Quick note: Photo processing tools vary widely in how they are laid out, what computer resources they need, and what they do. My comments are my own experience. You’ll have your own style of photography, computer set-up, and taste in processing.
My Photo Processing Journey
I started taking snapshots here and there; along the way I took a few pictures that I really liked and wanted to be more consistent in getting good images. Over the years I’ve learned a bunch and had to change up the tools I use. Turns out photo processing is a lot more complex than I imagined. Although, with good tools, it isn’t difficult to get great results.
First it was Adobe’s LightRoom
At first I thought it was the camera, and it kind of was. As I looked closer at pictures and became pickier about results I was driven slightly crazy by the dreaded purple fringe. I found a good solution in Adobe LightRoom (LR) and spent quite a bit of time learning to use it. It is impressive what can be done with it…and I was using a pretty old version (LR5).
If you don’t mind subscriptions and dependence on “the cloud”, then LR is a really good program.
For several years I used LR exclusively and very happily. It is a lovely program that “does it all”, including very good catalog management, but it went to subscription only. This has two problems for me. First is the on going cost. Second, and the more egregious, is that I often travel to places where I do not have internet access consistently (my father has a place in Arizona with very bad connectivity), or it is blocked (my son lives in China). Being dependent on the cloud doesn’t work for me. Combining that with a new camera not supported by my older, stand-alone version of LR, and the fact that I cannot download my old, licensed, version onto a new computer has led me on a journey to find something else.
Now it’s not so simple
It took quite a bit of experimentation with several something elses to finally find a workflow that both worked and flowed.
I have settled in to a work flow that uses three parts, all available for free. The parts are my folder structure containing the photo files and two open source photo processing programs. My post Get going with the GIMP outlines how to set up the open source programs. I mostly use Raw Therapee with the raw files, because it flows more smoothly to use the GIMP as an external editor for Raw Therapee than to use DarkTable as a plug-in for the GIMP. Darktable is more popular at the moment but I rarely have liked it’s output better and the workflow with it is awkward.
Folder structure containing photos
The first part of my workflow is the folder system I use to store photos. I describe it in detail in this post: Digital Asset Management Step 1.
In a nutshell: for each day I take photos I create a folder that has the four digit year, two digit month and two digit day as the first part of its name. The second part is file type (in my case ARW and JPG) and the optional third part is a descriptor, such as Japanese Garden, anvil cloud, sunset, etc. For example: a folder might be named 2020-05-21-ARW-raindrops.
I can use the JPG folders to preview photos from a shoot at a large size. I can also search for the keywords within the operating system, bringing up, for example a list of the folders where I was at the Forbidden City.
RAW Therapee-open source
I use Raw Therapee to view the photos and can select the ones I want to use by flagging them with a color or star rating. I then use the Editor in Raw Therapee to convert raw files to photos and do global editing.
Raw Therapee has many really powerful photo editing tools. These include sophisticated de-mosaicing options that combine methods (de-mosaicing is the process that turns the raw data from the camera sensor into a picture). I use a custom processing profile that I made, it applies the processes that I use most often so I can focus on customizing the exposure for each photo.
Once you have processed a photo in Raw Therapee you can open it in the GIMP as an external editor. Or you can save the file as a .png or .tif to bring into either the GIMP or one of the Topaz programs. You can export multiple versions of one image to combine in layers in the GIMP. For example you could export two different exposure levels.
At this time Raw Therapee has a very limited ability to apply local adjustments, so it is often a good idea to take the image into another program to fine tune details.
GIMP-open source
Once done in RAW Therapee I use the Gnu Image Manipulation Program. I use the GIMP to finish editing, make local adjustments using the masks and layers, apply artistic effects, like Giving a photo a twirled effect using the GIMP, and to prepare the photos for uploading to a blog or other platform.
The GIMP cannot read RAW files, hence the need to use Raw Therapee, and it has no organization or previewing capabilities, but it has many, many tools for detailed manipulation of images and graphic design as well. Plug-ins can expand the capabilities further. In the GIMP you can use masks and layers to make local edits and apply artistic effects.
Two GIMP pug-ins that I highly recommend are the re-synthesizer and G’mic.
To speed up my workflow I have created a set of what I call “pseudo templates” that I use to prepare images for upload in the correct size for a particular platform and a water mark. I open the pseudo template, copy in the final image as a layer below the watermark, resize the layer and tweak the image (often it needs sharpening after resizing), then export it ready to upload.
For some images I want to do a bit more:
Topaz Labs-paid
In addition to the above mentioned programs I have four products from Topaz Labs: Studio 2, Sharpen AI, Denoise AI, and Gigapixel AI. Topaz Labs offer a wide array of AI photo processing tools. If you have an older computer with 8 gig of RAM you may find that these programs run quite slowly. The most recent updates of the programs give truly impressive results.
Lately I have been using Topaz products a lot and really think they are terrific. While the programs aren’t perfect they are very impressive. So much so that I decided to become an affiliate for the company. Here are the products I use:
Studio 2
Topaz Studio 2 has an amazing set of tools and filters. It has a very good set of masking tools allowing you to add effects with pin point accuracy to different parts of an image. You can make any basic adjustments, but where it really shines is in the artistic tools it has available. It is easy to use and makes photo processing fun. I have had some problems with my computer hanging up when I have applied a lot of masks and effects so “save early save often”.
Sharpen AI
This has nine sharpen modes! The program will evaluate and make a recommendation, but it has a compare mode where you can chose up to four methods to see how they differ. The sharpen has de-noise capability as well. Your can designate how much sharpening (“blur removal”) and how much noise reduction as well as choosing from the different methods. You can also choose to just sharpen a part of an image. I find Sharpen AI very useful since I often shoot hand held while managing two leashes and a bag of dog doo, resulting in a bit of motion blur. Often this tool removes that nicely.
Denoise AI
If your image is a noisy mess this program can sometimes seem like a miracle worker. It has 6 different methods, including a RAW mode which will de-mosaic as well as de-noise a raw file. Generally I prefer to use the de-mosaicing algorithms in Raw Therapee, which also can do a customized lens distortion correction then to save a tif file to take into Topaz De-noise.
Gigapixel AI
This program can upscale images with better results than many. Topaz has several modes for upscaling so you can experiment to find the method that works best with any particular photo. Since it’s methods include the needed denoising and sharpening steps it is a bit less of a hassle than doing it with other programs. That said, Raw Therapee has an resizing algorithm called Lanczos, which is used by many professionals and the GIMP’s resize tools are pretty good for moderate upscaling.
Experiments using different photo processing tools
Using GIMP with the Glass Tile filter and creating an animated GIF
Demonstration of the GIMP’s Glass Tile filter and how to create an animated GIF.
Continue Reading Using GIMP with the Glass Tile filter and creating an animated GIF
Exploring the GIMP Oilify Filter
A demonstration of the controls and features in the GIMP’s Oilify Filter.
G’mic Smooth Abstract Filter Demonstration
A demonstration of the controls available inthe G’mic Smooth Abstract filter.
Black-and-white digital photo processing-Part 3: Using the GIMP
Description of how to use the GIMP’s built-in tools to create black and white digital images.
Continue Reading Black-and-white digital photo processing-Part 3: Using the GIMP
Black and White digital photo processing part 2: using Raw Therapee
A description of how to create black and white digital images using the tools in Raw Therapee.
Continue Reading Black and White digital photo processing part 2: using Raw Therapee
Photo processing workflow: prepare photos to use on the web using open-source software
Post laying out the steps in a photo processing workflow that uses open source software instead of the more common paid subscription option.