The Question I Always Get Asked – Why Do I Use Darktable?

I keep getting the same question, time after time, from all kinds of photographers. “Why Mark? Why do you use Darktable so much when you have plenty of more advanced paid software?”. Today I will answer that question as best as I can.

Before we begin, let us take a look at what Darktable actually is and what it offers myself and other photographers.

Darktable, stylized as darktable, is a free and open-source photography workflow application and raw developer. Think of it as a virtual lighttable and darkroom for photographers.

Here’s a breakdown of what that means:

* Workflow Application: Darktable helps you manage your entire photography process, from importing and organizing your images to editing and exporting them.

* Raw Developer: It’s specifically designed to work with raw image files, which are unprocessed data directly from your camera’s sensor. This gives you maximum control over the final look of your images.

* Non-Destructive Editing: A key feature of Darktable is that it edits your images without ever modifying the original file. All adjustments are stored separately, allowing you to experiment freely and revert to the original at any time.

* Image Management: It includes a database to organize your digital negatives, allowing you to sort, filter, and search your image collections using tags, ratings, colour labels, and metadata.

* Lighttable View: This interface allows you to view your images as thumbnails, zoom in and out, and perform tasks like culling and applying basic adjustments.

* Darkroom View: This is where you perform the actual image editing using a wide range of modules for tasks like exposure correction, colour manipulation, sharpening, noise reduction, and more.

Key characteristics and features of Darktable:

* Open Source: It’s free to use and its source code is publicly available, allowing for community contributions and modifications.

* Cross-Platform: It runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, and Solaris.

* Powerful Editing Tools: It offers a comprehensive set of modules for professional-level image manipulation.

* GPU Acceleration: Many image operations are accelerated using your computer’s graphics card (via OpenCL) for faster processing.

* Professional Colour Management: It’s fully colour-managed, supporting ICC profiles for accurate colour representation.

* Modular Architecture: Its functionality is organized into modules, allowing for a flexible and customizable workflow.

* Extensive Masking Options: Darktable provides powerful masking tools (path, gradient, radial, brush, parametric) for local adjustments.

* Tethered Shooting: Some camera brands are supported for shooting directly into Darktable.

* Lua Scripting: It allows for extending its functionality through Lua scripts.

* Multiple Language Support: It’s translated into many languages.

Why do I choose to use Darktable as my main editing software?

It is simple really, as you can see from the above description, Darktable is an all-in-one solution that performs amazingly in every department. For me, it just works. I have a very particular way of editing, and with Darktable, you can work quickly and efficiently.

Sometimes though, it’s easier to ask me about why I use other software (such as Photoshop/ON1 Photo Raw/Luminar Neo etc). You’ll generally find me using those programs when intense masking is needed, and where I have to deal with editing people. As good as Darktable is at masking (with it’s endless options), the paid software offers instant AI object and person recognition and have targeted modules for portraits. Yes, this can be done in Darktable, but it’s a much more laborious task than just clicking on the subject and letting the software accurately mask.

Over the years I’ve built up a selection of colour profiles in Darktable, which I really like to work with, plus I find colour adjustments just look nicer for me to work with in Darktable.

At the end of the day, it’s also familiarity. I used Linux for a large chunk of my photography editing career, and I used Darktable then, so having the exact experience on Windows meant I could simply move back and forth between systems.

I understand that Darktable is not for everyone, but I have written a few quick start guides to get people working quickly. For me, I use only the modules I need. I keep things simple and avoid unnecessary complex modules.

So, there we have it. I love Darktable, it is really that simple. It does what it says on the tin, and in my humble opinion, it is more than capable of competing with paid software in 99% of editing situations. I hope that this has answered the question!