Hybrid Linux Mint/Android photography workflow

Posted by Tony Kelts on the Big Photo Hunt community board.

I use either my phone camera or my Canon M6 mark II when I capture an image. Phone is jpg. Camera is RAW + JPG. When I want to convert my RAW (CR3) I use Rapid Raw 1.6, make a few adjustments and export a jpg. Then I put that in a folder on my NAS. I then use Luminar on my phone and make a few adjustments. Sometimes that jpg is good enough to post. If I need something better, I use Lightroom mobile and use a preset to get the look I want. Then I send a copy back to the NAS. I can post to Facebook, Instagram and Threads. Every week I send one to BIG PHOTO HUNT. The one on the phone goes to Tiktok and Vero.

I also use Snapseed on my phone for certain photos that need leveling and/or darker sky. I don't mind spending a little time making a better photo. I just don't use any subscription software.

Replies

Sarbajit Chakraborty

Tony, I was on Linux for a long time, so here's some (not a lot of details) idea of the software that I used:

1. GIMP - Layer based photo editing. I personally found it hard to get into and difficult to manage. I also used it in 2012-2014, so things may be a lot better now
2. RAWTherapee -- Used it briefly, before I switched to Windows. I think probably the most polished and easy to learn of the editing software that I used. Also, I am slightly biased towards this, as it had the best capability to hand Fuji's X-Trans sensor. Very good at handling detailing, de-mosaicing, and adjusting for aberrations. However, not good for file management (like a Lightroom like system), and for fast workflows.
3. Darktable - Linux's answer to Lightroom (IMO). Has a lot of different modules like Lightroom. Has the steepest learning curve, but very good as a long term organizer. I only switched away from it, after spending a lot of time to learn, cause it didn't handle Fuji well.

I would definitely give #2 and #3 a try. Darktable is more resource intensive, but also has similarities to Lightroom CC, so it's a transferable skill (I think).

Tony Kelts

@[Sarbajit Chakraborty](185b0ac5-48af-471d-98e2-3c6a6602decc) GIMP is great for making large upscaled poster sized photos. I dont use it much for anything else.