cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/11308547

Linux photogs, help me out. What does your workflow look like? What apps do you use?

I’ve found that digikam is really good for managing my keywords and metadata, and organising photos post shoot, but the image editing is limited.

And using separate image editing software leads to problems, because my camera’s raw files (.cr3) aren’t very well supported.

I can make it work, by using Lightroom online, but it’s not exactly an integrated system due to its cloud based design.

I’ve tried running Lightroom in a VM, but ran in to trouble giving the VM access to my GPU…

So those who have made it work, what does it look like for you?

  • pHr34kY@lemmy.world
    3·
    7 months ago

    I import from card using my own C program that reads the EXIF timestamps and sorts them into directories using the timestamps for directory and filenames (e.g. “yyyy/yyyy-mm-dd/hhmmss.jpg”).

    Then I would typically use darktable if I want to postprocess. I shoot 99% JPEG. I’ll use GIMP for quick edits.

    If I want to share, I create an album in Lychee, which is a self-hosted PHP gallery on my web server.

    I’ve never used Photoshop or LightRoom. I have no idea what they’re like.

    • IMALlama@lemmy.world
      5·
      7 months ago

      Darktable is great for “dark room” type things. I would put it into the category of non-destructive editing - yeah, you can crush shadows or whatever but the image is still pretty true to what the camera saw. Photoshop enables a lot more reality alteration. Remove/extend/edit backwards, touch up skin, change the color of clothing/objects, etc. I’m not a Linux user, and also am not aware of a great full featured alternative. For quick and dirty on windows, paint.net but that doesn’t help anyone on Linux :(

      • pHr34kY@lemmy.world
        3·
        7 months ago

        I would definitely be using Darktable for the same purposes as Lightroom. GIMP is more similar to Photoshop. The next version of GIMP is releasing soon with non-destructive editing. I’m looking forward to that.

        • IMALlama@lemmy.world
          2·
          7 months ago

          I’ve dabbed in GIMP, granted on windows, and I didn’t really like the workflow. I guess if you started off in GIMP you might say the same about Photoshop. Here’s hoping ABODE gets off the ground. It’s not free, or even launched, but it promises a back to basics approach to pricing.

          • pHr34kY@lemmy.world
            2·
            7 months ago

            That just looks like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

            People tend to be most productive with tools they’re familiar with, regardless of which tool is actually “better”. I figure avoiding proprietary software from the outset was a good long-term investment.