should better
select the “default” profile and finetune their system with the
“opencl_device_priority” configuration parameter (see below).

On first start-up or after any detected change in the GPU configuration of your system
darktable tries to identify the best suited profile for you. You can change it at any time in
the “core options” dialog (Section 8.2, “Core options”) with immediate effect.

10.2.9. Multiple OpenCL devices – manual settings

The scheduling of OpenCL devices on most typical systems can be optimized using
the “OpenCL scheduling profile” settings. However, if your system is equipped with
a variety of GPUs you might want to set the relative device priority manually. To do
so you need to select the “default” scheduling profile and do your settings in the
“opencl_device_priority” configuration parameter.

It is important to understand how darktable uses OpenCL devices. Each processing

sequence of an image  – to convert an input to the final output using a certain history
stack  – is run in a so called pixelpipe. There are four different types of pixelpipe in
darktable. One type is responsible to process the center image view (or full view) in
darkroom mode, another pixelpipe processes the preview image (navigation window) top
left in darkroom mode. Of each of these two pixelpipe there can be one at a time – with the
full and the preview pixelpipe running in parallel. In addition there can be multiple parallel
pixelpipes doing file exports and there can be multiple parallel pixelpipes generating
thumbnails. If an OpenCL device is available darktable dynamically allocates it to one
specific pixelpipe for one run and releases it afterwards.

The computational demand depends a lot on the pixelpipe type. Preview image and
thumbnails have a low resolution and can be processed quickly; center image view is more
demanding, let alone the pixelpipe doing a file export.

Configuration parameter “opencl_device_priority” holds a string with the following

structure:

a,b,c.../k,l,m.../o,p,q.../x,y,z...

Each letter represents one specific OpenCL device. There are four fields in the parameter
string separated by a slash, each representing one type of pixelpipe. “a,b,c...” defines the
devices that are allowed to process the center image (full) pixelpipe. Likewise devices
“k,l,m...” can process the preview pixelpipe, devices “o,p,q...” the export pixelpipes and
finally devices “x,y,z...” the thumbnail pixelpipes. An empty field means that no OpenCL
device may serve this type of pixelpipe.

darktable has an internal numbering system, where the first available OpenCL device will
receive number “0”. All further devices are numbered consecutively. This number together
with the device name is displayed when you start darktable with “darktable -d opencl”.
You can specify a device either by number or by name (upper/lower case and whitespace
do not matter). If you have more than one device – all with the same name – you need to
use the device numbers in order to differentiate them.
234
A device specifier can be prefixed with an exclamation mark “!”, in which case the device
is excluded from processing this pixelpipe. You can also give an asterisk “*” as a wildcard,
representing all devices not mentioned explicitly before in that group.

Sequence order within a group matters. darktable will read the list from left to right and
whenever it tries to allocate an OpenCL device to a pixelpipe it will scan the devices in
that order, taking the first free device it finds.

If a pixelpipe process is about to be started and if all GPUs in the corresponding group are
busy, darktable automatically processes the image on the CPU by default. You can enforce
GPU processing by prefixing the list of allowed GPUs with a plus sign “+”. darktable will
not use the CPU but rather suspend processing until the next allowed OpenCL device is
available.

darktable's default setting for “opencl_device_priority” is:

*/!0,*/*/*

Any detected OpenCL device is allowed to process our center view image. The first
OpenCL device (0) is not allowed to process the preview pixelpipe. As a consequence, if
there is only one GPU owned by your system, preview pixelpipe will always be processed
on CPU, keeping your single GPU exclusively for the more demanding center image
view. This is a reasonable setting for most systems. No restrictions apply to export and
thumbnail pixelpipes.

The default is a good choice if you have only one device. If you have several devices it forms
a reasonable starting point. However, as your devices might have quite different levels of
processing power, it makes sense to invest a few thoughts and optimize your priority list.

Here is an example. Let's assume we have a system with two devices, a fast Radeon
HD7950 and an older and slower GeForce GTS450. darktable (started with “darktable -d
opencl”) will report the following devices:

[opencl_init] successfully initialized.

[opencl_init] here are the internal numbers and names of
OpenCL devices available to darktable:
[opencl_init] 0 'GeForce GTS 450'
[opencl_init] 1 'Tahiti'
[opencl_init] FINALLY: opencl is AVAILABLE on this system.

So the GeForce GTS 450 is detected as the first device; the Radeon HD7950 ('Tahiti')
as the second one. This order will normally not change unless the hardware or driver
configuration is modified. But it's better to use device names rather than numbers to be
on the safe side.

As the GTS450 is slower than the HD7950, an optimized opencl_device_priority could look
like:

!GeForce GTS450,*/!Tahiti,*/Tahiti,*/Tahiti,*

The GTS450 is explicitly excluded from doing the center image pixelpipe; this is reserved
to “all” other devices (i.e. the HD7950/Tahiti). Completely the opposite for our preview
pixelpipe. Here the Tahiti is excluded, so that only the GTS450 will be allowed to do the
work.

For file export and thumbnail generation we want all hands on deck. However, darktable
should first look if device Tahiti is free, because it's faster. If that's not the case, all other
devices – in fact only the GTS450 – are checked.
235
10.2.10. OpenCL still does not run for me!
As has been said before OpenCL systems come with a huge variety of setups: different
GPU manufacturers, different GPU models, varying amounts of GPU memory, different
drivers, different distributions etc. Many of the potential problems will only appear with
a very specific combination of those factors.

As we developers of darktable on our computers only have access to a small fraction of

those variations, please understand that we might not be able to fix your specific problem.
There is not much we can do, if there is no way for us to reproduce.

If nothing else helps, the best option might be to start darktable with

darktable --disable-opencl

In the end there is nothing in darktable which only runs on GPU. Don't let OpenCL
discourage you; also darktable's CPU code is highly optimized for performance!

236
10.3. Using darktable-chart

10.3.1. Overview

With darktable-chart we provide a tool for extracting luminance and color values out
of images taken from color reference cards like IT8.7/1 charts. Its main purpose is to
compare a source image (typically a largely unprocessed raw image) to a target image
(typically a JPEG image created in-camera) and produce a darktable style that is able to
convert luminance and color values of the source image to produce the target image. This
style employs the tone curve module, the input color profile, and the color look up table
module for that purpose (see Section 3.4.2.3, “Tone curve”, Section 3.4.3.7, “Input color
profile”, and Section 3.4.3.3, “Color look up table”).

Some cameras are particularly advanced in offering various film simulation modes of your
choice. With the help of darktable-chart and the underlying modules you can now
create styles that replicate these film simulations from within darktable.

10.3.2. Usage

The tool is organized into three tabs in the upper part

and a text output frame in the lower part.

The first tab is used to define the source image, the second tab defines the reference
(target) and the third tab contains the controls to generate the resulting darktable style.

10.3.3. Source image

In the “source image” tab you set your source image which requires two elements. The
first element is an input file in Lab Portable Float Map format (extension .pfm). The source
file represents the largely unmodified data as the camera sees them. Details on taking
photos of a color reference card and producing a .pfm output file are described below. The
second element is a chart file that contains a formal description of the underlying color
reference card's layout (extension .cht). Chart files are usually shipped with your color
reference card or can be downloaded.

In real life the photo taken from the color reference card will show some perspective
distortions relative to the layout defined in the chart file. For that reason the layout is
displayed as a grid over the image and can be modified.

237
 You can move the corners of the grid using the mouse
to reach best alignment of grid and image.

A rectangular frame is displayed for each patch and defines the area from which
darktable-chart will actually sample the needed input data. It may be required to
modify the size of these rectangles so that the sampling area is big enough but does not
overlap with neighboring patches. Use the “size” slider in the upper right part of the GUI.
Higher values lead to smaller sizes.

10.3.4. Reference values
The “reference values” tab determines the target values to which the source image is to
be modified by the resulting style. You can either supply reference values in the form
of measured data of your color reference card (mode “cie/it8 file”), or you supply a
photographic image (mode “color chart image”) much in the same way as described above.
This second image must also be supplied in Lab Portable Float Map format. There is no
need to supply the chart file again as darktable-chart takes the same one as defined
under “source image”. You only need to again align the layout grid and the image and
potentially adjust the “size” slider.

In a typical use case the second image will be based on a JPEG file produced in-camera.
This way you can create a style to simulate the in-camera processing within darktable.

In the lower text output frame you see the color values extracted from the available data
for each individual color patch. The first column gives the name of the patch, the second
and third column show the corresponding color values of the source image in RGB and Lab
format, respectively. The fourth column contains the Lab value coming from the reference
(or from the chart file if no reference image has been given). Finally, the fifth and sixth
columns display how strongly source and reference values deviate in terms of delta E
values.

10.3.5. Process

If all required settings in “source image” and

“reference values” are ready you can move to the
“process” tab.

You first need to tell darktable-chart which of the patches represent the gray ramp.
In the screenshot displayed further above the gray ramp is positioned in the lower part of
the color reference chart, denoted as “GS00...GS23”.
238
 The input “number of final patches” defines how many editable color patches the resulting
style will use within the color look up table module (for more details see Section 3.4.3.3,
“Color look up table”).

By clicking the “process” button you start the calculation.

The quality of the result in terms of average delta E and maximum delta E are displayed
below the button. These data show how close the resulting style applied to the source
image will be able to match the reference values – the lower the better.

Once you are happy with the result you can click on
“export” and save the generated style.

You supply a style name and a style description under which the style will later appear in
darktable. darktable-chart saves the style as a .dtstyle file which can be imported into
darktable (see Section 2.3.9, “Styles”) and shared with others.

The “export raw data as csv” button allows you to save the extracted raw data as a CSV file
for debugging purposes or later usage. darktable-chart offers a command line option
to produce a style with the desired number of final patches from a supplied CSV file (see
Section 1.1.4, “darktable-chart binary”).

10.3.6. Making input images for darktable-chart

To start with, you need a suitable photo of your color reference card in RAW+JPEG format.
It goes beyond the scope of this manual to explain the details of how to take this photo,
but in a nutshell you need to make the shot on a sunny day around midday with the light
source (sun) shining at an angle onto the card. You need to avoid any glare in the image.
The neutral white color patch in the gray ramp (G00) should end up at the L value specified
in the description of your card. Often this is L=92 and requires you to overexpose the shot
by about 1/3 EV. Ideally you make several shots with slightly different exposures to later
select the right one in darktable. Make sure that the chart fills up most of the frame. Take
a lens with a “normal” focal length (e.g. 50mm equivalent) and stop down a bit to avoid
vignetting.

You then open the raw file in darktable and disable most modules, especially base curve.
Select the standard input matrix in the input color profile module and disable gamut
clipping. Select “camera white balance” in the white balance module (see Section 3.4.1.4,
“Base curve”, Section 3.4.3.7, “Input color profile”, and Section 3.4.1.10, “White balance”).

There is a special situation if your camera automatically applies some lens corrections,
namely vignetting correction, to the resulting JPEG file. In this case you need to activate
the lens correction module in darktable so that raw processing matches the JPEG in this
respect (see Section  3.4.4.8, “Lens correction”). However, since darktable's vignetting
correction may not exactly match the in-camera correction, it's better to disable this
correction in the camera if possible.

To output your image you go to the “export” module in darktable (see Section  2.3.13,
“Export selected”).
239
 You need to select “Lab” as output color profile. This color space is not visible in the
combobox by default. You first need to enable it by setting allow_lab_output to TRUE
in $HOME/.config/darktable/darktablerc. Alternatively, you can start darktable
with:

darktable --conf allow_lab_output=true

Then select “PFM (float)” as output format and press “export” to generate the source
image file.

In a similar way you produce the corresponding reference (target) image from the JPEG.
Also this time you need to disable all modules and export with “Lab” output color profile
in “PFM (float)” format.

240
Index
command line parameters, 3
conditional blending, 65
contrast, 92
(see also levels)
A (see also tone curve)
artifact mitigation copy images, 33
banding, 64, 146, 155, 164 create images, 33
black pixels, 74, 99, 122, 125 crop and rotate, 85
blown out highlights, 93 cropping an image, 85
blue light sources, 74, 99, 122, 125
halos, 87, 128
magenta highlights, 96 D
darkroom, 51
B darkroom panels, 75
bottom panel, 81
banding, 146
color picker, 76
base curve, 89
duplicate, 76
basic workflow, 11
filmstrip, 83
blending, 58
gamut check, 83
blending operators, 59
histogram, 80
bloom, 161
history stack, 75
brightness, 92
image infos, 75
(see also levels)
mask manager, 77
(see also tone curve)
module groups, 80
brush, 62
more modules, 81
navigation, 75
C overexposed warning, 82
camera import, 27 raw overexposed warning, 82
channel mixer, 114 snapshots, 75
chromatic aberration, 148 soft proof, 83
(see also lens correction) underexposed warning, 82
circle, 62 darktable, vii
clarity (see equalizer) darktable-chart, 7, 237
cloning, 141 darktable-cli, 5
collect images, 29 darktable-cltest, 8
collections, 19, 29 darktable-cmstest, 8
color balance, 116 darktable-generate-cache, 6
color contrast, 121 deflicker, 91
color correction, 121 defringe, 149
color labels, 21 delete images, 33
color look up table, 120 demosaic, 95
color management, 72 denoise
display profile, 16, 72 bilateral, 133
input color profile, 122 equalizer, 128
output color profile, 125 non local means, 132
rendering intent, 72 profiled, 129
rendering method, 72 raw, 145
unbreak input profile, 126 display profile, 16, 72
color mapping, 163 dithering, 146
color picker, 66, 76, 99, 99, 101, 120, 122, 125, duplicate, 76
153
color reconstruction, 93
color spaces, 73 E
color zones, 122 ellipse, 63
colorize, 162 equalizer, 128
comboboxes, 55 Exif data, 31

241
export, 44 image information, 31
exposure, 91 import, 27
exposure bias, 89 metadata editor, 38
exposure fusion, 89 recently used collections, 31
selected images, 32
F selecting images, 32
file export, 44 styles, 35
file import, 27 tagging, 38
fill light, 98 timeline, 31
film rolls, 19 lighttable view, 15
filmic rgb, 108 liquify, 133
filmstrip, 10 LittleCMS2, 72
filtering, 21 local adjustments, 61
focus detection, 18 local contrast, 104
framing, 152 (see also equalizer)
local copies, 25, 34
G lowlight, 160
lowpass, 159
gamut check, 83
Lua, 211
gamut clipping, 74, 122
Lua API, 222
geo tagging, 37
lut3d, 124
global tonemap, 107
GPU computing, 227
gradient, 64
M
graduated density, 164 map view, 179
grain, 158 find location, 182
group images, 22, 34 map settings, 182
mask manager, 77
mask shapes, 62
H brush, 62
haze removal, 148
circle, 62
HDR images, 29, 33
ellipse, 63
highlight reconstruction, 96
gradient, 64
highpass, 158
path, 63
histogram, 80
masks, 61
history stack, 34, 53, 75
combined masks, 68
hotpixels, 147
drawn masks, 61
parametric masks, 65
I raster masks, 68
image information, 31 memory setup, 224
image infos, 75 32-bit systems, 225
import, 27 64-bit systems, 226
HDR files, 29 metadata editor, 38
LDR files, 29 module groups, 80
raw files, 29 module presets, 55
input color profile, 122 module processing order, 53
invert, 98 module usage, 53
comboboxes, 55
L sliders, 54
lens correction, 139 modules, 85
levels, 99 base curve, 89
lighttable panels bloom, 161
collect images, 29 channel mixer, 114
export, 44 chromatic aberration, 148
geo tagging, 37 color balance, 116
history stack, 34 color contrast, 121
242
color correction, 121 watermark, 149
color look up table, 120 white balance, 97
color mapping, 163 zone system, 103
color reconstruction, 93 monitor profile, 16, 72
color zones, 122 monochrome, 125
colorize, 162 more modules, 81
contrast brightness saturation, 92 move images, 33
crop and rotate, 85 multiple instances, 56
defringe, 149
demosaic, 94 N
denoise – bilateral, 133
navigation, 75
denoise – non local means, 132
noise removal (see denoise)
denoise – profiled, 129
dithering, 146
equalizer, 128 O
exposure, 91 OpenCL, 227
fill light, 98 orientation, 87
filmic rgb, 108 output color profile, 125
framing, 152 overexposed warning, 82
global tonemap, 107 overlay, 16
graduated density, 164
grain, 158 P
haze removal, 148 panoramas, 226
highlight reconstruction, 96 path, 63
highpass, 158 perspective correction, 136
hotpixels, 147 pixelpipe, 53
input color profile, 122 preface, vii
invert, 98 preferences and settings, 193
lens correction, 139 core options, 199
levels, 99 GUI options, 194
liquify, 133 presets, 209
local contrast, 104 session options, 203
lowlight, 160 shortcuts, 205
lowpass, 159 presets, 209
lut3d, 124 module presets, 55
monochrome, 124 print view, 189
orientation, 87 program invocation, 3
output color profile, 125 purple fringing, 149
perspective correction, 136
raw black/white point, 98
raw denoise, 145 R
retouch, 142 raw black/white point, 98
rotate pixels, 141 raw overexposed warning, 82
scale pixels, 141 recently used collections, 31
shadows and highlights, 87 red-eye removal, 170
sharpen, 127 redo, 25, 55, 180
soften, 156 remove images, 33
split-toning, 154 rendering intent, 72
spot removal, 141 retouch, 142
tone curve, 100 rotate pixels, 141
tonemapping, 107 rotating an image, 85
unbreak input profile, 126
velvia, 127 S
vibrance, 127 saturation, 92
vignetting, 155 (see also color contrast)
243
 (see also color zones) X
(see also tone curve)
XMP files, 23, 35
save button, 11, 23
scale pixels, 141
scripting, 211 Z
select date, 31 zone system, 103
selected images, 32 zoom, 52, 75
selecting images, 32
shadows and highlights, 87
shapes (see mask shapes)
sharpen, 127
sidecar files, 23, 35
skulls, 20
sliders, 54
slideshow view, 185
snapshots, 75
soft proof, 83
soften, 157
sort order, 22
split-toning, 154
spot removal, 141
star ratings, 21
stitched panoramas, 226
styles, 35

T
tags, 38
tethering view, 173
camera settings, 175
live view, 175
sessions, 175
thumbnails, 19
tiling, 225
time-lapse photography, 91
timeline, 31
tone curve, 100
tonemapping, 107
(see also global tonemap)
trash images, 33

U
unbounded colors, 73
unbreak input profile, 126
underexposed warning, 82
undo, 25, 55, 180

V
velvia, 127
vibrance, 127
vignetting, 155

W
watermark, 150
white balance, 97
244