How to setup a Linux and Open Source based workflow for professional photographers

Because I am always interested to broaden my horizon and to investigate whether I can achieve the
same results at lower or even no costs, I myself have spent a long time investigating a possible
switch from macOS to Linux. Another reason was that my 27 inch Apple iMac got serious technical
defects, so I could no longer rely on this machine for my professional photography assignments and
the required deadlines. So I build a powerful machine and installed and tried Linux and a lot of
applications to find the optimal match for my workflow. And now my complete transfer to Linux is
done and it feels like a success for me.

Below I will further clarify the workflow solutions I have chosen. I look at all aspects needed for an
independent professional photographer. And in order to find the right distribution and applications,
one first has to look at which steps and activities can be identified in the workflow of a
photographer. As already showed before, my personal photography workflow looks roughly like this:

So what software solutions do I use to support this photography workflow with the means of Linux
and Open Source? Let’s start.
The operating system: Linux Mint Cinnamon

As mentioned earlier, a large number of Linux distributions are available for free. It is impossible to
list them all, but the most popular options at the time of writing are Manjaro, Linux Mint,
Elementary, MX Linux and Ubuntu. From my role as a photographer, I am not interested in computer
technology, but I am a content creator and therefore a pure computer user and demand that the
system works stable and stable out of the box without too many adjustments being necessary. My
search resulted in the conclusion that this is absolutely Linux Mint for me. This distribution is fast,
stable, works immediately after installation without problems and offers a beautiful, bright working
environment with the Cinnamon desktop environment. An absolute must.

If you want to know more about the selection procedure, read my articles How to choose the best
Linux distro for your needs and How to choose the best Linux Desktop Environment for your needs.

You can download Linux Mint here:

https://www.linuxmint.com/download.php
Preparation for the photoShoot: LibreOffice

When I do something, I always do that well prepared. Especially when it comes to customers and
emotions, I leave nothing to chance. I therefore prepare everything together with the customer,
discuss all wishes at a detailed level and record this in a kind of project document. This document
then goes back and forth between me and a future wedding couple or family to be photographed,
until we have everything clear for the important day.

I use LibreOffice for writing this kind of documents. I think LibreOffice is a very versatile package, so I
do not really understand why there are so many people who still pay for Microsoft Office for private
purposes or as a freelancer. Assuming that these people probably use only 30% of the functionality
that Office offers, it is a waste of money if you do not use LibreOffice.

LibreOffice is standard in every Linux distribution. If you want to know more about LibreOffice go to:
https://www.libreoffice.org/
Screen Calibration: DisplayCal

When you are serious about photography and image editing, it is very important that your monitor
displays colors accurately and with the correct brightness, tone and intensity. Just think what
happens when the screen is set too dark. Then your photo seems darker than it actually is. Then you
adjust the brightness of the photo mistakenly to the bright side to make it visually match what you
expected. If you now have the photo printed at a professional lab, the end result will be an
overexposed image. To avoid this, the first step in your photography workflow should always be the
calibration of your monitor with a device intended for that purpose, also known as a colorimeter. I
use an old Spyder 3 pro myself, but there are multiple options that work perfectly with Linux.

If you are interested you can still buy the Spyder 3 pro second hand [affiliate link].

But there are newer versions available that work also great with Linux, being the Datacolor SpyderX
Pro and the Datacolor SpyderX Elite [Affiliate Links].

The following examples of colorimeters works perfectly with Linux, but there are more colorimeters
out there that will work fine as well with Linux.

 Gretag-Macbeth i1 Pro (spectrometer)

 Gretag-Macbeth i1 Monitor (spectrometer)

 Gretag-Macbeth i1 Display 1, 2 or LT (colorimeter)

 X-Rite i1 Display Pro (colorimeter)

 X-Rite ColorMunki Design or Photo (spectrometer)

 X-Rite ColorMunki Create (colorimeter)

  X-Rite ColorMunki Display (colorimeter)

 antone Huey (colorimeter)

 MonacoOPTIX (colorimeter)

 ColorVision Spyder 2 and 3 (colorimeter)

 Colorimètre HCFR (colorimeter)

And a really unique device is the ColorHug2, which is a 100% open source display colorimeter
designed and build for Linux by Ania and Richard Hughes.
https://hughski.com/

To use a screen calibration device in Linux the right way, you need software that works seamlessly
together with your device. I use the DisplayCal application. DisplayCAL (formerly known as
dispcalGUI) is a display calibration and profiling application. It has screen accuracy in mind (the
developer is even in the opinion that this software is the most accurate ICC compatible display
profiling solution available). The software is setup in a very clear way and you are guided through the
process by logical steps.

You can find the DisplayCal software here:

https://displaycal.net/

You can read about monitor calibration in far more depth in my separate article How to color
calibrate your monitor in Linux.
Download, Rename and Backup original files: Rapid Photo Downloader

Anyone who is very involved in photography or videography will automatically come to the point of
thinking about a workflow, or an optimal process that includes, among other things, logical steps for
importing files, the folder structure and the naming of the photo and video files. Rapid Photo
Downloader’ is absolutely my favorite. Rapid Photo Downloader is designed and built by Damon
Lynch, who is doing a PhD in sociocultural anthropology. He researches what war does to a war
survivor’s sense of time. He is a photographer as well and his pictures have a great social context.
Being a photographer himself helps to better understand what a photographer actually needs in his
workflow.

Rapid Photo Downloader does not try to be everything in one application, but is very clearly focused
on just one part of a photo or video workflow. Where all-in-one applications are often a bit alright in
everything, but do not really excel at anything, precisely because of this limited scope Rapid Photo
Downloader has become a very powerful tool for the limited part for which it is intended. For me as
a Linux user I am very happy that this application is available and it has therefore become my default
starting point in my photo workflow. It is unfortunate that Windows and macOS users can not
benefit from this solution. In my opinion Rapid Photo Downloader is the best open source photo and
video download software for Linux.

It’s goal is to greatly simplify the transfer of photos and videos from the memory card to the
computer via self-defined rules. When one or more memory cards are inserted into a card reader,
Rapid Photo Downloader automatically scans the photos and videos on your media and is then given
the opportunity to choose which files should be downloaded. Rapid Photo Downloader downloads
your media files into designated folders. It automatically creates subfolders, based on the default
options that can be set themselves. Setting up the folder structure is very extensive, but also very
clear. Multiple levels can be set, using date / time, free text, filename, metadata and job code. The
same can be done for the naming of the media files. Multiple name blocks can be set, using date /
time, free text, filename, metadata, sequences and job code.

Before I knew about Rapid Photo Downloader my download process contained 13 steps:

1) Connect card reader to pc

2) Insert memory card in card reader
3) Find memory card in file manager
4) Open DCIM folder
5) Find newest files
6) Open extra file manager
7) Select correct destination drive
8) Go to photo main folder
9) Create new folder for new files
10) Create subfolders if required
11) Copy new files to new (sub) folder
12) Rename copied files to your own standards
13) Create backup of your new files

But now that I use Rapid Photo Downloader I reduced it to 5 steps:

1) Connect card reader to pc
2) Insert memory card in card reader
3) Start Rapid Photo Downloader
4) Push Download button
5) Select Job Code (if you use that in your preset) and hit OK

You can all about Rapid Photo Downloader in my article Rapid Photo Downloader is the best open
source photo and video download software for Linux.

You can find Rapid Photo Downloader here:

https://www.damonlynch.net/rapid/
Photo scoring and selection: digiKam

Before I start editing my RAW files, I first want to clean, categorize and select the images with the
help of ratings and keywords. digiKam enables me to do this in an efficient manner, among other
things with the aid of star ratings and color indicators. digiKam is an advanced open-source digital
photo management application that runs on Linux, Windows, and MacOS. The application provides a
comprehensive set of tools for importing, managing, editing, and sharing photos and raw files.
digiKam can handle raw files, and the application uses the excellent LibRaw library for decoding raw
files. The library is actively maintained and regularly updated to include support for the latest
camera models.

Within digiKam I can quickly view a collection of images, I can add a star rating of 1-5 and then I can
filter on these ratings. IPTC metadata such as keywords, description and copyright information can
also be added here. When the final raw operation has taken place, Digikam functions as a database
for the final results. A great advantage of digiKam compared to for example Adobe Lightroom, I
personally think that no use is made of a database, but that digiKam recognizes the photos without
import and just shows them. Therefor digiKam feels faster than Adobe Lightroom.

You can find an extensive overview of all features here:

https://www.digikam.org/about/features/
Raw editing: darktable

Adobe’s Lightroom has been the de facto standard for professional and serious RAW editing for
Windows and macOS for years. And we can only say that Lightroom is one of the most robust
software solutions to organize and process RAW photo files. As lovers of Linux and open source
software, however, we do not have Lightroom at our disposal, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have
similar needs when it comes to serious processing of RAW photo files and accompanying workflow
support. And in my opinion the fulfillment of those needs is offered to us in the form of the powerful
open source solution darktable.

When it comes to image editing under Linux, we are not disappointed. A surprisingly large number of
high quality RAW editors are available for Linux, such as RAWTherapee, GTKRAWgallery and
Lightzone. But anyone who appreciates a clear and professional workflow for importing, valuing,
editing, synchronizing, presenting, printing and exporting and looking at the enormous range of high-
quality machining modules can hardly ignore darktable. In my opinion a must have in your
professional workflow.

In addition, darktable is what is called a fully “color managed” application, so it fits perfectly into a
workflow where color management plays a crucial role from conception to print. For example,
darktable supports automatic detection of display profiles, including built-in ICC profile support for
sRGB, Adobe RGB and linear RGB color spaces.

Darktable also offers the possibility to work “tethered”, in which a camera is connected directly to
the PC and the images are shown directly in darktable. This is especially strong for portrait and
product photographers working in a studio. And in terms of performance, we are served on our
hints. If you have a relatively powerful GPU, you can use OpenCL when editing the photo files.

Darktable differs from other applications due to the enormous amount of very powerful processing
modules. More than 60 modules are available at the time of writing. Using the favorites
functionality, modules can be combined into a separate list of preferred modules, so that you do not
always have to maneuver through the entire list. A number of important groups of functions can be
distinguished: Basic, Tone, Color, Correction and Effect. For example, within Basis you will find the
modules contrast, brightness, saturation, shadows and highlights and highlight reconstruction. In the
correction group you will find, among other things, the modules liquify, perspective correction and
the new module haze removal. With many of the modules offered, powerful mixing options are
available and the adjustments can be implemented on the whole or via mask options on parts of a
photo. And all this in a non-destructive way and with a powerful history functionality, where
executed actions can be compared and undone as desired.

The application darktable is being integrated in more and more Linux distributions, so you can install
it easily by just looking it up in your software center or package manager. But you can download it as
well here:
https://www.darktable.org/install/
Detailed editing: GIMP

GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a program that is very comparable to
Adobe Photoshop on a large number of points, but with a somewhat stiffer user interface here and
there, but it is continuously improving. It has a very extensive set of possibilities. It can be used as a
simple drawing program, but also as an expert photo retouching program.

GIMP is designed to be extended with plugins and other types of extensions. The advanced scripting
interface makes everything easy to script, from the simplest task to the most complex image
manipulation procedures. It offers options such as brushes, pencils, airbrush, clone, sub-pixel
sampling, anti-aliasing, gradient editor, blend tool, custom brushes and patterns, full alpha channel
support, layers and channels, advanced path tool, bezier and polygon selections. and quick masks. It
is the most logical choice as Photoshop alternative under Linux.

Read my article The best technique to remove facial blemishes with GIMP as an example of what you
can do in GIMP.

You will find GIMP as part of almost every Linux distribution, so you can install it easily by just
looking it up in your software center or package manager. But you can download it in different
manners as well here:
https://www.gimp.org/downloads/
Story telling: Geeqie

When you work for an assignment with 2, 3 or 4 cameras, then the original naming of the photo files
will sometimes collide with each other. When you then make new versions of photos for black and
white conversions, for example, the new naming will also result in a deviation in the chronological
order, or the storyline of the photo story. So I need software that makes it very easy to visually
change the order of photos instead of a name based approach. So I like something that is a
metaphor as if you put multiple photos on the table and mix them up in the order you want. In
addition, I want my software to be color-managed. A wonderful piece of software for this story
telling step is Geeqie.

This software makes it possible to create a collection, then drag a set of photos to that collection and
drop and mix these photos in any order. Then this order determines the new naming of the files.
And all that in a very simple and visual way within a simple user interface.

You can find Geeqie here:

http://geeqie.org/
Video editing: Shotcut

Professional photographers are increasingly delivering video to their clients as well. For me, I also
offer photo based movies with a nice storyline, animation and music. For this I use the very extensive
program Shotcut. A lot of Linux based videographers would probably say that the application
kdenlive is the best video editing tool, which is probably true, because of the enormous array of
options and flexibility. But for me personally I think Shotcut has a more intuitive user interface and
works a bit more organic. Shotcut is a powerful application, but requires some patience and
perseverance to discover what it can do.

Shotcut is a non-linear video editor based on a clear interface and a powerful set of tools. For the
most part, Shotcut works as you would expect from a modern video editor. It uses the same layout
as many other apps of its kind. Furthermore, out of the box it offers many expansions, filters and
effects. The filters are probably one of the most used tools in an application like this, and they are
very well implemented in Shotcut. Choosing and applying filters can be done very easily, and the
effects are immediately visible.

Shotcut supports hundreds of audio and video formats and codecs thanks to FFmpeg. No import is
required which means native editing, plus multi-format timelines, resolutions and frame-rates within
a project are possible. Frame accurate seeking is supported for many video formats.

You can find Shotcut here:

https://shotcut.org/download/
Communication and transfer

Of course you communicate as a professional photographer with your customers. You discuss the
wishes, you exchange planning documents, you send offers and bills and you name it. I use the mail
application Thunderbird since I started using Linux. This is an extremely versatile open source mail
application with very powerful functions. Thunderbird is standard in every Linux distribution.

For some users who, for example, come from the Apple platform and are more accustomed to
elegance and have a more minimalistic approach, in my opinion the mail application Geary is a nice
alternative. Read my article Lightweight, high quality and user friendly mail app Geary for more
background information.
Book keeping: Manager.io

Of course, as a professional photographer making images and making our clients happy is our
passion and we do that with heart and soul. But there also still need to be earned some money and
this has to be administered again. So we need something to properly do the bookkeeping. For this I
use the particularly user-friendly but also extensive Manager.io. Although this application is not
open source, Manager.io is free and on desktop natively available for Linux. You can use the desktop
edition for as long as you like, use all the features and enter as much data as required. There are no
time limits, no usage limits, no ads. If you want to use a real open source solution you can have a
look at GnuCash as well.

Manager is set up in such a way that you can start immediately. Traditional accounting packages first
require setting up, among other things, the opening balances, an account schedule and opening of a
financial year. In the case of Manager this is not necessary and for example the account schedule
grows along with what you need at that moment. Furthermore, it is designed to be able to work
within each country and thus adaptable to the requirements of each country. It supports local tax
codes, local date formats, local currency formats, country specific tax reports and more.

here some of the main functionalities:

 General ledger

 Cash management

 Bank reconciliation

 Expense claims

 Accounts receivable

 Accounts payable

 Estimates & quotes

 Purchase orders

 Billing & invoicing

  Credit notes

 Delivery notes

 Sales orders

 Time & service billing

 Capital accounts

 Profit & loss statement

 Balance sheet

 Statement of changes in equity

 Chart of accounts

 Journal entries

 Bank statement importing

 Email templates

 Drill down reports

You can download manager.io here:

https://www.manager.io/desktop/download/
Backup: LuckyBackup and Rapid Photo Downloader

For a complete backup of all my files and applications I use the terrific LuckyBackup. With
luckyBackup, the Linux user has a tool available that offers the possibility to create different types of
backups with a simple GUI interface. These backups can be scheduled in time. Full backups can be
made or they can be synchronized. luckyBackup is easy enough for almost every experience level, so
users of all levels can set up reliable backups.

An overview of some characteristics:

 Backup: Backup any directory (source) to another (destination). luckyBackup copies over
only the changes you’ve made to the source directory and nothing more.

 Snapshots: Create multiple backup “snapshots”. Each snapshot is an image of the source
data that refers to a specific date-time. Rolling back to any of the snapshots is possible.

 Sync: Sync any directories keeping the files that were most recently modified on both of
them.

 Simple / advanced option: The add/modify operation dialog is quite simple and everybody
can use it with confidence. Hit on the “advanced” push button at the operation properties
window and a whole bunch of other options will appear. If you know what you’re doing
change anything at will.

 Exclude option: Exclude any file, folder or pattern from the transfer.

 Only include option: Use this option to only transfer over specific file(s), folder(s) or
pattern(s) within your source directory and nothing else.

 Restore: Everybody wishes to never use this. But when this time comes, luckyBackup gives
you the option to create an operation based on an existing one for restore purposes or use a
wizard style procedure that will guide you through.
  Simulation: If you are unsure of the effects on your data when executing an rsync command
try the dry-run option. luckyBackup will perform a trial run that doesn’t make any changes
(and produces mostly the same output as a real run).

 Scheduling: Scheduling for execution of already created profiles via cronjobs is supported.
Logfile: After each operation a logfile is created in your home folder. You can have a look at
it any time you want.

Read my article LuckyBackup is a powerful backup solution for linux for more background

information and the installation process.

For the backup of my photo files I use both Rapid Photo Downloader and LuckyBackup. I think a very
nice function of Rapid Photo Downloader is the direct backup option. When the photo or video files
are imported, it is also possible to make a backup automatically according to the same folder
structure and naming conventions to for example one or more external hard disks. For example,
photo files can be backed up to a disk other than the video files.

You can find all about Rapid Photo Downloader in my article Rapid Photo Downloader is the best
open source photo and video download software for Linux.

You can find Rapid Photo Downloader here:

https://www.damonlynch.net/rapid/
Final words

As a former self-employed professional portrait and wedding photographer I really wanted to

succeed in finding a complete Linux based workflow. And although, only by choice but not because
of impossibilities, not completely open source based, I found a nice, effective and efficient workflow
for myself which could be implemented by other freelance photographers as well. I can look back on
this transition with a very good feeling and I no longer have any reason to return to the Apple
ecosystem. I hope that with my articles on these kind of topics can move people to think out of the
box and look beyond the mainstream solutions. Because then there are a lot of gems to be found in
the free open source Linux world. Have fun and success with your own Open Source discovery
journey.