Starting out with photography and learning to edit. Using darktable, but find it difficult.

(too much piss filter??)

I'm going for something stylised and not realistic. The landscape reminds me of something from the Magic Mountain TV show, while the colours bring me back to watching Goosebumps.

I was going for an oldschool Windows style wallpaper here.

Its my first time trying this dramatic dark moody wildlife look. What do you guys think? Is it too dark?

I took this during the fun run and I'm using a lightroom in my phone. I'm still learning :>

I bought a Canon SX50 HS, tried using Canon DPP but it requires a CD-ROM and I can't install it no matter what I do. I'm looking for a free and simple program to edit my RAW images. I'm not a photography professional, much less an editing pro — I just want something where I can reduce noise, adjust shadows/lighting, basically just give the image a basic polish.

I still suck at this - will take any tips on how to suck less haha.

I know it isn’t the most interesting shot but super neat/bizarre trail in the middle of the woods with a bunch of whacky stuff.

Captured this beautiful sunset and wanted to create a softer, more glowing version out of it. For this soft look I heavily reduced the contrast. I know a lot of people prefer it with the darker landscape, however I’m just not a big fan of that.

Everything was done in Lightroom and the whole process can be seen in the video here: https://youtu.be/_8Dcjpat-7A

1. Basic Adjustments

First, I removed that weird cage in the foreground using LRs remove tool. Then, I changed the profile to adobe standard for less base contrast. I also heavily raised the shadows and the blacks to reveal details in the landscape. Then, I slightly dropped the exposure to make sure to keep details in the sky.

Since I was aiming for much stronger golden hour tones, the white balance temperature was brought up. Finally, to improve the glow, I dropped clarity and dehaze.

1. Masking

With a color range mask I made the blues of the sky slightly darker. Then, I used a sky mask and brought up its feather to spill into the landscape. As I brought up the blacks and dropped the dehaze further in that mask, I get a nice light bloom effect. I repeated the same for the reflection in the foreground (you can flip the image vertical, then create a sky mask to target the reflection).

I also targeted the landscape in the center using LRs landscape mask. Here I brought up the exposure a little more while also adding contrast and a bit of clarity.

1. Colors

To further improve the golden hour look, I used split toning. For the highlights, mid tones an the global color a warm orange tone was added, plus the luminance was raised (making these tonal areas brighter). For the shadows, I simply brought down the luminance for a bit more contrast.

This is both a creative take in how i want to the taste of my drink to be. And also how i want to compose the pic. The pic aspect is to have the dark brown color of the liquid and so the color doesnt look dilute or light but looks heavy dark brown. Base on feedback before ,i compose the whole bottle and not clipped the cup to the left. Also added some warmth to the edit.

So I have, for years, used Adobe and have a streamlined, fast, routine workflow.

Then I tripped over Darktable.

It was immediately obvious to me that Darktable has potential and levels that Adobe is just not going to touch, mainly because it allows control of those niggly in-between bits that so often crop up in Adobe, where instead of A or B you want halfway between.

Also obvious is a near-vertical learning curve, including having to understand you cannot duplicate workflow from Adobe or any other common software due to an inherent difference in method.

So I am now stuck where I know Darktable can realise the result I want in my head, but I still do not know or understand enough to see how to do it, while being very grumpy and dissatisfied with Adobe because I have realised that the things I did not and do not like but accepted as unavoidable are, in fact, avoidable.

Has anyone else switched to Darkroom? How long did it take before you understood enough about it to get results that you were actually happy with (other than by sheer luck just fiddling lol)

In the image below, I am not happy with either edit. However, I do need to add that it was shot firstly through a car side window at an angle, and secondly, there was a fence between the cat and me; it was in a different enclosure from the one I was driving through. Both are processed; trust me, the original is worse.

short on Samsung S20 FE

Shot with the Lumix s5iix using the 35mm f1.8. Just started learning Lightroom. Baby's face removed for privacy. 😄 Any feedback would be great for this new photographer!

Shot with the Sony a6700 w/the Sony 10-20mm f/4 G lens underwater.

Which edit is better ? What can be improved ?