# Coming back ?

How about learning how to use darktable directly with the developer :

  • of the scene-referred workflow,
  • of filmic,
  • of the tone equalizer,
  • of the color balance,
  • of the color calibration,
  • of negadoctor,
  • of diffuse/sharpen,

face to face and live ?

#Why private lessons ?

My YouTube channel contains dozens of hours of videos, explaining the theory of color and how it relates to photo editing practice to make users as self-sufficient as possible in their use, while also going over good practices that will save you time.

But if you don’t know where to start, don’t have enough time and want a personalized overview, want to deepen your knowledge or study how darktable can be adapted to your particular use, you’ll need personalized guidance.

#What you, user, have to win

  1. Advice adapted to your particular photographic practice,
  2. Explanations calibrated to your level of study and skills,
  3. First hand information about the background of the software,
  4. Retouching technics adapted to your visual style,
  5. Theoretical complements directly related to your practice.

#What I, designer, have to win

  1. Direct information on how users assimilate and understand my software,
  2. A direct glimpse into issues and challenges users face,
  3. Improvements leads for the user interface and documentation of darktable,
  4. Ideas for new modules that solve your problems.

#How ?

Classes take place by videoconference, through Internet, with screen sharing :

  • with Microsoft Skype (costless, proprietary, requires an accound and a software installation),
  • with Jitsi Meet (free, libre, does not require an account and works in recent Chrome or Firefox web browsers).

I travel periodically in Western Europe, so face-to-face courses are possible in exceptional cases (to be discussed).

Classes can be dispensed in English or in French.

#What ?

The course is entirely personalized, according to your needs, your level and your expectations. For example :

  • specialized retouching technics (beauty, HDR, etc.),
  • lecture on image processing (theory and practice),
  • demonstration of darktable on RAW photos provided by the student,
  • reproduction of visual results (from another software) with darktable,
  • retouching by the student analysed and commented, with advice for improvement,
  • efficient workflow study depending on your practice.

#How much ?

35 €/hour payable by PayPal, Stripe or credit card.

#Information

Note : this service is not a support hotline but a training offered in addition to my research and development activities.

Appointments can be rescheduled or cancelled with full refund up to 24 hours before. Shorter than a 24 hours notice, they are due in full.

Some people are more comfortable with theory, concepts and abstraction than others. Some people prefer a hands-on approach. Knowing your level of education allows me to estimate your affinity with the theory and to calibrate my explanations accordingly.

You can record the sessions by screen capture, or I can record them for you on my computer and then send them to you for better image and sound quality.

Sessions are 1 hour long by default, and additional hours can be added as an extra up to a total of 3 hours. It is recommended to book 2 hours now, as all 1 hour sessions booked so far have been extended to 2 hours after the first one.

#Prerequisites

  1. Internet access allowing HD videoconferencing (minimum 1 Mb/s, ideally 4 Mb/s, up and down),
  2. have the latest darktable version installed,
  3. have photographs as raw files to edit,
  4. upload the pictures to edit on some cloud (Dropbox, Google Drive, Owncloud, etc.) the day before the class, so I can fetch them before starting.

#Book now !

I knew about darktable for a long time, but only used it a couple of times a year. After watching several hours of videos on Youtube, my results were ok-ish but it sill was neither as easy nor as fast as expected. I asked Aurelien for a lesson, where I managed to quickly understand concepts and principles guiding processing. Now my edits take far less time than previously and I am able to produce consistently good results.

Hubert Kowalski, Poland

I am a hobby photographer and use to edit JPEGs from camera using ACDSee. When I understood that JPEGs were limiting me, I wanted to take a leap and use RAWs for editing but I was lost with no starting point in darktable. After trying to watch videos and read articles, I was getting somewhere but it was still daunting. I took a lesson with Aurelien and it was all I needed to understand to get good results. Now all my photos are edited in darktable from RAWs.

Anna Kowalska, Poland
It’s my custom to seek out and learn from only the very best in any field of study. The numerous and ongoing private consultations with Aurélien not only meet but exceed my expectations. In Aurélien there is a rare and wonderful balance of expertise spanning the full spectrum from the technical to the aesthetic. His eagle eye for detail, combined with a passion, and caring demeanor is inspiring. Deep discussions of putting “how” in the service of the “why” keeps me fueled to iterate my photography in the pursuit of excellence. If that resonates with you, then I highly recommend booking Aurélien time.
Ricky Moon, USA, Ricky Moon

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