Photo editing with Darktable 1.6

Darktable is not an easy-to-use piece of software. Its range of functions is limited to post-editing light, shadows, and colors. It lacks artistic effects offered in Gimp or Photoshop. However, there is no better piece of software for refining successful and less successful photos – including commercial applications such as Adobe Lightroom.

Unlike the first-generation image editing programs, Darktable [1] uses a non-linear principle: An effects pipeline replaces the step-by-step undo function. You can imagine this as keeping the dialogs of all effects permanently open so that the appropriate parameters can be adjusted at any time. The red buttons circled in Figure 1 switch the respective effects on and off – either temporarily, for trial purposes, or permanently.

Figure 1: With non-linear image editing programs, the settings for all the applied effects (1-6) can be adjusted independently. This gives you far more scope for experimenting than a classic undo function.

[...]

Use Express-Checkout link below to read the full article (PDF).

Buy this article as PDF

Express-Checkout as PDF
Price $2.95
(incl. VAT)

Buy Linux Magazine

SINGLE ISSUES
Print Issues
Digital Issues
 
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Print Subs
Digisubs
 
TABLET & SMARTPHONE APPS
Get it on Google Play

US / Canada

Get it on Google Play

UK / Australia

Related content

  • Darktable 1.2

    Darktable shines as the most powerful free RAW converter, with impressive new features in the current version 1.2.

    more »
  • ART – Another RawTherapee

    RAW converters are the first tool to use in editing photos, and new solutions and programs have the potential to make users' lives easier. How does ART stack up?

    more »
  • Perfect Balance

    The current RawTherapee version finally adds selective image editing, among other long-desired features, to help it compete with king of the hill, darktable.

    more »
  • Tutorial – Krita

    Not many people are aware that Krita, the popular open source painting program, is also great for editing photos.

    more »
  • Dance on a Volcano

    The RAW converter Vulkan darktable outpaces its competitors with a modern node-graph-based architecture and massive use of the GPU.

    more »
comments powered by Disqus
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters

Support Our Work

Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

Learn More

News

Tag Cloud

Administration Community Desktop Events Hardware Linux Mobile Programming Security Software Ubuntu Web Development Windows free software open source