December 6, 2025
You have installed Darktable, imported your first images, and perhaps already achieved some initial success. But Darktable is powerful, and the learning curve can be steep. Luckily, you are not alone! The community around Darktable is huge, helpful, and happy to share its knowledge.
Here are the most important resources to deepen your knowledge, solve problems, and learn new techniques.
Key Resources
The internet is full of information, but these sources are essential:
- The official manual:
It is the “bible” for Darktable. Every slider is explained here.
To the Darktable Manual (English) - The pixls.us Forum:
This is the central hub for FOSS photography (Free and Open Source Software). There is a very active section specifically for Darktable, where the developers also read along.
To the pixls.us Forum - Planet Darktable:
An aggregator that collects blog posts and news about Darktable from various sources.
To Planet Darktable
YouTube Channels for a Better Understanding
Sometimes it’s easier to look over someone’s shoulder. These channels are especially recommended for beginners and for advanced techniques:
- Bruce Williams: Known for his comprehensive “Darktable Ep.” series, in which he explains almost every module in detail.
- Boris Hajdukovic: A master of the “scene-referred” workflow. His videos are excellent for understanding how to creatively edit images (Editing Moments).
- A dabble in photography: Very good tutorials that highlight specific problems and techniques.
Play Raw – Learn by Doing
One of the best and most fun ways to learn new features and approaches in Darktable is by participating in the “Play Raw” section on pixls.us.
How does it work?
- You upload your own RAW image to the forum.
- You confirm that you own the rights to the image and specify under which license (Creative Commons) other members are allowed to edit it.
- Other forum members download the image, edit it to their liking, and upload their result as a JPEG.
- The highlight: You also upload your
.xmpfile (sidecar file). All editing steps are saved in this file.
Your learning effect:
You can download these XMP files. Create a virtual copy of your image in Darktable and load the other user’s XMP file. You will immediately see exactly which modules they used, which masks were drawn, and how the sliders are set. There is hardly a better way to get inspired and understand “Best Practices” directly on your own image.
Of course, you can also download the RAW files from other users and present your own version!