Styles – Your Workflow Turbo

December 31, 2025

Styles in Darktable are what “Presets” are in Lightroom – but much more powerful. You can save any combination of modules and apply them to other images with a single click. NOTE: In darktable, “presets” refer to saved settings for individual modules (more information found in: Presets).

What are Styles used for?

Styles can be used for different reasons:

  1. Basic Development: A starting setup for your camera (e.g., “Sony A7R4 ISO 100”).
  2. Creative Looks: A specific color look (e.g., “Cinematic Teal & Orange” or “High Contrast Black & White”).
  3. Problem Solvers: A set of modules for specific situations (e.g., “Remove High ISO Noise”).
  4. Repetitive Steps: If you find yourself using the same modules, with close to the same settings for those modules (such as a batch of photos from the same session; or creative touches you frequently apply), you can create a style that can apply many steps to many photos at one time.

Creating a Style (Step by Step)

  1. Edit an image exactly how you want it.
  2. Preparation (Important Tip): Before saving, consider carefully which modules should be active immediately and which you might just want to have “at hand”.
    • You can disable modules in the right panel before creating the style.
    • If you then include them in the style, they will be added to the image when applying the style, but remain inactive.
    • Advantage: You don’t have to search for the module first, but can activate it with a single click if you need it for this specific image.
  3. Go to the top of the History Stack (left side) and click on the “create style” icon (the small icon that looks like a sheet of paper with a corner).
  4. The dialog window opens (see screenshot).

Understanding the Selection Menu

This is where most mistakes happen. You have to decide what goes into the style:

  • Checkmark set: This module is saved in the style.
  • No checkmark: This module is ignored.

⚠️ Important Warning:
Be careful with modules that are image-specific or hardware-dependent!

  • White Balance: Should usually not be in the style, as every image has different light.
  • Orientation / Crop: Only save if you really want to crop every image the same way.
  • RAW Black/White Point: Only save if the style is intended only for your camera. If you send this style to someone with a Canon, their images will look broken.

Pro Tip: Saving Masks and Shapes

As you can see in the screenshot above (the small square symbol next to exposure), Darktable can even save drawn masks in a style.
This is brilliant for recurring tasks, e.g.:

  • A gradient filter that darkens the sky.
  • A vignette that fits your lens exactly.

Applying Styles: “Append” vs. “Overwrite”

When you apply a style to a new image (in the Lighttable or Darkroom), Darktable often asks you for the mode. This is crucial:

  1. Append: The modules from the style are activated in addition to what you have already done. This is the safe standard.
  2. Overwrite: The style deletes your previous history and replaces it completely. Caution: Your previous work on the image is then gone!

Editing a Style

1. include

  • What it does: This is the main switch.
  • Checkmark set: This module becomes part of the style. When you apply the style later, this module is activated.
  • No checkmark: The module is ignored. It does not end up in the style.
  • Example: You want a “Black & White” style. You check Color Calibration (for the B&W channel mixer), but not Exposure, so that the brightness of the original image is preserved.

2. reset

  • What it does: This is a “cleanup command”.
  • Checkmark set: Before the style is applied, Darktable resets this module to its default values.
  • When you need this: Imagine you have already tweaked the Color Balance RGB wildly on an image. But your style should have a very specific look.
    • Without reset: Your style places its settings on top of your wild changes (Chaos!).
    • With reset: Your style first deletes your changes in the module and then cleanly applies its own.

3. update

  • What it does: This is only relevant if you are editing an existing style (not when creating a new one).
  • Checkmark set: Overwrites the settings in the style with the settings of the current image you have open.
  • When you need this: You realize: “Darn, my ‘Summer Look’ style is way too yellow.”
    1. You apply the style to an image.
    2. You correct the yellow in the image.
    3. You open the “Edit Style” dialog.
    4. You click update on Color Balance RGB.
    5. Now the style has learned the new, corrected values from your image.

4. keep

  • What it does: This is the “protection switch”.
  • Checkmark set: If you apply this style to an image that already has this module activated, the style does not touch it.
  • When you need this:
    • You have a style for “Color Look”.
    • But you have already painstakingly set the Crop in the image.
    • If crop is marked with keep in the style, the style says: “Oh, you’ve already cropped? Then I’ll keep your crop and won’t overwrite it with mine.”

Summary

  • Include: “Take this module into the style.”
  • Reset: “Delete previous settings in this module before the style is applied.” (Important for clean looks).
  • Update: “Learn the new settings from the current image.” (Only when editing styles).
  • Keep: “If the module is already active in the target image, don’t touch it.” (Perfect for crop or lens correction).

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