Lightroom for free - and Darktable

[Dazz1]

The thread is tending a fair bit towards Darktable now, WHICH ISN'T a bad thing.
I'll change the title to include that name, and move the thread to Gear Talk - Software,
to keep Dazz1's last thread on Darktable company

Hints and tips on usage are always handy to share.

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OK, so after a lot of arm-twisting and other enticements, I have
downloaded the 64-bit installer for Windows, which is available,
inter alia, from here:
https://www.darktable.org/install/#windows

If you have a 32-bit OS, you might have to look somewhere else

Thanks for all that. 32 bit has largely been forgotten I know. Not just by software, but even by most linux distros. I think most older 32 bit systems might struggle with heavy photo editing anyway.

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On the subject of speed, one lengthy task is thumbnail generation, particularly if you want real ones, not just the embedded jpg. See this info https://darktable.gitlab.io/doc/en/o...ine_parameters on how to generate thumbnails for a big collection in the background.

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Here's some of my most used tools while editing

1. haze removal - fantastic tool, also useful for clarifying shots through water.
2. shadows and highlights
3. local contrast - great combined with sharpness tools
4. velvia - I just love the tone
5. spot removal
6. perspective correction
7. vignette

Also a couple of things I didn't discover at first.

• right-click on sliders and practice using the great fine tune mode
• try out the drawn and parametric masks
• use the multiple instance facility for any module. Combined with masks it is very powerful.

[Renzo]

Thanks, Dazz1, I'll give it a try ASAP...

[ameerat42]

Thanks, Dazz1, I'll give it a try ASAP...

For me, a little less of the S in A_SAP because I'm shifting a lot of pictures out of
C: drive, making two back-ups on separate drives. I have previously just made
back-ups of these elsewhere and left them on C...

[Dazz1]

For me, a little less of the S in A_SAP because I'm shifting a lot of pictures out of
C: drive, making two back-ups on separate drives. I have previously just made
back-ups of these elsewhere and left them on C...

Do you have a NAS? I use one, plus an external hard drive. Then there's the copies of subsets that accumulate on various computers and laptops. Plenty of backups

[ameerat42]

A NAS? - Nah, not chet

I was thinking of setting that up some time ago but have not got round to it - ie, researching it, etc.

I've got a number of external HDDs that have so far sufficed /Fingerscrossed

Anyway, just this morning I've recovered 21GB on C, so Darktable is... on the table for later today.