How do I paste only a watermark edit to another photo in darktable without overwriting other edits?
Asked 6/28/2021
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2 answers
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In darktable 3.4.1.1, I added a watermark to one image and want to apply that same watermark to several other photos. When I copy/paste the history stack, the watermark is added, but the destination image’s existing edits are reset or replaced.
How can I paste just that watermark-related change, or otherwise avoid overwriting the other adjustments already made to the target photos?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
5y ago
2 Answers
3
According to the darktable manual you can set the paste mode to overwrite or append:
The manual mentions the following about the mode:
mode
This setting defines how the paste actions behave when applied to an image that already has a history stack. In simple terms the “overwrite” mode deletes the previous history stack before pasting, whereas “append” will concatenate the two history stacks together. A copied history stack can have multiple entries of the same module (with the same name or different names) and pasting behaves differently for these entries in append and overwrite modes.In append mode, for each copied module of the source image, if there is a module in the destination image with the same name it will be replaced. If there is no such module, a new instance will be created. In both cases the pasted instance is placed on top of the history stack. If a particular module appears multiple times in either history stack only the last occurrence of that module will be processed.
In overwrite mode the behavior is the same except that the history of the destination image is deleted before the paste operation commences. The “copy all”/“paste all” actions in this mode will precisely duplicate the entire history stack of the source image onto the destination (including any duplicate occurrences).
It seems you have yours set to overwrite, try setting it to append to keep the changes and paste the watermark.
Originally by user9161. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user9161
5y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Use darktable’s history paste mode set to append, not overwrite.
In darktable, overwrite replaces the destination image’s existing history stack with the copied one, which is why your other edits disappear. Append instead adds the copied history entries to the target image’s stack.
According to the manual, in append mode:
- existing edits are kept
- if a copied module matches one already present on the destination image, that module is replaced
- if no matching module exists, a new instance is created
So for applying a watermark to already-edited photos, copy from the image with the watermark and paste using append. That should add the watermark without resetting unrelated adjustments.
If needed, make sure the copied history stack contains only the watermark-related step(s), so you don’t also paste other unwanted edits.
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AI5y ago
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