Photography workflow in Linux: darktable (part 4: the Zone System module)

darktable test|0034|©20140215-JamesECockroftThe Zone System module is not quite as modular as the color correction module, and the precision is equally imprecise, but it’s a great deal of fun, nonetheless.

I trust you have some idea about the Zone System. If not, go read up on it.

The scroll wheel defines the number of zones, and you drag different defining points around to expand or contract the different zones. It’s really fairly easy to use, and doesn’t really require a full walkthrough, but that’s what I had planned for today, so that’s what you get…

Black & Wednesday for 26 February, 2014 was shot with the D7000 and mamiya/sekor 50mm f/2 lens, reversed, in Aperture Priority mode, at ISO400 and f/2. Processing and editing took place in darktable, running under Ubuntu 13.10 on an Asus eee pc 1015px. I’m really wanting to get back to a bigger screen and more precise mouse, but I’m not really ready to start dual-booting the mac just yet, so these Ubuntu explorations might be on hold for a bit…

Photography workflow in Linux: darktable (part 3: the Color Correction module)

Every time I play with darktable, I find something else worth playing with…

This time, it’s the Color Correction module. Continue reading “Photography workflow in Linux: darktable (part 3: the Color Correction module)”

Photography workflow in Linux: darktable (part 2: b/w conversion)

There’s really not much to say here… after finding my way around with the first two images, it was relatively easy to convert this shot to black & white for this Black & Wednesday.

darktable has a monochrome module unlike any black/white conversion modules I’ve seen before.monochrome conversion 1

Essentially, you drag the circle around and change its size to adjust a virtual color filter (according to the helpful tool pop-up thingy). Like most of the other advanced functions, this is likely rather powerful, but it’s rather painful to use on the netbook (see the helpful ‘working..’ that I spend large amounts of time waiting on.monocrome conversion 2

There’s also a slider to determine how much of the highlights to retain. I didn’t do much playing with this. Again, the low power of the netbook is a big roadblock here.

Ok. I won’t keep you today… Here’s the completed shot. Enjoy:darktable test|0005|©20140215-JamesECockroft

D7000. mamiya/sekor 50mm f/2, reversed. ISO400, AP mode, f/2. B/W conversion in darktable 1.4, on an Asus eee pc 1015px running Ubuntu 10.13.

Photography workflow in Linux: darktable (part 1)

So I went and did it… I installed Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander* on the netbook (an Ausu eee pc 1015px)…

I’ve been bothered by the increasingly high walls around Apple’s garden, as well as the ever decreasing quality and user serviceability of their computers. At first, my thought was to switch to Hackintosh (here in a year or two when upgrade time comes around again: I DO NOT need a new computer just yet), but then the problems with various Apple softwares began… Continue reading “Photography workflow in Linux: darktable (part 1)”