I’ve seen people on the internet suggesting Darktable as a solid Lightroom replacement… I don’t know anything about photo editing, but am curious - how bad is it?
No. Other than both being raw editors with DAM features, and looking somewhat similar, they have very little in common. Darktable is a powerful and flexible raw processing toolbox, that leaves the user in charge of their workflow and provides a level of power and control that few others can match. This also means that the initial learning curve can be steep, since very little workflow and tool knowledge can be transferred from other programs.
In my personal experience it’s pretty good, but I’ve never used lightroom nor do I have nearly any idea what I’m doing with RAW processing, or photography in general, but I’ve been happy with the few photos I’ve put through it!
Yeah, so here’s my general process batch-editing photos in Adobe Camera Raw:
Drop the contrast
Drop the highlights
Punch up the shadows
Boost whites and blacks
Adjust white balance
Adjust exposure
When I’m done, I have a stark, professional looking photo to export. In darktable, trying this leaves me with a grey mess. I’ve also tried rawtherapee, but with even worse results. I’m 96% sure that the problem is me, though.
I’ve seen people on the internet suggesting Darktable as a solid Lightroom replacement… I don’t know anything about photo editing, but am curious - how bad is it?
From darktable’s FAQ:
https://www.darktable.org/about/faq/
In my personal experience it’s pretty good, but I’ve never used lightroom nor do I have nearly any idea what I’m doing with RAW processing, or photography in general, but I’ve been happy with the few photos I’ve put through it!
Yeah, so here’s my general process batch-editing photos in Adobe Camera Raw:
When I’m done, I have a stark, professional looking photo to export. In darktable, trying this leaves me with a grey mess. I’ve also tried rawtherapee, but with even worse results. I’m 96% sure that the problem is me, though.