I have been following this thread and agree wholeheartedly that darktable is an incredible piece of software. I'm a bit surprised that someone could call it very difficult. Any really capable graphics program is going to have many complexities and endless features., so the question of how intuitive a program is must be evaluated against true peers and possibly on the basis of the program's unique strengths.
The real strength of DT - for me at least - is the speed and precision with which various effects can be applied - mainly via masks. As far as I know, it is unique in this regard. I strongly suggest that beginners find good Youtube videos on DT and learn the essentials - only the absolute basics of a couple of modules first. Learn the Contrast Brightness Saturation module. Learn the application of a mask very early. Learn how to add new instances of a module. Learn the interface. Learn the Crop And Rotate module. Get good at these two before venturing much further. Maybe a little color management. But don't try to master ten modules at one time. Only a few modules are needed to have enormous editing power. Stay completely away from management of groups of images at first. For a beginner, the management of large collections of images is a distraction and only duplicates (mostly) the functions of many other pieces of software. Reading some comments convinces me that people are trying to deploy too many features all at once, far too early in the learning process. As far as recommending software to friends, better to briefly mention it and then immediately change the subject. People switch software when they are ready and not a moment before. Just because I love DT or Linux means almost nothing to friends and acquaintances. ____________________________________________________________________________ darktable user mailing list to unsubscribe send a mail to darktable-user+unsubscr...@lists.darktable.org
