what is your linux workflow?
@photography
I moved to linux about a year ago and have been putting off my photography for some time.
Im now motivated to get back into it and have been trialing some workflows and accidentally deleting all my pictures in the process, luckily I had a backup.
currently my workflow is to use rapid photo downloader, although I ran into an issue with that not being able to load some old dng images but they seem to work fine in darktable.
then I was using dark table only but I deleted all my photos somehow by using the import tool I guess incorrectly,
now Im using digikam for managing my entire library since it feels like it is much quicker than darktable at doing that, and with a selfhosted mysql I can use it on multiple machines, then when I want to edit I just have it open in darktable, but I dont see the edits in digikam afterward.
I’ve only moved to Linux a couple of months ago. I always had a simple workflow. I only make minute adjustments, crop things, etc.
On Windows I used Lightroom for everything. I recently cancelled my Adobe subscription and moved to this workflow:
- Import everything (raw images) with digikam onto my NAS
- Add additional metadata tags and run face recognition if needed
- Look for shots I want to develop further and flag them
- Do my adjustments in Rawtherapee. Save in sidecar file. (Digikam will not see the changes.)
- Export edits to jpg in different sizes for posting online. These are not imported to the catalog because I can just export them again anytime.
It’s not ideal but it works and it’s simple enough for my use.
I tried using darktable but I found it too confusing. It may be better for power users. I am still trying to learn RT.
Do my adjustments in Rawtherapee. Save in sidecar file. (Digikam will not see the changes.)
It will if you store the images locally rather than remotely, or if you rescan the folder in digikam.
I store my photos on a NAS drive, but I mirror them to my local PC using unison and do all of my work from the local versions, so any updates I do in external apps automatically appear in digikam. I also unison sync my (JPG) photos to an externally hosted photoprism instance for offsite backup. Aside from needing more storage, its working pretty well!
My Personal Workflow
- Offload everything from the memory card to my trueNAS into a descriptively named folder.
- Darktable import and colour grading
- Export and sharing
- (Maybe if necessary VFX with GIMP)
You’re not seeing the edits you do in Darktable in Digicam because Digicam is a library application. You take a finished JPEG there and it will sort it by tags or things it sees in the image through machine vision, etc. Digicam cannot read the instructions Darktable gives in its sidecar “.xmp” files. Export from Darktable to JPEGs and put it into your Digicam folder. Then it will work out.
Edit: Fixed typo.
You won’t see your darktable edits in digikam unless you export a jpeg of your edit. Digikam can’t run darktable’s processing pipeline to show you that edit.
My workflow is as follows:
- Script that uses exiftool copies and renames all images from SD Card to my local disk in format YYYY-MM-DD
- Add all images to git-annex
- Retrieve GPS logs from phone and copy the GPX file into the correct date folder.
- Add GPX file to git (not git annex)
- Open Geeqie and look thru new pictures. Press D key to open an image in darktable if I want to edit it.
- Once all images culled in geeqie, move over to darktable. Edit and tag. apply geolocation using the gpx file. Export when the edits are finished.
Also interested in this topic. I have an old windows 10 PC that’s not connected to the internet and is solely used for Lightroom, Photoshop, etc. However, I’d like to move everything to my Linux machines that I use daily.
Would also be nice to have a program that can quickly convert ARW (Sony raw) files to jpeg for easy sharing if I don’t need to post process them
