Darktable: Introduction, installation and interface
Hello friends, my name is Jen0f0nte
and I welcome you to a series of video tutorials about darktable.
darktable is a software for RAW development [and photography work-flow];
if you are a digital photography fans
you will know what I mean with this "RAW development".
If you do not know, but you like photography,
you need to know this:
power-on your cameras;
if it is a more advanced camera will have an option to select the file format for the photos you'll take.
Usually, the default format is JPG.
This format is the result of a series of operations carried out by the camera,
resulting in a compressed file with the information derived from the internal development process.
The quality of this image is enough to see it in the computer screen and to print it.
That is, the average user will not need more from that file.
However, if you want to go a little further and you move into the world of retouching,
you'll find that this format is a bit short, and the results are often quite poor.
I will not go further in this matter, because is technically complex.
Suffice is to say that if you are lucky, your camera will have an option to save photos in RAW format.
Maybe you find it by other names, NEF, CR2, etc.
all these file extensions concern the RAW format and depend on each manufacturer.
What matters is that the data of the image is not processed by the camera's internal software, is data as the sensor receives it, and contains a lot of information.
This you can easily verify by checking the size, in bytes, of the file and comparing it to the same image in jpg format.
This format, in order to be seen on web pages or printed, need to be developed (like a digital negative) by ourselves using a specific software.
The advantages of doing this are enormous if we intend to give a personal touch to our photos or just improve the results of the shoot.
This is impossible in jpg.
believe me, the results can be surprising, depending on the quality of your camera and, of course, of each picture.
There are plenty of programs to do this digital photo development.
The most common are Lightroom and Aperture.
Both are really good programs, and used by professional photographers. However, they have a "problem":
they are commercial programs and therefore cost money (and is not little).
Some people turn to more or less clumsy solutions to use this software without paying. Well, there are two reasons not to do this.
For one thing it's illegal and secondly seriously compromises the security of your system.
Remember this: every time you use a crack or serial generator program you'll expose yourself to serious infections of viruses in your system.
The decision depends on each one. I love photography and in fact, I started using these programs.
But gradually I realized that using these programs is not worth it if there are free alternatives. Darktable is one of them.
The program is very complete and I assure you that the results are truly professional. However, because it is so complex, it is not easy to understand at first.
It contains many modules, plugins and options. And this can be complex and confusing to a beginner.
So I decided to start this series of video tutorials, hoping that will inspire you to start with developing digital photos and to use open software.
This series will consist of several parts. Today's chapter is only dedicated to the installation and to a general overview of the interface.
In the remaining chapters we will go deeper into the use of the program, its many options and possibilities, in much detail as possible.
I'm not a professional photographer, but very enthusiastic, so I hope that my explanations will satisfy you.
The software and the web.
Here you see the interface of the program;
for whom have ever used Lightroom you will notice the resemblance to the Adobe program interface,
the truth is that they are quite similar in general.
It is quite attractive visually, which is appreciated, and it is different from other GNU-Linux programs.
This program is only available for Linux and Mac,
so those of you with Windows will have to make room for a partition on your hard drive for a Linux distro
and that way you introduce yourself to open and free software.
For installation, always recommend going to the web page of the software. This is the page, darktable.org, where you can find all the information.
The page is very minimalist, very simple, as the program's own interface.
The most interesting of this page: here's the section of the development team,
a fairly complete team led by Johannes Hanika,
a German university professor [I think...].
As with all open software production, we can help with various contributions:
ranslations, color matrix of your camera, code, comments and opinions through various means indicated in the development section of the website.
Another feature of this program, common in open software, is the frequency of updates. In proprietary software updates are usually long,
as they release to the public only stable versions or the ones that have undergone a long process of update.
In open software the iterations are more common, so you should be aware to know what new features that are incorporated,
through the news section.
Lets jump to the installation:
in the install section is perfectly explained how to do it;
as I said earlier, there is no version available for Windows,
I have to say I have not tried the Mac version, so I can not say if it works well or not,
so I appreciate any comments if any of you has been able to test it on this platform.
Here are the different flavors available: Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSUSE, Arch, Gentoo ...
You can also download the source code and compile it for your specific distribution.
In terms of specifications, there are a list of the required dependencies when installing from source
or from a non-automated installation system.
The developers recommend using a 64-bit operating system, and the fact is that the difference is quite noticeable in performance.
You see, I'm using Ubuntu 12.04 and I only know well the installation details on this platform.
I recommend using the PPA.
For those who do not know, the PPA is a server hosting programs and updates
and allows us to be aware of the updates permanently.
Generally, versions of Ubuntu have their own repository, with programs that are updated as Ubuntu developers test their stability in the system.
Through the PPA we can have the software permanently updated.
To install the PPA repository, you just have to open a terminal using CTRL + ALT + T, and type the following commands
(look at the video description to cut and paste directly into your terminal)
(here are some boring explanations about “sudo” and other concepts, just for newbies)
I recommend the PPA Plus release, containing some extra content.
The upgrade process holding the command sudo apt-get update can take time, depending on the number of dependencies and repositories that you have already installed.
The program will be installed in a few seconds, and it takes up very little space, as most of the GNU-Linux programs.
The installation will result that the program will be available in the Graphics section of your program list
or, as a launcher in the controversial Unity bar
Ah! Another thing on the page:
in section Resources you can find more information about the program,
including a complete on-line manual or in pdf.
A wiki with a guidance maybe a little technical.
The manual is in multiple languages, but not in Spanish (pledging for translators)
Here is the manual,
is fairly complete and I like it,
so I will use it as a base for this series (some complaints about the lack of a Spanish version).
There is also links to other screencast in English,
and the camera compatibility list.
There are actually a large number of supported cameras, but the level of fidelity in the results can change from one to another.
Here we encounter the problem that the RAW formats are proprietary to each brand,
so the job of analyzing the information of each file must be reverse engineered,
which gives a lot of work.
I have a Nikon D60 and the results are quite similar to those I achieved in Lightroom.
We spent the last part of today's tutorial at the overall program interface.
As I said before, is very similar to Lightroom,
because of the layout in three columns:
on left is more general information,
a central panel showing the photographs that we have imported,
and a panel on the right with the plugins.
Around these main panels we find small collapsible panels.
In the top corner to the right you have another element very similar to Lightroom,
access to the different modes of work available to the program in this version:
Lighttable, darkroom and tethering.
The mode Lighttable contains plugins for general management for the photo library:
making sessions, tag, picture s ratings...
the typical work of a photographer to have their collection organized.
The darkroom mode we have plugins for the digital development,
on which I will not speak yet because it would be too much for this chapter,
one important thing that I will say, especially if you plan to install the program immediately,
is that in the «more plugins» is where you have access to all the darkroom plugins,
which by default are not active in the different panels
The plugins are represented by very minimalist icons,
so to know what each one is, I recommend leaving the mouse over each of them and wait until you see the name.
Plugins are very numerous and also (and this is very important),
many of them may be redundant,
that is, you can get similar results using one or the other but their interface is very different.
This is an advantage, as it gives the photographer freedom to operate those tools with which you feel most comfortable.
In the upper panel icons have access to the different plugins groups:
a group of active plugins, indicating those being used in each photograph;
a favorite group, where are the plugins selected by the user;
a basic group,
with tools aimed at controlling exposure, framing, etc.;
a tone group, a color group, a correction group and an effect group.
We will see all these groups in detail, in the next chapter
In the next video we will see the most basic edition
and the combinations of keyboard shortcuts to facilitate the use of the software.
This is darktable, I will continue in the next chapter,
you see that this is going to last long,
hope you enjoyed it, greetings!