December 20, 2025

A Routine Workflow in Darktable

Darktable is highly flexible and supports almost any workflow. However, a standard routine often consists of the following components:

Import Photos: [See section: …]
Cull Photos (Sorting/Rating): See below.
Process a Selection (Editing): [See section: …]
Export Photos: [See section: …]
Print Photos: [See section: …]

Culling Photos with Darktable

There are almost as many culling routines as there are photographers. This beginner-friendly section doesn’t try to show the one right way. Instead, it describes one effective method to give you enough information to find your own path.

Upon import, your images will have either zero stars or a specific star rating, depending on your “Import Parameters” settings (see: [Link/Section]).

At this stage, your photos likely do not have any color labels applied yet. The sorting process can be controlled using any attribute attached to an image. Let’s assume your sorting is based on star ratings and your pictures are imported without any initial rating.

Setting up Filters

It is up to you whether you want to apply additional conditions for sorting. For example:

Creator Filter: If you only want to see images created by you.
Camera Filter: If you only want to see images from a specific camera.
File Format: If you import smartphone images alongside RAW files, you might want to filter to see only RAW images.

(See https://darktable.info/wissen-technik/sammlungen/ for information on how to build such a filter. You can find the exact description of how to create this specific filter here: [Link/Section]).

Your filter setup will look something like this: [Insert Image/Diagram]

The Culling Process

Step 1: Activate the filter mentioned above and go through your pictures one by one.

Step 2: Take a look at the Lighttable, specifically the bar at the bottom (see picture). In the middle of this bar, you will find icons to set the Lighttable mode:

File Manager
Zoomable Lighttable
Culling Layout (Fixed)
Culling Layout (Dynamic)
Full Screen Preview

Try them out to see how they behave; you will quickly understand their utility.

Step 3: While in culling mode, you can always press F or Shift+W for a Full Screen Preview to better assess an image. If you have a group of similar images, use the “Culling” modes (Fixed or Dynamic) to compare them, choose the best one, and discard the others.

Step 4: Once you’ve judged a picture or a series of images, apply a rating:

0–5: Press any number from 1 to 5 to rate an image.
R: Reject the image.
Color Labels: You can also use color labels (F1–F5) to mark images.

Note: As soon as you reject an image (R) or assign a star (depending on your view settings), the image may disappear from the current view. You simply keep going until all unrated pictures are processed. If you select multiple images, the rating or label will be applied to all of them at once.

You can change a star rating or label at any time if you change your mind during development.

Depending on your process, you can now switch your view filter to display only images with 1 star (or higher) and do a second pass. You might give the best ones a second star, and so on. You can also use color labels to define the status or purpose of an image (e.g., “To be printed”, “For social media”).

At the end of this process, all images should be either rejected or rated.

Tips and Tricks

Tooltips: When starting with Darktable, tooltips are very useful. Press Shift+T to toggle them on and off (a restart of Darktable might be required for them to appear).
Shortcuts: You will soon look for keyboard shortcuts to speed up your work. Press H to see a list of shortcuts. Printing them out or keeping a cheat sheet nearby is practical.
Import Settings: When importing images for the first time, check the parameters at the bottom of the import module. This includes settings for the “initial rating” and whether to use ratings applied in camera before import (see [Link/Section]).
The Pin Icon: Do you see the little pin icon in the module headers? When you click it (it lights up), you “pin” this part of the filter to your top bar. This allows you to change filter values directly from the top bar without opening the module. Note: If the pin is active, you cannot use the X button next to it to remove the module; you must unpin it first.
Styles & Presets: In some workflows, 1-star images get a standard development, while 3-star images get detailed attention. Darktable supports standard development using Styles and Presets, allowing you to devote more time to your best pictures (see [Link/Section]).

Useful Keyboard Shortcuts in the Lighttable

Viewing:

X: Culling layout (Fixed)
Ctrl+X: Culling layout (Dynamic)
<: Switch between Fixed (X) and Dynamic (Ctrl+X) views.
W: Shows the image in full screen while the key is pressed.
Shift+W: Shows the image permanently in full screen (use Left/Right arrows to navigate, ESC to return).
Ctrl+W: Shows full screen with focus detection while held.
Ctrl + Scroll: Increases/decreases the number of images per row (zoom).
ESC: Exit Culling or Full Screen Mode.

Rating & Sorting:

0 … 5: Apply star ratings to selected image(s).
R: Reject selected image(s).
F1 … F5: Apply color label(s).

Performance Tip: Slow Image Loading?

If the image composition or zooming takes a long time, there is an option that speeds this up significantly, though it requires more disk space.
Go to: Preferences > Lighttable > Thumbnails > Enable disk backend for full preview cache.

Additional Information

For more information, see the Darktable Manual.

What if your pictures look dull?

That’s actually a good sign, even if beginners are often confused or disappointed. Read this section ([Link/Section]) to understand why RAW images look flat initially compared to JPEGs.

Creating the Culling Filter (Step-by-Step)

Here is how to set up a “Collection Filter” for culling:

Create a Rule: Click “New Rule” and select the attribute Rating.
Set Values: Select the operator (e.g., “equal to”) and choose the symbol for “unrated” (often a specific icon or 0 stars).
Pin it: Click the small Pin icon to make this filter accessible from the top bar.
Add More Rules: Click “New Rule” again. Select Color Label. Ctrl-click the gray circle to select “Not Applied” (this filters for images with no color label). Pin this as well.
Filter by File Type: Add a third rule, select Filename. Click on the dropdown and choose “Extension”, then type RAW (or your camera’s extension like .CR2, .NEF).
Combine Rules: Notice the logical operators between rules. You can click on “AND” to change it to “OR” or “AND NOT” depending on your needs.
Sort Order: Finally, click on “New Sort” and choose your preferred sorting method (e.g., by time).
Save Preset: Click the “Hamburger Menu” (three lines), choose Store New Preset, give it a name (e.g., “Culling Workflow”), and press OK. You can now access this filter setup anytime!

Brief Description of Import Parameters

Before your first import, check the Import Parameters dialog.
From a culling perspective, two settings are crucial:

Ignore Exif Rating: Check this if you want to ignore ratings you made in-camera.
Initial Rating: Set the default star rating for newly imported images.

For more details, see: Darktable Import Documentation