An alternative

Look no more for free editing software – Darktable is here.

It is free editing software comparable to Lightroom, a paid version. It is also an open-source photography workflow application and raw developer.

Currently, Darktable consists of 61 operation modules to improve photo editing workflows. It comprises five operations – basic image, tone image, color image, correction modules, and effects / artistic image postprocessing. Besides that, it also features 21 translations, such as Albanian, Spanish, Czech, Danish, etc.

Advantages / Instruments

Darktable is the most suited for beginners interested in basic photo editing, applying filters, and doing color correction on a photo. Like Lightroom, this software has non-destructive editing throughout, which means that the original images are never modified. It also possesses a wide range of types of files for exporting. Images can be exported to Facebook or Flickr or sent directly to your e-mail. Furthermore, Darktable can read several image formats, including HDR, jpeg, jpg, PEM, RAF, and more.

Images with data on where it was taken will be bound to a geotag, which will be displayed on a map on the software. However, if the camera does not apply GPS Data to the images taken, it will not be shown on the map unless you manually enter the location onto the image. Many maps are available, ranging from Google Maps to Virtual Earth, to Open Cycle Map, and more.

Contrast, brightness, and saturation tools are also available on Darktable, allowing one to make low-contrast photos stand out after simple editing. Another instrument, Grain, is used to give the effect of film photography to an image. This tool can be found under the Effects group .

Additionally, it allows one to manage the masks easily. The masks can be stacked up and reused in multiple modes to create powerful combinations. The masks have a great degree of control, meaning that the contrast and saturation of an object can be adjusted while leaving the background untouched.

Disadvantages

The software crash sometimes, and it runs slightly slower. However, as the software is free, it is expected to be unable to handle 50,00 images or more.

Another downside is that Darktable does not have any mobile or online versions, which in my opinion, will not affect many as most do their editing on their desktops. Furthermore, it is impossible to manually enter parameter values, which might be inconvenient for some.

Adding on, it has a huge number of tools to be used, resulting in the interface cluttering with tools, which might be confusing for first-time users.

Lastly, Darktable’s imported image will appear slightly underexposed compared to an image loaded onto Lightroom. After editing using Darktable and Lightroom, it can be seen that Darktable’s final image cannot retain as many details in the brightness and darkest regions, unlike Lightroom.

Conclusion

Being free software, it is acceptable to be used by beginners in trying out photo editing before investing in a more robust software such as Adobe Lightroom. Furthermore, it is a powerful RAW image processor and consists of many tools for one to play around with.

As for professional photographers, it is recommended that you use alternative software such as Adobe Lightroom or Affinity Photo.

Summary

Pros

• Free / $0

• Non-destructive image editing

• Open-source

• Supports RAW files from over 400 different cameras

• Powerful export system

• Basic image enhancement

• Management of photos using location

• A great degree of control over masks

Cons

• No online or mobile versions

• Runs slower than alternatives

• Does not allow one to enter exact parameter values

• Cluttered interface

• Images are darker in Darktable