In this image, we are using an instance of the LUT 3D module with the Kodak T-Max 400 LUT from RawTherapee to convert it to black and white. The above version is good, but you can create many more moods and styles by adding color back in after converting to black and white. Let's review some examples below.
Shooting into the sun can result in underexposure and a loss of detail, especially in the shadows. If the situation forces you to shoot into the sun, learn how to compensate for these effects in darktable.
We've discussed a number of different ways to adjust colors in darktable, including color balance rgb , the channel mixer in color calibration , rgb primaries , and color equalizer . In the upcoming 5.6 release of darktable, a new module called color harmonizer makes it easier and more intuitive than ever to adjust an image to match a color palette. Let's review some examples of how to use this…
Green plants in landscapes don't always appear as green - they can range from shades of yellows to shades of blues depending on the lighting. In this tutorial, learn how to adjust these important shades to control the overall look of your landscape scene.
While not as popular as subsequent albums, Golden Heart, Mark Knopfler's first solo album, is a real treasure, a masterpiece of songwriting and guitar work. On its 30th anniversary, let's revisit some of the stand out tracks on the album that launched Mark Knopfler's solo career.
As we recently discussed , the new AgX module gives you fine-grained control over the highlights. However, additional steps may be required to really bring out the details in very bright areas like the sky. Let's look at several techniques for enhancing contrast in the highlights below.
Let's review a few case studies to see how to use the powerful new AgX module in darktable.
This post provides an overview of how to use the scene-referred workflow in darktable using easy, step-by-step instructions.
The new AgX tone mapper and the older sigmoid module both provide controls to adjust the color primaries of the image, but what exactly does that mean? What problem are these sliders solving? Let's examine how color shifts occur when luminance changes below.
AgX , the exciting new tone mapping module coming to darktable in December, is the natural evolution of the tone mappers that came before it. AgX reduces distortions and gives unprecedented control over the entire tone curve. Learn more about the history of tone mappers in darktable and see what sets AgX apart.
Sometimes you have the opportunity for a great shot but it's blocked by a fence, tree, power lines, or other immovable objects in the foreground. It's often possible to remove these distractions using darktable's powerful retouch module and significantly improve the image. Let's walk through a few examples.
As we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the release of Sailing to Philadelphia, let's look back on some of the stand out tracks from this classic Mark Knopfler album.
These beautiful buildings were quite colorful, yet the vibrance of the colors is lost in this capture due to the extreme difference in contrast between the parts in direct sunlight and the parts in the shade. Let's see how to bring this scene to life so it more accurately reflects how it looked in person using darktable.
Considered by many of the cast to be their favorite episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Far Beyond The Stars is a riveting story and masterpiece of science fiction. Let's explore the many different levels on which this episode works.
Often views as intimidating and difficult-to-learn, in reality Arch Linux is a perfect blend of simplicity, control, and stability. Let's examine in detail what makes Arch a top choice for your desktop operating system.
They usually aren't light, and they certainly aren't small, but the unique perspective a telephoto lens brings makes it an indispensable part of your kit, even when traveling. Let's review some shots taken with a telephoto to see how we can justify its size and weight.
Profound and thought-provoking, above all else The City on the Edge of Forever is an exposé of the richness of James T. Kirk's character. Paradoxically, it also represents a great tragedy while at the same time Gene Roddenberry's optimistic vision of the future. Let's unpack this classic episode.
Let's explore how to showcase this beautiful waterfall in Lauterbrunnen along with the colorful rock surrounding it and the iconic church tower.
Arguably the best Star Trek episode of all time, The Inner Light is a masterpiece of science fiction, incorporating philosophical elements and a theme of inner growth. Let's dive into this brilliant story.
At first glance, ZFS snapshots, bookmarks, and checkpoints may seem similar. Let's explore what these features are, how they differ, and example use cases for each.
At first glance, the exposure module might seem quite basic. However, this module combined with darktable's powerful masking features can be used for a wide variety of purposes; let's explore these below.
This two-parter from the Matt Smith era of Doctor Who features a compelling story, the return of the Silurians, and a call to bridge cultural divides and bring out the best in yourself and others.
April showers bring May flowers, but what do May flowers bring? An article about color harmonies. Let's explore how color theory can help make these photos of spring flowers pop.
Let's examine the Orville episode Twice in a Lifetime , a touching and emotional example of a Kobayashi Maru scenario.
On the surface, taking photos of cars seems easy enough. However, you can really take your automotive photography to the next level with a few simple capture techniques and some creative post-processing in darktable.
No matter which side of the great Tuvix debate you fall on, this season 2 episode of Star Trek: Voyager is a powerful, thought-provoking story.
As we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the release of Tracker , Mark Knopfler's eight solo album, let's revisit some highlights from this complex, heartfelt record.
When your subject is old and historic, it may be desirable to give the entire image an aged, analog look. Using the color wheel, let's explore how to create an analogous color harmony and give and old-time look to this photo.
The political, social, and economic structures of Europe are complex and unmatched anywhere else in the world. Let's explore how these different pieces work together to create modern Europe.
Scenes with a high dynamic range can be challenging to work with - either you risk blowing the highlights or the shadows are way too dark. Let's learn how to compress a high dynamic range scene in darktable using both filmic rgb and sigmoid to compare how each of these tone mapping modules works.
DS9's Children of Time is a touching story of family, perseverance, growth, and sacrifice. Let's explore the core Star Trek principles it presents below.
Transferring files from one disk to another or one computer to another sounds like a trivial task, but when you're dealing with a huge number of files and directories, ensuring that the data was fully copied and exactly matches the source becomes harder to do. Fortunately, the venerable file syncing utility rsync makes it easy to handle large directory trees, verify that all files were synced…
The mighty Sigiriya rises from the surrounding plains in dramatic fasion. This UNESCO World Heritage site is both impressive and beautiful to see. Let's look at how to bring out this beauty and detail in darktable.
There's been a lot of discussion online recently about the new Star Trek: Section 31 movie and re-assessing past Star Trek movies that weren't well-received in light of this latest addition to the franchise. Early reviews indicate that Section 31 fails to integrate the key ingredients of Star Trek, similar to the concerns I brought up about the Kelvinverse movies . Now, by comparison, past movies…
Sunsets can have many fantastic colors, but they may not be very visible on the initial edit of an image. Let's explore how to bring sunset colors to life with this beautiful tropical silhouette.
ZFS is a powerful filesystem with many advanced features and two decades of reliability. However, recently concerns have arisen about the new ZFS native encryption functionality. Let's examine this in more detail to understand what the known risks are and possible workarounds for this bug.
Much of the advice for composition revolves around certain times of day (e.g. the Golden Hour or Blue Hour) or certain conditions (cloudy vs sunny, the angle of light, etc) in order to take interesting photos. To shoot during these conditions, you often need to devote a lot of time to planning and wait for just the right moment, but what if you don't have that kind of time? Often, your schedule…
Star Trek: Lower Decks concluded its 5-year run recently, cementing its place in Star Trek canon. Let's explore in more detail what made Lower Decks feel like top-tier Star Trek.
Shooting far-away subjects often results in haze, characterized by a loss of contrast and a loss of detail. Fortunately, sigmoid is well-suited to recover this contrast and pairs well with the haze removal , local contrast , or diffuse or sharpen modules to reverse the haze. Let's dive in and see how this works.
Let's see an example of how to take a decent photo and really drive attention to the subject using color and saturation.
The beauty in Star Trek: Unification , a short film by The Roddenberry Archive , is not in the fancy de-aging CGI, but the exposition of a deep friendship that spans space, time, and the multiverse.
A graduated neutral density filter (or GND) goes over your lens and reduces the brightness (typically for about half of the image) without changing the color temperature. This is useful in scenes with high dynamic range where you can't correctly expose all parts of the scene (because it contains more EVs than your camera can capture). Let's learn about physical GNDs as well as creating software…
Fall colors are a great opportunity to utilize analogous and complementary color harmonies in a scene. Let's see how to use the RYB color wheel to create a color harmony and bring fall scenes to life.
Darktable's powerful drawn masks and parametric masks let you quickly and easily make targeted edits to only part of an image. Let's learn how to use both types of masks and then make several example adjustments.
When shooting a scene with elements at a wide variety of distances from the camera, like a landscape, you can easily end up with some elements of the scene out-of-focus. Fortunately, by understanding the hyperfocal distance and using a wide-angle lens, you can easily ensure your photo is sharp and in-focus from front to back.
Sometimes a great shot involves pointing your camera in the direction of the sun. Even if it isn't actually present in the field-of-view, direct sunlight can still cause distortions in the image called lens flare . Fortunately, darktable provides some powerful tools for correcting these aberrations.
I was blown away with the incredible authenticity, emotion, and energy that Rumours of Fleetwood Mac , a cover band officially endorsed by Mick Fleetwood himself, brought to their performance. Not only did they deliver on the big hits, such as Go Your Own Way or Don't Stop , but they dug deep into Fleetwood Mac's rich catalog to perform some other less-well-known gems.
Understanding how much space a ZFS dataset is using is not as straightforward as it first seems, but let's dive in and decipher how to calculate used space on ZFS.
There are multiple layers of caching involved when writing a file before it makes it to permanent storage on your disk. This becomes even more complicated with a virtual machine which has its own set of caches. Let's explore how exactly writes make it safely to your disk, both on a physical server and a VM.