Thank you for this pair of so very useful clips. Your Darktable skills are wonderful and for you share them is a great gift to us. Without them, I doubt I would have managed to do a successful conversion to B&W that I'm proud of. You also go the extra mile when people ask questions and you answers are patient and complete. That degree of professionalism/dedication/helpfulness is accepted with gratitude.
Hi Boris, just a small hint. Modules can be renamed quickly with ctrl + left click. Find it pretty handy. Thanks again for these new episodes. Never thought that you could achieve such great b&w results with so little effort.
Your video is very informative and a good resource for learning/experimenting. I liked how the use of the Color RGB Balance and Diffuse/Sharpen modules add a different dimension and tonality to the photograph I edited while watching this video. Thank you!
Well explained hierarchy of modules. Moving modules for black & white conversion is not so difficult if you think about it logically. B&W represents different colours and hues with different shades of grey so any module that makes changes to colours will be ineffective if it appears after the B&W colour calibration used for the conversion. On another subject, when you brightened the mid ground, I found myself thinking 'He needs to warm that section up a bit because it simulates sunlight'. Then I remembered you would convert to B&W 😂. Apart from your demonstrations of how to use the various modules, I find your videos very inspirational when you transform a rather dull looking image into a very attractive image. Thank you.
Exactly. It is very important to have in mind what you want to do. The philosophy of image editing in darktable is that you don't get a prefabricated photo from the beginning, which you only improve, but it is expected of the user to have appropriate knowledge beyond the pure use of tools to achieve a desired result. If you have this knowledge, the darktable then offers a wide range of sophisticated tools to freely shape the appearance of the photo from the raw data according to your imagination.
Hi Boris, thanks again for another wonderful video... - it is so instructive to see how a real expert is using darktable! If I may have a wish: It would be great, if you could sometimes add, WHY you are doing specific things :-) One example, starting in 15:19 you are mainly using red for conversion and even reducing blue and green. The result is great. However I wonder why you used this combination of channels. Thanks for all you efforts, again
Thanks again, really interesting and useful to add new approaches to adding contrast. Especially Diffuse and sharpen. Regarding your comment at the end regarding order of modules. Adjusting values that change exposure at the bottom of the pixel pipe will affect existing parametric masks above them if they are looking at exposure and can have odd effects. I will be watching this again... and again...
@@s7habo It's the thing that caught me out quite a lot as a newbie photo processor and DT user. But as soon as I applied my principles of gain staging for sound I got it. And it's one of the extra things I like about DT, it is obvious where the image goes next.
@@stephenward5133 This is a very good analogy; you can think of the way darktable works as mastering sound. Filmic would be like a limiter or compressor at the top of the effects row, on by default to make sure you don't go above 0 db. All the other filters are below it with their default place in the hierarchy. You can also change this order as needed. For example, if you want to give a little reverb, it makes sense to filter the bass frequencies with a high-pass filter or parametric equalizer first, so that you don't get a muddy sound. But to master sound, you need to have the appropriate knowledge. Transferred to the table, you must also have the knowledge of what belongs to the processing of the photo. The sad thing is that people have great expectations without having this knowledge, and get frustrated quickly when the desired results are not achieved as they are used to with other tools that do not have the same processing logic, which are more user-oriented.
Hi Boris, Great video about BW! One question I have: You use Color Calibration for BW. Have you ever used and compared the Color Zone module. Can you explain why you prefer the Color Calibration? Thanks in advance.
In order to answer your question, I need to know how familiar you are with the internal processing of the darktable. 1. I use so-called "scene-referred workflow". What this means is described here: docs.darktable.org/usermanual/3.8/en/overview/workflow/process/ 2. also a very important aspect is the hierarchical order of the modules, so called "pixelpipe". This can be read here: docs.darktable.org/usermanual/3.8/en/darkroom/pixelpipe/ If you have understood this, then this explanation becomes plausible: color zones does not belong to the modules that are used for "scene-referred workflow". That doesn't mean you can't use it, but I prefer to make all changes (colors and contrasts) *before* the Filmic module, because you work in a much wider, linear (physically "more correct") color space, where you have better control over colors and contrasts.
Thank you very much for the this explanation in BW series, I have question that the Portraits for BW uses the same principle or would be different, if different then you can add 1 or 2 Portraits photos to explain the BW
The principles are the same - the conversion to black and white in portraits is also done by combining three color channels, but you have to consider how these three channels affect the color of the skin. I will do another episode where I clarify this.
@@s7habo thanks so much. still using late-2009 (!) i7 iMac with upgraded 32g ram and internal ssd. Been wondering whether to upgrade to M1 Mac or get Linux unit just for photo processing. Good info
Greetings. First of all, congratulations for your videos, excellent learning material and information. Is it possible to do a black and white image processing without changing the order of the modules? Thanks and greetings from Ecuador.
Thank you very much! To answer this question, please read this comment: th-cam.com/video/Yg0pspIT0nE/w-d-xo.html&lc=UgzN9B_7KlqYNfM24w94AaABAg.9XBL_JJXiOh9XBQP6Lgmtf
I don't fully agree with the horses scene, too much of the background is turned into negative space, the trees in the background support the message of the scene and i feel they should be significantly subdued and not almost completely obscured in darkness, it would still invoke your imagination especially because it is black and white and still leaves the horses as the prominent main subject. I would love to have a go at editing that raw file myself. I really like the last image, the patterning and tonality on those leafs is just lovely.
very good
very inspiring and very art point of view!!!
Very good - thanks Boris
great ! Thanks Boris.
Thank you for this pair of so very useful clips. Your Darktable skills are wonderful and for you share them is a great gift to us. Without them, I doubt I would have managed to do a successful conversion to B&W that I'm proud of. You also go the extra mile when people ask questions and you answers are patient and complete. That degree of professionalism/dedication/helpfulness is accepted with gratitude.
Thank you for your encouraging comment. It is very motivating.
Thank you Boris - that was a very impressive demonstration of the capabilities of Darktable in the right hands!
Thanks, Boris! Great tutorials!
Hi Boris,
just a small hint.
Modules can be renamed quickly with ctrl + left click.
Find it pretty handy.
Thanks again for these new episodes.
Never thought that you could achieve such great b&w results with so little effort.
Your video is very informative and a good resource for learning/experimenting. I liked how the use of the Color RGB Balance and Diffuse/Sharpen modules add a different dimension and tonality to the photograph I edited while watching this video. Thank you!
Very helpful! Thank you!
Hi Boris, thanks a lot for sharing your DT-skills in your very interesting and instructive videos! Greetings from Germany, Volker
Danke Volker!
Well explained hierarchy of modules. Moving modules for black & white conversion is not so difficult if you think about it logically. B&W represents different colours and hues with different shades of grey so any module that makes changes to colours will be ineffective if it appears after the B&W colour calibration used for the conversion.
On another subject, when you brightened the mid ground, I found myself thinking 'He needs to warm that section up a bit because it simulates sunlight'. Then I remembered you would convert to B&W 😂.
Apart from your demonstrations of how to use the various modules, I find your videos very inspirational when you transform a rather dull looking image into a very attractive image. Thank you.
Exactly. It is very important to have in mind what you want to do.
The philosophy of image editing in darktable is that you don't get a prefabricated photo from the beginning, which you only improve, but it is expected of the user to have appropriate knowledge beyond the pure use of tools to achieve a desired result.
If you have this knowledge, the darktable then offers a wide range of sophisticated tools to freely shape the appearance of the photo from the raw data according to your imagination.
you are a very good teacher ;).
thank you!
Hi Boris,
thanks again for another wonderful video... - it is so instructive to see how a real expert is using darktable!
If I may have a wish: It would be great, if you could sometimes add, WHY you are doing specific things :-)
One example, starting in 15:19 you are mainly using red for conversion and even reducing blue and green. The result is great. However I wonder why you used this combination of channels.
Thanks for all you efforts, again
Hi Alexander, I answered your question at the end of the next video. th-cam.com/video/U_6Kbxxvjo0/w-d-xo.html
Thanks. This is exactly what I had need.
I would like to buy you a coffee. How can I do that please?
Thanks again, really interesting and useful to add new approaches to adding contrast. Especially Diffuse and sharpen. Regarding your comment at the end regarding order of modules. Adjusting values that change exposure at the bottom of the pixel pipe will affect existing parametric masks above them if they are looking at exposure and can have odd effects. I will be watching this again... and again...
Exactly!
In this case, it would be better to use a new instance of the exposure module, OVER the module with the parametric mask based on brightness.
@@s7habo It's the thing that caught me out quite a lot as a newbie photo processor and DT user. But as soon as I applied my principles of gain staging for sound I got it. And it's one of the extra things I like about DT, it is obvious where the image goes next.
@@stephenward5133 This is a very good analogy; you can think of the way darktable works as mastering sound. Filmic would be like a limiter or compressor at the top of the effects row, on by default to make sure you don't go above 0 db. All the other filters are below it with their default place in the hierarchy. You can also change this order as needed. For example, if you want to give a little reverb, it makes sense to filter the bass frequencies with a high-pass filter or parametric equalizer first, so that you don't get a muddy sound. But to master sound, you need to have the appropriate knowledge.
Transferred to the table, you must also have the knowledge of what belongs to the processing of the photo. The sad thing is that people have great expectations without having this knowledge, and get frustrated quickly when the desired results are not achieved as they are used to with other tools that do not have the same processing logic, which are more user-oriented.
@@s7habo If you haven’t done so already (I will check shortly), would this be a good topic for a video, showing concrete examples?
Is there a way to edit in color and see a preview of the black and white result. Preferably on a second monitor?
Hi Boris,
Great video about BW! One question I have: You use Color Calibration for BW. Have you ever used and compared the Color Zone module. Can you explain why you prefer the Color Calibration?
Thanks in advance.
In order to answer your question, I need to know how familiar you are with the internal processing of the darktable.
1. I use so-called "scene-referred workflow". What this means is described here:
docs.darktable.org/usermanual/3.8/en/overview/workflow/process/
2. also a very important aspect is the hierarchical order of the modules, so called "pixelpipe". This can be read here:
docs.darktable.org/usermanual/3.8/en/darkroom/pixelpipe/
If you have understood this, then this explanation becomes plausible: color zones does not belong to the modules that are used for "scene-referred workflow". That doesn't mean you can't use it, but I prefer to make all changes (colors and contrasts) *before* the Filmic module, because you work in a much wider, linear (physically "more correct") color space, where you have better control over colors and contrasts.
@@s7habo Thanks for pointing out. Good point to stay within the scene-referred workflow
Thank you very much for the this explanation in BW series,
I have question that the Portraits for BW uses the same principle or would be different, if different then you can add 1 or 2 Portraits photos to explain the BW
The principles are the same - the conversion to black and white in portraits is also done by combining three color channels, but you have to consider how these three channels affect the color of the skin. I will do another episode where I clarify this.
@@s7habo super, many thnx
Hi Boris. What computer do you use? Impressed at how quickly it processes multiple diffuse modules. Thanks
OS: Linux (Ubuntu studio)
CPU: 8 × Intel® Core™ i7-7700K CPU @ 4.20GHz
RAM: 32 GiB
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070
The processing speed can be greatly improved by activating OpenCl.
@@s7habo thanks so much. still using late-2009 (!) i7 iMac with upgraded 32g ram and internal ssd. Been wondering whether to upgrade to M1 Mac or get Linux unit just for photo processing. Good info
Greetings. First of all, congratulations for your videos, excellent learning material and information.
Is it possible to do a black and white image processing without changing the order of the modules?
Thanks and greetings from Ecuador.
Thank you very much! To answer this question, please read this comment:
th-cam.com/video/Yg0pspIT0nE/w-d-xo.html&lc=UgzN9B_7KlqYNfM24w94AaABAg.9XBL_JJXiOh9XBQP6Lgmtf
I don't fully agree with the horses scene, too much of the background is turned into negative space, the trees in the background support the message of the scene and i feel they should be significantly subdued and not almost completely obscured in darkness, it would still invoke your imagination especially because it is black and white and still leaves the horses as the prominent main subject. I would love to have a go at editing that raw file myself.
I really like the last image, the patterning and tonality on those leafs is just lovely.
Is there a way to edit in color and see a preview of the black and white result. Preferably on a second monitor?
Is there a way to edit in color and see a preview of the black and white result. Preferably on a second monitor?