DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Free Lightroom alternative: Moving your images from Darktable to GIMP

Apr 19, 2021 by John Aldred Add Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

This is the final part of a five-part series on the free and open-source Lightroom alternative, Darktable by photographer Chris Parker. Chris didn’t write a post to accompany the fifth video in the series, but we didn’t want to leave the series of posts unfinished, so here we are.

If you missed them, check out parts 1-4, covering Getting started with Darktable, Importing your images into Darktable, Processing your RAW files in Darktable, and Exporting images from Darktable for editing in another application. Another application like GIMP (which is also free and open-source). And that’s what this final video is about.

GIMP is essentially a free alternative to Photoshop. It’s doesn’t quite have all the bells of Photoshop and very few of the whistles, but it’s come a long way since its initial release back in 1996 and today stands up quite well as a fairly feature-packed image editing application. But there are a few gotchas, which Chris goes over in the video above.

Darktable and GIMP don’t talk to each other in the same way that Lightroom (or Adobe Camera RAW) talks to Photoshop. There are no smart objects, so you can’t go back and edit your RAW tweaks in Darktable after you bring your image into GIMP. You can’t save the changes you made in GIMP back out to your RAW file, either (just as you can’t in Photoshop).

If you’re used to using Lightroom or Adobe Camera RAW and Photoshop and want to make the transition to this free and open-source image editing software, then there is definitely a bit of a learning curve. But, Chris does a great job of walking you through the process and the caveats to get you up and running quickly.

Do you use Darktable and GIMP for your photo editing? Might you start using them now?

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Free Lightroom alternative: Importing images into Darktable (quick start guide) Free Lightroom alternative: Processing and editing images in Darktable Free Lightroom alternative: Exporting images in Darktable Free Lightroom alternative: Getting started with Darktable part 1

Filed Under: Tutorials Tagged With: Chris Parker, Darktable, editing, editing app, editing software, GIMP, image editing, Photo Editing

John Aldred: from diyphotography.net

About John Aldred

John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

« NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter sends back the first image of its first flight on Mars
This guy coordinated five drones to light paint a giant footballer in the night sky »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Panasonic PanaTrack is a big bendy motorised camera slider
  • Once again, tourists are getting too close to bison for photos
  • Fujifilm announces shipping delays for the new Fuji X-S20
  • International Photography Awards reveals breathtaking 2022 winners (mildly NSFW)
  • 7artisans launches a 24mm f/1.4 lens for only $109

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy