[Article Idea]: Beginners/Intro to Free Software Photography

That is what I’m looking for. From the viewpoint of a complete Free Software new user - even someone who may not be into proprietary solutions yet. They want to get into the hobby and start at least taking some snapshots. So what is there available in the Free Software world, and how does it relate to what they want to do?

It doesn’t have to be a complete Beginners Guide to ___________, but it can be a high-level look at some of the more common tools that they might use later as well. So a little bit about:

  1. Getting files onto your computer (copy/paste? RPD?)
  2. Organization?
  3. Raw or jpeg?
    • What’s the difference and why should they care?
    • If they’re using raw, RT and dt have ratings that they can use for DAM.
  4. If they use raw, talk about the bigger projects they might want to look at (darktalbe, RT).
    • Overview of some basic adjustments. Exposure, Lightness, Saturation, Contrast, Noise Reduction?
    • Point them to further resources for more in-depth tutorials as needed.
  5. Pixel Editing
    • Into GIMP for further retouching? (Why? What type of retouching might be needed and why GIMP?)
    • Spot edits, cropping, healing, etc…

@paulmatth did you watch the jpeg2RAW show at all? Some of these thoughts come out of the types of questions they were asking, which were very general about Free Software for photography.