Why darktable?

For photographers working on Linux, darktable is the definitive RAW processing application. It's fully free and open source, non-destructive (your original files are never touched), and supports an enormous range of camera RAW formats via LibRaw. While its learning curve is steeper than some consumer apps, the results it can produce are outstanding — and it's entirely capable of professional-quality work.

This guide focuses on the practical, day-to-day workflow you need to get from RAW files to polished exports.

Understanding the Two-View Workflow

darktable uses a split workflow across two primary views:

  • Lighttable — Your library view. Import, rate, tag, filter, and organise your images here.
  • Darkroom — The editing view. Apply and tune processing modules to a single image.

Start in Lighttable by importing a folder of RAW files (File > Import > Folder). darktable creates a database entry for each file without copying or modifying the originals.

The Scene-Referred Workflow

Modern versions of darktable (3.0+) emphasise a scene-referred workflow, which processes images in linear light — closer to how camera sensors actually capture data. The two modules central to this approach are:

  • Exposure — Set your initial exposure correction and black point.
  • Filmic RGB — Handles the tone mapping from scene linear to display-ready output. Controls highlights, shadows, and the look of your image.

For most images, start with these two modules before touching anything else.

Essential Modules to Learn First

  1. White Balance — Set the colour temperature using a grey point picker or manual sliders.
  2. Exposure — Adjust overall brightness and set the black point to eliminate unwanted grey shadows.
  3. Filmic RGB — Tone map highlights and shadows; adjust the latitude for midtone contrast.
  4. Color Calibration — The modern way to handle colour grading and white balance in the scene-referred pipeline.
  5. Denoise (profiled) — Excellent noise reduction using camera-specific noise profiles. Apply after exposure adjustments.
  6. Sharpening / Diffuse or Sharpen — Apply selectively; avoid over-sharpening.
  7. Crop and Rotate — Final composition adjustments.

Using Masks for Local Adjustments

One of darktable's most powerful features is that almost any module can be applied locally using masks. You can draw a parametric mask based on luminosity or colour values, or a drawn mask (brush, gradient, shapes) to confine a module's effect to specific areas of the image. This is how you dodge and burn, selectively sharpen, or correct exposure in just the sky or shadows.

Styles and Presets

Once you've developed a look you like, save it as a style in the Lighttable view. Styles can be batch-applied to multiple images, dramatically speeding up your editing workflow for consistent results across a shoot.

Exporting Your Images

In Lighttable, select your edited images and open the Export module (bottom right panel). Key settings:

  • Format — JPEG for sharing, TIFF or PNG for further editing
  • Profile — sRGB for web/screen use; Adobe RGB for print workflows
  • Max size — Set pixel limits if you're exporting for specific platforms
  • Filename template — Use variables like $(FILE_NAME) and $(SEQUENCE)

Tips for Getting Started Faster

  • Watch the official darktable tutorials on YouTube — the documentation team does excellent work.
  • Use the auto-apply presets feature to automatically apply a base style to all new imports from a specific camera.
  • Enable highlight reconstruction early in the pipeline if you shoot in bright conditions.
  • The keyboard shortcut D jumps from Lighttable to Darkroom on the selected image.

darktable rewards patience. Spend time learning its pipeline and you'll have a genuinely professional RAW processing tool — for free, on Linux, with full control over your images and your data.