I use darktable for every photo - it’s my RAW-converter and I do everything about color, white-balance, b/w conversion, contrasts and the like in dt.
The Gimp is as important, but I use it only on about half my pictures (or less). Dodge & burn, get rid of that electric-lines in the background or make a texture just that bit more smooth is what I do with the Gimp. But not every photo needs that kind of treatment, so I don’t use the program on every picture.
darktable is a RAW processing software while GIMP is a general image manipulation tool.
I use darktable for RAW processing and enchanting jpegs incl. selective editing using drawn and parametric masks, digikam for culling and cataloging, GIMP for editing when multiple layers required, adding text, frame, etc. and printing.
What exactly do you mean with “working with” vs. “editing”? If this means feeding jpeg photos to Gimp, it is a kind of “shame”. I’m not even a hobby photographer, but still like what mentioned raw processors can pull out of average raw photos. They can usually provide better output, for jpeg export or for intermediate 16-bit (or more) tiffs, meant to be further edited in Gimp. I believe. But you can, luckily, do whatever you want, and still get good pictures. And you will.
It hasn’t been mentioned but you could edit your files in dt as well. Try it. In some ways, raw processors like dt make editing easier because they come with a suite of tools that you can tweak to your hearts content. In contrast, I find that GIMP is more granular in that it make take more than one step to achieve an effect. There is more micromanagement. You can learn to be proficient at both types of apps but for most people it might be easier to use dt.
@eagertolearn I would recommend reading the darktable manual, which is fairly straightforward to follow. As for Inkscape, it is a vector based editor. So, it doesn’t edit pixels but lines, shapes, gradients, nodes, etc. If you are working on photos, what you would like to use are raster editors. darktable and GIMP fall under that category.
I have a Canon EOS Rebel DSLR. It’s set to its factory default
settings as I don’t know enough re: cameras to know what alternative
settings I should consider and why set them to those settings.
I’m on a wild journey to learn re: photography and graphics!
I started by learning a few tasks in Gimp - e.g. add arrows, text,
Perspective Tool, etc.
Yes, I tried that and it seemed to accept the new password but when i
visit the list and see the posts and try to reply it prompts me to Log
In and when i typed my email address and new PW it just keeps asking
for it over and over again.
I tried using my username and and PW but got the same results.
That LogIn stays plastered to the page so it never logs me in.
Good! Take your time, enjoy yourself and be happy for the steps forward that you will take
The Gimp, darktable, and RawTherapee are all very good – the “problem” is to understand which tool to use when. Read the forum, search youtube, and experiment with your own photos.
I’m not at home with the camera at this time but once I’ve snapped a
photo I migrate to to my desktop (not sure which format it is in) but
once I anime it I save it as a PNG (no degradation unlike a jpg).
I then work on that photo (as a PNG file) in Gimp.
I then export it as a jpg to email over the net so it’s not too large.
I now have a better idea of what RAW is but it;s still unclear when i
would use it? I don’t sell my photos so when would all that photo
“enhancement” or “modification” come into play? Ex. Do you save photos
in RAW so you can later “enhance” therm to then upload them to a
Website or Facebook?
RAW is a format that comes from your camera. You wouldn’t post a raw to social media.
Raw is a dump of your camera sensors data. It gives you wider latitude for manipulation.
When you get a jpeg from your camera, the camera shoots a raw, then processes it on the camera and saves a jpeg to your SD card. If you shoot a raw file, then your camera is not making processing decisions for you, rather you can make those decisions for yourself.
… and in your case, if the images are stored (on the camera’s SD card) as file type CR2, then they are in a RAW format (i.e. not adultered or “enhanced” into JPEG by the camera).